Quotes
“Educators and legislators alike maintain that service
learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich
educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling” (2).
This quote is important because it talks about the
importance of service learning. By having students be active participants in
the community it gives them a chance to learn not only from their educators but
also from experiences. Within these educational experiences they can bring back
to the classroom knowledge that they have gathered; making the class
invigorating. For example in high school I participated in a project in which
the students in my advisory would go out and clean different areas around the
city. We learn in science class the kinds of things that hurt the environment but
rarely do students have the chance to go out and actually take part. I feel
like this project helped to change how my advisory saw littering. Before we
would go out and see garbage on the floor and just walk around it but after
taking part, we no longer think of littering as being “Okay”.
“A music director at a middle school we studied wanted her
suburban, upper-middle-class students to perform at a nearby elementary school
in a poor neighborhood. Some of the middle school parents objected, saying that
they were concerned for their children's safety. In a written evaluation, the
students said that they had imagined "horrifying children running around
on a dirty campus." They had expected them to be "rude, tough, noisy,
and very unfriendly," and they even thought they would be "mean,
gang-related blacks." One of the students wrote, "I was scared
because my mom had told me it was a bad neighborhood and to be careful” (7-8).
This paragraph is important to me because it shows how
upper-middle-class parents tend view the less fortunate schools. These parents
are just filling the minds of their children with these stereotypes that are
brain washing their children. Instead of objecting and telling the teacher they
are concerned about the safety of their children they should be supportive because
it could potentially turn in to a chance for their children to learn about
these less fortunate schools and the children that attend it. Not all children
in these less fortunate schools are horrifying, noisy, and rude. Most are
actually very bright, polite, and quiet children.
Rather than assume,
erroneously, that all educators share the same vision, we think it is better to
be explicit about the numerous and different visions that drive the creation
and implementation of service learning activities in schools (13).
This quote to me is important because it tells us that
instead of thinking wrong, and assuming that all educators share the same
beliefs when it comes down to service learning, we should acknowledge that
there are different ways of viewing it. For example some educators might look
at service learning more along the lines of it being a political domain, while
others look at it in a more a moral domain. Although there are many ways of
looking at service learning it is either way learning experiences that allow
children to learn.
Talking Point: I believe that service learning does in fact teach children many lessons. I believe that we should encourage children to be more active in the community because it does make a difference.
Hi Nelsy,
ReplyDeleteThe paragraph you talk about in your second quote stood out to me too. It just proves that those types of attitudes towards "others" are learned, and I liked reading about how the service experience changed the students learned perceptions. Service learning projects can really be powerful for that reason, though I agree with the authors where they said the "effect could have been greater if students discussed the possible causes of these rumors and their impact" (p. 12).
And I agree with you that we should encourage students to be more active in the community, because there is so much for them to learn outside of the classroom. Great post!
- Jamie