Unit Framework- Email the teacher
Title:Service Learning Project
Subject and Level: Social Studies Grade 5
Learner Description: 5th grade students who are enthusiastic about helping others.
Overview: The service learning project will tap into the values being taught at our building and will provide the students a vehicle for practicing these concepts. We are addressing the fundamental question : How as a class can we meet the needs or our community/society?
Rationale: The purpose of this unit is to give students a real-life situation where they can utilize their skills/values in a community setting. Also, we would like our students to experience the self-satisfaction of helping those in need.
Engaged Learning Criteria: This project meets the engaged learning criteria because:
A. The learning is authentic.
B. Students will be an information seeker.
C. Students will use critical thinking skills.
D. The learning is contextual.
E. The teacher will be acting as a facilitator.
F. The content is challenging and multifaceted.
Technological Component: Technology is important to this project as a resource for gathering information as well as being utilized as a presentation tool.
Authentic Learning: This project is authentic because students not only chose the topic but are participating in a project that they feel connected to and passionate about. The feel like they will be working for a cause to "make a difference" within our community.
Goals
What new skills, attitudes, and knowledge do we expect students to gain?
At the end of this unit, students will:
1. Know the steps needed to gather information first-hand from a human
resource, including writing interview questions, and learning how to
build upon an answer to obtain more information.
2. Work cooperatively in small groups to attain, decipher, edit, and
compile lists of information, purposefully selecting the most important
information, while discarding less important information.
3. Develop an appreciation of the knowledge and friendships that our
senior citizens can share with us.
4. Learn how to interact with adults in an interview and interpersonal
setting.
5. Gain knowledge about the history of the communities that surround
them.
6. Create a presentation using transcribed information that they
gathered and present it to a group of children and adults in a school
setting.
7. Feel self-satisfaction for completion of a challenging assignment.
What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are
addressed?
Learning Activities
The activities required to achieve these goals are as follows:
1. Introduce service learning by discussing the meaning of service
learning, and eliciting examples from students. (Examples: Girl Scout
Charity Drive, Church car wash, etc.)
2. Ask students to brainstorm in small groups to come up with 3 possible
service projects that children could participate in, as well as some
learning outcomes that students would benefit from as a result of having
participated in these activities.
3. After 10 minutes, come together and share information, asking each
group to select one activity and its learning outcomes. Have a student
at the computer writing down the ideas solicited, having the TV monitor
on, so that the class can follow along.
4. Following the discussion, ask the following question, "Is it possible
to learn something while helping others?" Discuss responses, and lead
the students to realize that there are many things a person could learn
valuable information simply by helping others.
5. Springboard the student responses as a lead-in to our learning
prompt, "Learning History through the Eyes of Others".
6. Distribute Learning Prompt. (attached)
7. Assign partners or allow students to pick partners and allow students
to immediately begin planning their history projects.
8. Allow several planning times for students to compile lists of
information that they feel is worthwhile to learn about from others, and
create interview questions.
9. Basically, students are to gather information from a senior citizen
about things that happened in our community over the last 50-60 years,
and then compare and contrast that to information that the students
themselves know about. (Some topics that students might include are:
famous people, places and restaurants, slang expressions, style of
clothing, latest fads)
10. The students will meet with the volunteers to interview them, and
gather information.
11. Students will then create a video presentation of some type to show
their results. (HyperStudio or video camera news show for example)
12. After several weeks of preparation, we will again meet with our
senior friends, and the students will demonstrate their knowledge gained
through demonstration of their presentations.
13. The project will culminate with a luncheon or festive treat
following the presentations so that the students and their senior
friends can relax and congratulate each other for their accomplishments.
What state standards does the unit address:
English/Language Arts
State Goal 1: Read with understanding and fluency
C: Comprehend a broad range of reading material
Stage Goal 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations
A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations
Science
State Goal 13: Understand the relationships among science, technology and society in historical and contemporary contexts
B: Know and apply concepts that describe, the interaction between science, technology and society. (changes over time)
State Goal 27: Understand the role of the arts in civilizations, past and present
A. Analyze how the arts function in history, society and everyday life
B. Understand how the arts shape and reflect history, society and everyday life.
Social Science
State Goal 18: Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
A. Compare characteristics of culture a reflected in language, literature, the arts, traditions and institutions
B. Understand the roles and interactions of individual and groups in society
C. Understand how social systems form and develop over time
Technology is an important part of this unit because students will:
Learn how to use the following
Learn about these software programs
Students will learn how to format a disk for the digital camera.
Student Assessment:
The students will be assessed on an ongoing basis. Students will be keeping a Personal Learning Journal which documents their learning process on a daily basis. The standards rubrics will be developed by the students who will determine the criteria for this journal. Weekly Group Processing Sheets will also be administered to each group to assess the productivity of each learning group. Daily observations and anecdotal notes will be kept by the teacher in order to monitor a group's progress. Checklists and interviewing rubrics will be developed by the students for analyzing interviewing questions. Finally, the project will be evaluated through the students' performance on their exhibition or presentation project. Students will create a standards rubric for the performance task as well as the presentation (oral presentation).
Resources:
We will use the following resources for our project:
Human--participants from the retirement village who will share information with our students
Technological--Students will need computers to compile information into a presentation form. Specifically, AppleWorks 6, and Internee, and HyperStudio Browser will be utilized.
Community/School Resources--We will need to use a large meeting area in the school to accommodate the retirement village visitors. Perhaps asking for use of the library would be appropriate.
Management of Materials and Space: Since there are many aspects of the project, classroom computers and classroom desks can be used. Since different groups will be a different stages, it is not likely that they will all need to computers at the same time. If more computers are needed flex time in the computer lab can be utilized.
Special Needs Students: Since much of the project is gathering information verbally and writing it down, student with special needs can be partnered with another student who can assist them. Use of tape recorders or parent helpers will also be employed.
Unit Evaluation:
By careful observation, teacher facilitators will watch for time on task, percentage of computer down time, student enthusiasm, reactions from retirement community participants, and document obstacles that students faced. Through daily/weekly debriefing sessions with the students, we will be discussing what worked and what they experienced as difficulties. Upon the conclusion of the unit, a unit reflection sheet will be given to both the students as well as the retirement community participants. This survey will ask for reactions regarding the strengths as well as what could have made the unit flow better.