Service-Learning in Somerset County

Sections:

2. Fact Sheet

3. Fellows

Contact the designated MSSA Regional Coordinator with questions, or to update information on this page.

1. Service-Learning Contact Information

2. Service-Learning Fact Sheet

Students participate in service-learning projects in grades 6, 7, and 8, earning 20 hours per grade. Students also earn 75 hours in 9th grade civic and science classes.

Breakdown:
Service-learning is infused in grades 6, 7, and 8 through interdisciplinary units. Service-learning is also infused in 9th grade in the following classes: civic class - election campaign projects during election years science class - environmental projects during non-election years.

Transfer Policy: two options are offered to transfer students or those students who have a special interest in continued community service: a community service course for credit (180 hours) is offered at Crisfield High School. Washington High School offers an independent study course (75 hours).

Reporting: Service-learning hours are not reported on students' report cards.

3. Teacher Fellows (see overview)

9th grade Government students learned about and provided service to clients of a Christian Shelter in Salisbury, Maryland. The students were also engaged in a directed writing exercise and discussion on what service-learning meant to them.

Meet a recognized community need: Our students addressed the issue of poverty. Students always visited the shelter around Easter, so students were asked to collect candy and fill Easter bags for youth who attend the shelter daily as part of an after-school program. Our students were also asked to write notes of encouragement to attach to each bag.

Achieve curricular objectives: Our curriculum includes a service-learning component in government.

Reflect through the service-learning experience: Students were required to put their reflection comments on a service-learning form. We also discussed our project as a class the next day.

Develop student responsibility: Each student has an assignment to complete for the shelter coordinator once we arrived at the shelter.

Establish community partnerships: I discussed our service-learning project goals with the coordinator of the Christian Shelter. This is our 4th year working with the Christian Shelter, as well as the Salvation Army.

Plan ahead for service-learning: I plan our service-learning project at the beginning of each semester. Then I discuss plans with our school coordinator and proceed with plans.

Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for service: First we viewed the video, "The Courage to Care, the Strength to Serve." Then we engaged in several writing assignments and class discussions.

Kathy Crockett, 1995, Greenwood Middle School, 410-651-0931

For the past 2 years, my involvement with service-learning has been with the Joseph House Village in Salisbury, MD. Our service-learning group has tackled numerous projects, such as: clearing an area for a playground, and conducting a canned food drive. To ease the burden of the shelter employees and residents the students assist through housecleaning, painting and landscaping projects.

Karen S. Curtis, 2001, Greenwood Middle School, 410-651-0931, kcurtis@somerset.k12.md.us

A team of 6th grade students raised money for a local homeless shelter through a walk/jump/shoot-a-thon. We presented the money to a shelter representative at a celebration luncheon attended by the top fundraisers. In the spring, we divided the students among our 3 or 4 local shelters and they helped the shelters with various tasks (i.e. plant flowers, scrub and clean, wash laundry, paint, do yard work, etc.).

Meet a recognized community need: Our project addressed a community need in our local shelters of a lack of funding. Our project on homelessness enabled the students to help the shelter financially and by donating their time.

Achieve curricular objectives: The homeless project was coordinated with an offshoot of our immigration unit. Students studied historical stories about underprivileged immigrants who've entered this country.

Reflect through the service-learning experience: The students engaged in reflection on the bus ride home by answering questions such as, "What did you do?", "How do you feel?", "What else can we do to make a difference?" Upon arrival at the school, students wrote a journal entry about their experiences and feelings.

Develop student responsibility: Students developed responsibility by raising money for the walk/jump/hoop-a-thon. They also brought in materials to donate to shelters or to take with them to use during our work/clean-up sessions.

Establish community partnerships: Through phone calls, we contacted agencies like Samaritan Shelter, Christian Shelter, Village of Hope, Seton Center and the Salvation Army.

Plan ahead for service-learning: When we left our work session, we let our shelters know we "would return." We called at Christmas and took gifts. We called 1- month prior to our spring visit and asked the shelters to start thinking about what they would like our students to do when we next visited.

Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for service: We started with the "Baby Story" which reviews the various types of service-learning (direct, indirect and advocacy) because our 6th graders were unfamiliar with service-learning. We then showed them the "Shelter Boy" video and/or had them read "Fly Away Home" and did a completely integrated lesson around the theme of homelessness. We also did the Pretzel Activity which explores distribution of wealth issues and draw pictures reflecting our misconceptions about homelessness. We then visited the shelters and prepared for our one-day blow out of Have-a-Heart-for-the-Homeless. We raised $2400.00 this year. Then we went to the shelters and worked willingly.