Service Learning
Service learning is a great way to get students involved in the community while learning. It allows the students to help the community while learning and then applying their knowledge. It benefits both the community and the students. The community receives help from the students; whether that is through building or repairing a structure/building, or helping older folks use technology. It also benefits the students because they are learning through the project; they get to apply this knowledge to a real life situation which opens their eyes and lets them experience episodic learning.
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Service Learning fits under component 1E: Designing Coherent Instruction because it is a learning activity for the students. Learning activities is an element of 1E, thus fitting the component. It is important the service learning project involves the community and learning; if there is no learning, it would just be community service.
It is important to have these service learning projects because it gets students involved in their community while building onto their knowledge; it lets them apply their knowledge, working hands-on with what they learned in class. |
There are no pictures of me at the event
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For my service learning project, I helped at a the Wolverine Best Robotics Event. When I got there, I was given directions, to welcome the family, teams, and other people who came to see the event. There were fellow peers who were greeting people outside, and I was inside with another fellow student, greeting and guiding people as they came in. I talked to various people, guiding them to the bathroom or the registration desk, asking where they were from and if they had ever been in an event like this, and so forth. I talked to one group specifically and they were very excited to start the robotics event; the girls I was talking with had done it before and were really excited. After everyone made their way into the auditorium, the next activity we did was moving all the robotics supplies. There were multiple boards, tubes, and boxes we had to get up the stairs; we used the elevator to make it easier. We moved the supplies while the introduction was happening, so when we were done, the teams would come to pick up the supplies. Once the introduction was over, the teams began to collect their items. Our job was to give them each supply; the supplies were in piles, so we had to make sure they received each item. This took a while, but eventually, the supplies were gone. The last team was only one person, so I helped him (along with another peer) get his supplies to his car. Once we got it in his car, all the teams were in their meetings and we were done for the day.
Participating in this service learning project was neat; I got to talk to high school students and learn about robotics. My high school had a robotics club, but I did not know much about it, so it was interesting to listen to what they do. As a student, I went out into the community and helped guide people to the right place, move various objects, sort them, and then distribute them. I learned about a club I may have in my future school, and I got to use my speaking skills with those who came in for the event. It is a service learning because of this. I enjoyed participating in it as well; while it was not teaching, it still opened my eyes to extra curricular activities like robotics. Besides observing what they did, it was also cool to do the behind the scene activities too; teachers do other tasks besides teaching and grading. They have to organize, welcome others, and distribute materials. I got to experience small tasks that need to get done which was exciting. From my experience, I encourage all students to participate in a service learning project. I hope as a future educator, I will let my students experience service learning as well.