I really liked this reading. It made me think a lot about
how I never had opportunities in High School to do service learning and
community service. When I started tutoring it made me feel really good that I am
do something to help other people. It is a good feeling of self-satisfaction
and I also love doing things for other people. My group of friends I have call
me the mom of the group because I am also doing things for other people and
most of the time, for them. I love the feeling of doing something for someone
else and I love to see smiles on people’s faces due to something I had done for
them.
The only type of service learning I did in High school was a
graduation requirement that was done in my sophomore US History class. We got
into groups chosen by the teacher. I didn’t really know anyone in my group so
we were kind of all miserable and just wanted to get it over with. We decided
to collect food cans at the local Stop & Shop for hungry children around
the US. So on a Saturday morning my group of four other teenagers got up on our
day off from school at seven in the morning. It was definitely not a fun
experience.
When I started
tutoring I got the feeling of regret. I wish that I had done more service
learning projects and community service in High School and even Middle School.
It is hard to tell if people actually really enjoy something like this or if
they do it just for a grade or whatever it may be. I guess the only way you can
really find out is if they do it for own experience or something like that.
http://youtu.be/NVs22pLzCoo
Talking points: Did anyone do some kind of service learning
or community service that was really interesting or touching?
I can definitely relate to your feeling that you didn't really make a difference in your service learning experience because my high school didn't make us go out and help the community in some way. We just paired up with a teacher and helped them for a semester. Plus, it was optional so not every student had to do it. I think that some schools miss the point of the service learning projects and it's a shame because we can really make a big difference just by small acts.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you came at this from another angle and focused on how the reading made you feel in a negative way, instead of thinking of a positive experience. I just puts a whole new spin on things. It made me grateful for the positive experience that i did have in high school during my service learning project. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling of feeling like you didn't do enough. When you actually do something and see all the people/things that need help in our world there's just not enough time to do it all. So the little that we do participate in, at least we know we're doing what we can to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I had to do a service learning project in order to graduate. My group was the only one in the grade that really thought about doing something in the community. We did a Save The Bay project where we held a clean up at the Mt. Hope Bay. We also made pamphlets that showed the harms of pollution and what people could do to reduce these risks. My group got really into the project and felt like we accomplished something. However, I wish that there was more reflection involved. The whole class never got together and explained their projects to each other. It is one thing to make students participate in their community, but it is another to have them want to keep participating.
ReplyDelete