Start Your Own Family Service ClubA. What is Service Learning?
Service learning is an instructional strategy that has linked community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility and strength communities. It is a tool for academic institutions to encourage students to participate in community service, while at the same time making sure that academic learning is a part of this service. Service learning also has mutual benefit for both the student and community B. What are Examples of Service Learning Activities?
C. How Can Service Learning Be Applied to Families? Start Your Own Family Service Club: A Brief Tool Kit: We have had the chance to explore how service learning can enhance student instruction and professional development. Over the years we have had the opportunity to present our findings to diverse audiences at local conferences and through written publication. Through our involvement in service learning on an academic scale, we began to explore how an application of “simple acts of service” could enrich families across generations. It became clear that family service clubs can be a great, simple tool that can teach families about important human virtues, civic engagement, the importance of personal reflection and support the acquisition of helpful personal/professional life skills (especially early in one’s maturation). It can also encourage families to engage in service on a consistent basis. Indeed family service learning can be a helpful, simple tool to strengthen diverse family units and on a larger scale our communities. We have included below the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) six step model (steps 1-6) to guide your family service club development and associated activities. This six-step process is currently being implemented through NCFL’s Toyota Family Learning Program. We hope that this six step model aids your family in the development of its own family service club. A (summary) has been complied to detail how we were able to apply the NCFL six-step process to our family service activities. 1. INVESTIGATION: Parents and children investigate community problems that they might potentially address. Investigation involves research and a community mapping activity. 2. PLANNING AND PREPARATION: Parents, children, community members, and teachers learn about and plan the service activities. This step includes acquiring content knowledge and addressing the administrative issues needed for a successful project. Seven Helpful Website for Identifying Service Opportunities: · Volunteer Match.org: www.VolunteerMatch.org · Idealist.org: www.Idealist.org · Points Of Light.org: http://www.pointsoflight.org/handsonnetwork · Create The Good.org: http://www.createthegood.org/ · Project Helping.org: https://projecthelping.org/ · Doing Good Together: https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/ 3. ACTION (implementing the service activity): Parents, children, community members, and teachers carry out and complete the family service learning project. 4. REFLECTION: Parents and children debrief and reflect on the service-learning experience. Activities include thinking about the project implementation, the meaning and connection between parents’ work and the community, and what children have learned in school. 5. DEMONSTRATION OF RESULTS AND CELEBRATION: Families, program staff, community participants, and others publicly share what they have achieved and learned. 6. SUSTAINABILITY: Parents and program staff plan how to make their project or family service learning an ongoing endeavor. This may include strengthening or cementing partnerships, generating and leveraging resources, and identifying and securing funding sources that are available over time. Please Note: To learn more about the The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) please visit: https://www.familieslearning.org. Finally, please feel free to share your family service experiences and message us through our Facebook page: Omenala Service Learning Collaborative. We welcome hearing about your service learning experiences, as we seek to exchange ideas and compile a list of family service activities that have enriched lives. |