Discussions

1. Service Learning
    
   Research indicates that high quality academic, civic and social outcomes occur when service learning is incorporated into a school’s curricula.  Why do you think this occurs? Have you ever been involved in service learning at your school?  Relate what kind of service learning projects you think would build a bridge to the community.
2. Hierarchy of Needs 
    
   Hjalmarson focuses on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Triangle to prioritize school outreach efforts.  Why do you think it is important to concentrate on basic needs first?  What is your experience with schools that understand the imperative to take care of basic needs as step one of any school to parent outreach program?

Journal
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Specific Needs and Culture

Explain how a service learning project can fit into the specific needs and culture of your school or future a school in which you will be working.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entries. 

Assignment

A Strategic Plan to Involve School-Family-Community Partnerships via Service Learning

Service Learning is a term used to describe planned learning activities in which students learn curricular lessons/materials through school and/or community service. An example would be using math and writing skills to plan, create, and publicize a community garden space. The students benefit from using curricular skills to create a concrete entity, learning valuable lessons about serving others, while the community benefits from a new garden space. 

For this assignment:

• Create an annotated outline that explains the steps you would take to help students plan, create, and publicize a project benefitting the community. 
• Student academic, curricular, physical, and social development should be explicitly detailed in your outline. 
• Additionally, your outline should clearly demonstrate a connection to service learning ideas, identifying the project, how it will proceed, and citing/referencing at least three scholarly service learning sources in APA style. 
• Finally, while there is no specified length for your outline, your outline should fully explain what you intend to have students do and why you intend to have them do it.
  

 

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Required Resources

1. Read from your text, Differentiated Parent Support: Engaging Parents in Unique Ways to Increase Their Involvement in School:
   • Chapter Nine – Tier Four: The Checked-Out Parent
   • Chapter Ten – Community Outreach

Recommended Resources

1. Kielsmeier, J. C. (2010). Build a Bridge Between Service and Learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(5), 8-15. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
   • Service learning is both a philosophy and a methodological approach to meet academic development while using community resources. It can create a bridge to business, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to support student learning.
      
2. Lopez, C. & Donovan, L. (2009). Involving Latino Parents With Mathematics Through Family Math Nights: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Latinos & Education, 8(3), 219-230.
   • This resource investigates family-school partnerships that (a) empower Latino families in the area of mathematics education, (b) promote student achievement in mathematics, (c) impact parent-child involvement in mathematics at home, and (d) support Family Math Nights. Family Math Nights are school-sponsored events in which parents, teachers, and students interact around a mathematics curriculum.

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