When discussing our school mission and its objective to prepare students to become responsible, world-class citizens and high-achieving, life-long learners; we have to begin to institute programs that increase students’ ability to engage in the community service in a more meaningful fashion. According to the civic literacy project, “service learning benefits numerous parties, from the schools to the agencies to the communities and society.” Therefore, I believe that in order to increase our students’ worldviews we should find volunteer work for educational purposes.
With this in mind, I believe that we should form a task force for the purpose of organizing a curriculum and program to find worthwhile volunteer opportunities that comport with our mission of world-class citizens. This task force will be compiled of leaders from the community with an emphasis toward volunteer and civic organization leaders that would enjoy to seeing students more involved in service learning; parents who may or may not believe that this is the proper role for a school to be taking, and may prefer seeing these sought of activities being completed by religious organizations; as well as teachers and educators within our school district who see some of the educational benefits of these activities, but do not necessary understand the curricular benefits of this program.
Upon the approval of this task force, it will be made up of six community and civic leaders, five parents, three religious leaders, four teachers, and two district school administrators; with a gender breakdown of 11 males and 10 females, and a racial breakdown of 8 African Americans, 10 Caucasians, 2 Hispanics, and 1 Asian. This racial and gender breakdown will allow for greater diver...
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...thin the school especially for a student standpoint. However, he is reticent about how much resources he would like to see go into a program such as the one I am outlining.
Mrs. Lorna McBride- is the director of Elementary Education and former elementary school principal. She is vital for helping to develop a curriculum and designing an instructional program; furthermore she has increasingly been looking for a way to get community and civic leaders to partner with the schools.
Conclusion
In summary, this task force can truly act as a link between the community and the school. Therefore, I believe that we should design a curriculum and instructional program that encourages students to be engaged in service-learning. More importantly, we want a program that increases students’ personal and social responsibility, and helps to make them better world class citizens.
One way to ensure a civically engaged population is to nurture and promote amongst youth and teenagers the value of participating in one’s community, with the hope that involvement will continue into adulthood. Most school districts in Arizona do not require students to volunteer as a graduation requirement. Those that do, necessitate a number of hours to be completed and logged individually; for example, Deer Valley Unified School District in Maricopa County requires eight hours of volunteering during a student’s senior year. Of course any opportunity for one to help society should be applauded – however, this particular process negates cooperative long-term attachment to a beneficial project and does not incorporate knowledge learned in class, or apply meaning in a real-life context. The implementation of Service-learning programs into public school curriculum would uphold useful skills associated with community involvement and citizenship, as well as address problems in real settings rather than do repetitious tasks in seclusion.
Before beginning my volunteer work I faced quite a dilema. Where could I influence children, help them develop their leadership potential, educate them about agriculture, and have fun-all at the same time?
Waldstein, F. A., & Reiher, T. C. (2001). Service -learning and students' personal and civic development. [Electronic Version]. Journal of Experiential Education, 24(1), 7-13.
People become involved in community service for different reasons and it is up to the individual to realize if it is worthwhile and why they are helping others. Community service brings a nation together. Every country wants its community to be disciplined and work for change. Community service is the best way to inculcate responsibility into individuals. This is where I come in, as a volunteer, as an activist for a change and assistance. I have been inducted and a member of three unique clubs with a core purpose of community service and assistance to others. I have been apart of CSF, California Scholarship Federation, for three years and counting. Each system it is required for obtain fifteen hours of community service, whether be with an organization or school based activity. California Scholarship Federation is an exclusive community of college bound scholars who share resources, provide peer tutoring, and pursue success through community service and academic achievement. I became inducted into NHS, National Honor Society, my sophomore year. Since then I have been an active member participating in every community service opportunity our club participates in. In addition to the club's community service, we as members are required to obtain a certain amount of community service outside the club in order for our membership to not be revoked. NHS
Growing up, my parents and other influential figures around me modelled the importance of community service through their continual volunteer work and dedication to improving the world around them. Whether it be participation in a well-attended project or persistent contribution to a helpful organization, those aforementioned individuals were formative in guiding me towards a path filled with opportunities for having an impact on my community.
When I found out that I had to do seven hours of volunteer work I immediately knew that I wanted it to involve children. I attended the volunteer fair that was held earlier in the semester and signed up for programs such as Louie’s Kids and Wings for Kids. Unfortunately I could not volunteer for either of these programs because they were not in walking distance of the college and I did not have transportation. A couple weeks after that I saw a flyer advertising for “Reading Partners.” I attended an informational event that they held and signed up to volunteer at Memminger Elementary, which is about two blocks from the college.
How did a departmental faculty generated 12,000 hours of student community service in one semester? The following is a qualitative analysis of conversations with faculty members in a department that recently instituted a service learning requirement for all student majors. The campus is a large urban comprehensive university with a multi-ethnic student body. Approximately fifteen faculty members were interviewed for this study. While most of those interviewed included service learning components in their courses, interviews with faculty members who resisted or refused to incorporate service learning were conducted as well in order to understand varying faculty attitudes towards service learning.
There are always some activities for the betterment of a community. If we get involved ourselves in those, we will certainly have some useful experiences in our life too. Service Learning is one of those activities, and it is primarily a service of a community with the application of the knowledge and guidance obtained in the college. Moreover, Service Learning is a way for a student to practice the education that he learns from the college, which in result strengthens the student academically. As a result, A student can be aware of the social issues through Service Learning, and he can apply his ideas and knowledge to come up with a solution. Similarly, Service learning also provides a source of communicating with the professional of the community, which can be helpful for a student regarding the education and employment. There are many organizations in our society, which create the opportunity for Service Learning. The ones that I am most interested in are the American Red Cross and City House homeless shelter. I like these organizations because these both are doing wonderful job b...
Taking time to volunteer at the many nonprofit organizations, homeless shelters, advocacy centers, philanthropic fundraisers, local schools and child care facilities in the inner city is not always at the forefront of young people’s minds while navigating through their college experiences. But, with a little push from student organizations, local nonprofits and passionate individuals, volunteerism and community change can start to take a front seat and become not just an opportunity, but also a priority in the lives of young people.
In the past four years of my life, volunteer work has left an indelible mark on my heart and mind. When I became a volunteer, I had a very vague notion of leadership. As my high school days come to an end, I am left with the feeling that I have finally come into my own shoes, discovering the things that are important to me and those that are not. I have found my personal leadership style, and I now pay attention to the leaders I come across each day. For this reason, volunteering has been both an enlightening and inspiring experience, for I am surrounded by peers, mentors, and the volunteer program director, all of whom are leaders with creative visions of their own.
Volunteering enables a person to develop new skills that he or she would otherwise not have been able to develop. Unlike most other organizations, a charitable organization is happy to give positions to passionate, though inexperienced, individuals who desire to help others and benefit the community. Therefore, an individual with little experience in a field of work can gain meaningful skills that he or she can use in the future. For example, while I volunteered at the hospital this summer, I learned about the daily work lives and professional duties of doctors and nurses. Had I not volunteered, I would not have learned about these things. I was always interested in the medical field, but volunteering at the hospital let me explore my interests and en...
Community involvement provides a setting where we develop the skills and attain the knowledge that will help us make a difference in our vast shifting society. It endeavors to provide us opportunities to make choices and stimulus to content our academic needs conscientiously and successfully.
I believe that my goal as an educator is to focus on helping students develop character and prepare for active citizenship. According to Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne, there are three types of citizens: (1) the personally responsible citizen, (2) the participatory citizen, and (3) the justice-oriented citizen. I believe that all three types of citizens are the kinds of citizens educators should want their students to become. With this in mind, I will promote the duties and responsibilities of these citizens in my classroom curriculum. I will give my students opportunities to be good citizens throughout my daily lessons.
Also in attendance to the meeting where, Samuel Johnson (Director of Human Resource), Katy Pudy (Superintendent), all school Principals and Vice Principals in the district, and teachers of the local schools.
Volunteer: a person who does work without getting paid to do it (Merriam, Webster). The act of volunteering gives people a sense of responsibility and makes one feel needed and useful to society, one way or another. Students should be obligated to give back to their communities through acts of community service. It should be viewed from the perspective of paying their dues back to the community, after all, the education of these students is free and it is the community that pays for it. Community service should be a mandatory high school graduation requirement because it builds ones character, limits the rate of teenage delinquency, and establishes a path for a better future as an individual.