9th Grade Service Learning Projects

Students in Claude Sigmund's 9th grade Government Class recently completed service learning projects. Students were asked to come up with a project that they were passionate about, and answer the following questions:

1) Why do you care about this issue?
2) What is the root cause/underlying problem?
3) Research your issue. Find 2 good articles to inform you on this topic. Write a 1 page description of how the information from these articles impact how you would interact with this issue. Use specific quotes, statistics from the articles and other pertinent pieces of information.
4) What are some resources/organization that can help you interact with this issue and/or accomplish your goal? Make sure you include contact information such as Names, addresses, phone numbers, web address.
5) What are potential projects you could do to affect and/or impact this issue (2-3 ideas)
a. Name of project idea
b. Basic outline/timeline of proposal (paragraph)
c. Impact? How will your actions impact the people/ community surrounding the issue?

Students independently made contact with the organizations, journaled about their experiences and interviewed experts on their issue. Some created movies, some blogs, Web sites, and some did a combination of both. Below are a few that were created for public consumption.

• Welcome! (kellyellaesl)

  Service Learning project where students volunteered in a English as a Second Language classroom.

• Piano Buddies Service Project

  Service Learning project dealing with homeless children and music.

• Government Service Project - Home

  Service Learning project on the Crisis Nursery

• Home (Abbott Northwestern Hospital Volunteering)

  Service Learning Project on volunteering at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and what the students learned about the General Assistance Medical Care program. This project includes an interview with State Representative Keith Downey.

• Posts about Volunteering (Dakota Woodlands Volunteering)

  Service Learning for a short term housing facility for homeless women.

• Movie - Homelessness Service Project

  Service Learning project on Homelessness. The blog posts here are very good.

• YouTube - Windmill Animal Rescue Service Project

I think this project is a great example of authentic student learning and how technology can be used to expand that learning to a broader audience. It's a great example of what is working in public education!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.