Students' thoughts on mandateCatalystAbout 80 of Senn High School's 1,679 students have completed a total of 2,600 hours of service learning since 1997, when the school started keeping track. Five students recently shared their experiences and opinions with Associate Editor Debra Williams.
Thi Kim, sophomore
Swedish American Museum
I volunteered because I knew it was required. I chose the Swedish Museum on Clark Street because one day on my way home, I thought it looked like an interesting place. I help fix things, clean up and help get the museum prepared for visitors.
The Swedish Museum... > Read More |
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Community service snapshotsDebra WilliamsHUBBARD Students are tutoring students in Hurley Elementary's Lighthouse Program and at a nearby library. They are volunteering at the Greater Food Depository at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. They plan to design T-shirts for "Take Back the Night," a domestic violence program. They have collected donations during the annual West Community YMCA Tag Day.
WESTINGHOUSE Students are serving food to the poor through Bethel New Life and helped with painting at nearby Morse Elementary School.
PROSSER Students are volunteering at a nearby retirement... > Read More |
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Teachers make learning come aliveDebra WilliamsPat Conroy
Hubbard
"Talk about taking high school kids and making them men instantly." Pat Conroy says that's what happened last school year when students in his cabinetmaking class at Hubbard High School delivered bunk beds they had made to a homeless shelter on the South Side.
As the students assembled the beds at St. Elizabeth Catholic Worker Shelter, 8025 S. Honore, some 20 mothers and kids showered them with repeated "thank yous."
Beaming all the while, Conroy's students "realized they had done something really valuable," he says, "and that's... > Read More |
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Even with running start, state struggles with mandateKimberly FornekIf service learning has a hot bed, Maryland is it. In 1983, the state superintendent sought to make it a graduation requirement, but had to settle for half a loaf: The state school board instead required school districts to offer community service opportunities for credit.
Five years later, the state partnered with private foundations and formed the Maryland Student Service Alliance to help schools conduct service learning, and the up-and-coming Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, now lieutenant governor, was appointed executive director.
In 1992, the state board finally made service... > Read More |
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Baltimore targets grades 7-10Kimberly FornekWith less than three months left in the school year, a third of the seniors in Baltimore's largest high school have not completed their service learning requirement. At another of the city's large high schools, 55 percent are still lacking the service hours needed to graduate. It's been that way in the city's schools since the state's service learning requirement kicked in with the Class of '97. A new set of Baltimore guidelines, however, seeks to diminish the number of 11th-hour cases. Henceforth, students will be expected to log the required 75 hours before they enter junior year, when... > Read More |
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Essential componentsCatalyst StaffBorrowing from the Maryland Student Service Alliance, the Chicago Public Schools call for projects that:
Plan ahead for service learning.
Meet a recognized need in the community.
Establish community partnerships.
Achieve curricular objectives through service learning.
Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for service experience.
Develop student responsibility.
Incorporate reflection throughout the service learning experience.
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Bowen going great—with only 50 studentsDebra WilliamsWhen it comes to service learning, Bowen High School is cooking. Last fall, the South Chicago school was one of two Chicago public schools represented in the Mikva Challenge, a program that places teenagers as volunteers in political campaigns. Named for Abner Mikva, a former chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. and a former congressman from Chicago, the program is aimed at introducing teenagers to the political process. In addition, says Bowen social studies teacher Michael Myer, "This project forced my students to apply their English and strengthen their speaking... > Read More |
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Mandates test teachers[i]Catalyst[/i] staffMost service learning coaches report that teachers feel overwhelmed by other, new School Board mandates and programs.
The Reform Board's requirements include:
ADVISORY Like an in-depth home room, a group of students is assigned to a teacher who is supposed to stay with them for all four years of high school, working on study skills, social skills and the like. Advisories are aimed at fostering closer ties between teachers and students and ensuring that troubled students don't fall through the cracks of large high schools.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS Beginning... > Read More |
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Schools say no time for service learningDebra WilliamsIn September 1997, the School Reform Board made 40 hours of community service a requirement for graduation—beginning with this year's sophomores—and directed schools to weave the service into classroom studies. As the program now stands, schools don't see how they're going to do that.
John Mullins, the service learning coach at Taft High School, sums up the predicament of coaches citywide. "This program means getting kids into a program, doing the follow-up, keeping up with their time. I'm also the dean of students, and the person who is helping me is a teacher in a classroom. My... > Read More |
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