Abstract
Introduction & Rationale
Global Learning. It’s a buzz word these days in educational circles, but what does it really mean? Obviously I want my students to be connected to the world around them. After all, they will be entering a global society upon graduation and as teachers, it's our job to prepare them for this, but how? It just isn't possible to take students around the world to meet different people and experience different cultures. As teachers, we have to show our students how to think globally without leaving the classroom. And, let's be honest for just a second and consider the fact that I teach middle schoolers. Sometimes, getting them to think about anyone except for themselves is a challenge!
As a teacher, I spend countless hours racking my brain on ways to get my students to be engaged in what they are learning. Scratch that, to care about what they are learning. Ultimately, as a teacher, I want my students to remember what they did in my classroom because it was somehow meaningful to them. This is no easy task and the overwhelming nature of it can leave many teachers feeling hopeless. I found myself in this boat two years ago.
As I began to plan my traditional research writing unit I felt bored, stagnant, and uninspired by the traditional research prompt. How was I to get my students engaged in this lesson if I couldn’t even muster up the spirit? I took my concern to a colleague and friend who suggested I incorporate service learning into my unit. It was the first time I had ever heard of service learning, but as a civically-minded person I was open to the idea. However, I wasn’t sure how I could incorporate service learning into my classroom. After all, I have a set of standards that I have to stick to.
I decided to do a little digging into service learning, and the more I read about it, the more ways I found to connect my curriculum to service learning. The result was a service learning project that incorporated not only the research writing standards I’d been planning for with my unit, but also curriculum standards in public speaking. And of course, the unit contained a service learning component. What’s more, through this process, I saw my students start to care about what they were learning AND who they were learning about. After reading student reflections, I realized that the service learning component had helped them to see the world beyond just their classrooms and neighborhoods, and had opened them up to the struggles and sufferings of those around them. It is for this reason, that I continue to incorporate service learning into my ELA 8 classroom.
As a teacher, I spend countless hours racking my brain on ways to get my students to be engaged in what they are learning. Scratch that, to care about what they are learning. Ultimately, as a teacher, I want my students to remember what they did in my classroom because it was somehow meaningful to them. This is no easy task and the overwhelming nature of it can leave many teachers feeling hopeless. I found myself in this boat two years ago.
As I began to plan my traditional research writing unit I felt bored, stagnant, and uninspired by the traditional research prompt. How was I to get my students engaged in this lesson if I couldn’t even muster up the spirit? I took my concern to a colleague and friend who suggested I incorporate service learning into my unit. It was the first time I had ever heard of service learning, but as a civically-minded person I was open to the idea. However, I wasn’t sure how I could incorporate service learning into my classroom. After all, I have a set of standards that I have to stick to.
I decided to do a little digging into service learning, and the more I read about it, the more ways I found to connect my curriculum to service learning. The result was a service learning project that incorporated not only the research writing standards I’d been planning for with my unit, but also curriculum standards in public speaking. And of course, the unit contained a service learning component. What’s more, through this process, I saw my students start to care about what they were learning AND who they were learning about. After reading student reflections, I realized that the service learning component had helped them to see the world beyond just their classrooms and neighborhoods, and had opened them up to the struggles and sufferings of those around them. It is for this reason, that I continue to incorporate service learning into my ELA 8 classroom.