Service Learning Write Up

            During the fall of 2007, I interned at Blue Ridge Elementary in Ashe County, NC.  I was an intern in Penny Barnes’s 3^rd grade class.  While in this classroom, I was assigned to conduct a service project with the students.  I spoke with the other interns in the 3^rd grade and we decided to do the same project.  Since it was around Christmas time, we decided to have each third grade class put together a boy and a girl shoe box to send to Samaritan’s Purse.   I started off by writing a letter home to the parents describing what we were doing.  Then, I explained to the students what the project was for and asked them to help us out.  After a week of collecting items for the shoe boxes, the class wrote a classroom letter for to enclose in each shoe box.

            I feel that this was an appropriate project for these students to do.  It was around the season of giving and it would show the students the importance of giving and how easy it can be to do so.   They were excited about bring in items for the shoe box, but the turnout was not what I expected.  I only had three students bring something in.   But surprisingly, I was able to send off four boxes total.  One family put together two of their own.  They put together a boy and a girl one and enclosed the shipping fee for each.  Another student brought in enough supplies to make another boy and girl box.  We just needed to put them in the box and pay for the shipping.  Last minute, a parent sent in the shipping fee, in cash, for both of the other boxes.  I felt blessed by this.  Before I sent the boxes off, we wrote a note to enclose in the boxes.  We brainstormed what everyone wanted to include in the letter before we wrote the letter.  We decided to include where we were from and what we were doing.  We also sent an addressed envelope along with the letter, in hope that the recipient would send a letter back to us.  Once we wrote the rough draft out, four students volunteered to write the letters to put in the box.  Once those were complete, we passed the letters around for everyone to sign it. 

            I felt that this project was a success, because we were able to send off four shoeboxes to Samaritan’s Purse.  This was more than we planned to do and it feels good to help four children out.  I was also able to learn something through doing this too.  I feel that everyone needs to work together in a service project for it to be successful.  I felt that not my entire classroom participated in it, but we had three families that pulled through.  This showed me that not all things go as planned and you can’t always have things go as you want in a classroom. 

Rationale

DPI Standards

Standard 4, Indicator 11

Standard 4, Indicator 14

Standard 16, Indicator 1

Standard 16, Indicator 7

Context

            While my Block II internship, I put together a service learning project for me to do with the students.  For this, I chose to have the students put together a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child.  We decided to put together one girl box and one boy box.  The students had a week to bring in any items that they wanted to put in the box.  After we collected all the items, we put the box together and wrote a class letter to add to each box.  Then, I took the box to Samaritan’s Purse and they shipped them off. 

Impact

            I felt that this project was appropriate for the students to do.  They put together a box for two children in their age range, who were in need.  This was a way to teach them how to be good citizens and help others.  They were also able to practice their letter writing skills by including a letter in each box.  I hope to use this project when I have my own classroom.

Alignment

            By conducting this service learning project, I was able to meet a couple standards.  Standard 4, Indicator 11 states that teachers should promote the basic principles of being a citizen as vital to the development of responsible members of society by promoting an understanding of character development, including: Responsibility, Integrity, Self-discipline, Caring, Respect, Perseverance, Courage, and Citizenship.  I met this standard by conducting a project for my classroom to do to practice good acts of kindness to other society members.  Standard 4, Indicator 11 states teachers should apply content to life skills.  I met this standard by coming up with a service learning project that connects life skills to the social studies content area.  Standard 16, Indicator 1 states that teachers should not only develop as leaders in their schools and communities, themselves, but also involve students in activities outside the classroom.  I met this goal by having the students participate in the world around them.  They did this by putting together the boxes that will help others around them.  Standard 16, Indicator 7 states that teachers should encourage participation in civic and volunteer activities.  This goal was met by encouraging all the students in the class to participate in this volunteer activity.  I tried to show them that this was important to them also to the class.  The class was going to try to work as a team to accomplish this volunteer activity.