Service-Learning Reflection

1. Service-Learning Reflection Elizabeth Larson-Keagy, PhD Service Learning in Maryland’s Community Colleges Training Seminar Howard Community College June 10, 2005

2. REFLECTION • Reflect = To think seriously; contemplate; ponder • Reflection = The fixing of the mind on some subject; serious thought; contemplation • Deliberate = to consider, weigh well; 1. Carefully thought out or formed; premeditated; done on purpose. 2. Formed with deliberation; careful in considering; not sudden or rash

3. 3-dimensions of reflection • The task itself • The contexts of the task (social, political, economic, etc…) • The issues of the human spirit (questions of purpose, meaning, suffering, hope, friendship, justice, care, and responsibility)

4. Service learning is designed to work toward ‘social transformation.’ That is, service learning is “a commitment to a different social order based on equality, justice, and freedom from oppression”.

5. Questions & tips for reflection Ask: • What is my contribution at my site of service? • How will this experience challenge my beliefs & values? • How will this opportunity clarify my career goals? • How will I growas a human being? • How will this service-learning opportunity impact my understanding of civic responsibility, as a student, and as a member of the global community? • How do I feel about my service experience? • How has conducting service changed me in any way? As an individual? As a member of the community? Is service something I value? Why or why not?

6. Description • Describe an experience, reading, event, encounter…in detail • Its purpose, your role (active/passive; participant/observer/assistant…), the environment/situation/venue

7. Evaluation • What were your expectations, thoughts or opinions before the experience? • What did you learn from the experience, event, encounter…? • What did you learn about yourself after the experience, event, encounter…? • If the experience challenged your personal values, beliefs or opinions, ask the question, “Why would another otherwise reasonable person agree with this position?”. • Think deeply about why another perspective, especially if it’s very different from your own, might indeed have some merit or truth to it. • This will greatly expand your ability to think critically, consider, and weigh options, alternatives, opinions…

8. Integration • Community • Civic Responsibility • How did the experience…change what you thought you knew, or deepen what you knew? • How did you change as a result of the experience, event…? • Has the experience affected your intention to becomemore active or engaged in service learning, or simply more aware of the complexity of the world around you and your role in it?

9. Continuous Reflection • Critical reflection must be an ongoing part of a learner’s education and service involvement over the course of his or her educational career. “I think the main thing that helps is that all of us in the organization, we sit down and talk about the different problems – and also, you can’t find the solutions to problems in books, you can get a basic understanding, maybe – but until you deal with the problem and have to focus on it, you don’t know how to respond to that. So, a lot of times it helps to sit down in a group. We do it every Sunday…sit down and talk about the different things.” -- Bentley College Student

10. Connected Reflection • Connected reflection links service to the intellectual and academic pursuits of the students. Service experiences illustrate theories and concepts, bringing statistics to life and making academics real and vivid. Academic pursuits add a “big picture” context to the personal encounters of each isolated service or experience and help you search for causes and solutions to social/environmental issues. “…We constantly take real life situations and apply them to what’s in the book so that we can intermingle the two and come up with solid conclusions for problems that are relevant…” – Clark Atlanta College Student

11. Challenging Reflection • One of the most critical components of effective reflection is often the most difficult to implement: challenging students to engage issues/problems in more critical ways. Students report that challenging reflection pushed them to think in new ways, to develop alternative explanations for experiences and observations, and to question their original perceptions of issues and events. “ One of my teachers forced me to do a directed kind of study…I wrote a paper for a class on the homeless…. As a good teacher, she asked the right questions and said, I need more research, and have you thought about this? So it was just those little red marks on a paper that made me go back and find an article and then, you know, that really makes sense. So I think it was the process of researching that I learned more.” – University of Tennessee Student

12. Contextualized Reflection • Immersion in an authentic community experience provided a rich context for learning, adding relevance to academic exploration. Reflection, when it is purposefully implemented in an appropriate and meaningful context, adds to the richness of the synthesis between thinking and doing. “…When you apply what you’re learning that’s the way you really learn it…If you don’t practice it, you’re not going to learn it.” -- University of San Diego Student

13. Reflection Activities • Journals • Group / Circle discussion • Directed/Thematic writing • Portfolios • Presentations / Creative Demonstrations • Electronic Forum • Student Volunteer as Expert (group discussion leaders; at a meeting; on a committee; at a conference)

14. Sources • “Facilitating Reflection” at www.uvm.edu/~dewey/reflection_manual • “S-L Outcomes, Reflection, and Assessment” at www.compact.org/disciplines/reflection/outcomes • “Service Learning Guidelines” at www.psyking.net/id117_m.htm • The National Service Resource Center at http://epicenter.nationalserviceresources.org • Community College National Center for Community Engagement at www.mc.maricopa.edu/engagement/

15. A 3-part-Reflection Question If it is so that: Service learning is designed to work toward ‘social transformation,’ that it is “a commitment to a different social order based on equality, justice, and freedom from oppression”, Then: What is or, what should be my role as an educator/administrator/service learning staff? Write/Reflect for about 7 minutes.