The Impact of Service Learning
Written by Second - Year Educator and McGraw-Hill Education Guest Blogger Shelby Denhof
Year 2 of teaching for me is just around the corner. Looking back at the first year, there are a number of events that stand out as the most memorable and meaningful. No, it wasn’t when we learned the difference between a protagonist and antagonist (or studied any literary terms, for that matter). No, it also wasn’t when we plotted the story of “The Lottery” on a plot diagram, and it definitely wasn’t when we painstakingly navigated our way through our first argumentative essay.
The events that stand out the most are the experiences focused around service learning.
Simply put, service learning is integrating community service with instruction and reflection in the classroom to enrich and deepen the learning experience. Service learning is a large part of the culture of most colleges and even at the high school level, but isn’t often found at the middle school level. I thought I’d give it a try.
One day early on in the year, my seventh graders came in to see my whiteboards covered in writing. One board was titled “I Care About…” and the other “I Want to Learn More About…” Sprawled out across each board was every topic and issue I could think of, including vague ideas such as the environment, homelessness, cancer, and healthy food. As kids walked in, I handed them markers so they could put tallies next to what intrigued them. I learned two things about this specific group quickly: they care a lot about animals and helping other kids.
I put that information to use. By Monday morning, there were new things up on the board: two adorable pictures of my own rescue pets and a list of local animal shelters. I told them all about where my pets came from and the kind of work shelters do. I suggested we collect items to donate and my students overwhelmingly agreed. For the rest of the day, they researched the shelters and discussed which we should support and what items they needed the most. As a class, we compiled a list of those items on the board for later reference. What came out of this activity put a smile on my face; I was proud of their research skills, their critical thinking, and their ability to support their opinions with evidence and reasoning. It was all the skills we work on regularly shown organically and driven by passion. I knew right away that the drive was going to go well.
Each day, even the most apathetic of kids would be scribbling reminders down on the back of their hands to remember to bring in donations. Day after day, the donation pile grew.
One shy girl, Jenna, quietly brought in bag after bag of items. “Dude, you are seriously awesome!” I told her earnestly, stopping her briefly as she walked in. “Where are you getting all of these things? You’ve brought in more than anyone.” Turning her gaze from the floor, she looked up at me and explained: “Well, I really love cats. My cat, Bugsy, has all these toys he doesn’t like, and my mom also took me to the store to get more things. Yesterday, I went to my neighbors’ houses to see if they had anything they’d like to donate, too. Can I show you a picture of my cat later?” A smile creeped across her face. This was her moment to shine and she was rocking it.
After completing two successful drives one for the animal shelter and another for a drop-in center for homeless youth it was time to try something new. I floated the idea of going on a Saturday morning to the nearest Ronald McDonald House to cook meals for the families staying there while their children were in the area hospitals. I naively had low expectations and assumed only a handful of kids would care about going. I couldn’t have been more wrong. By the end of the day, I had forty-two kids wanting to go with me on Saturday when I only needed eight.
I had no idea what to do with so many eager kids. Their excitement was contagious, and I was proud to see so many kids willing to do something they’d never done before, so instead of having volunteering be a one-and-done event, it became a monthly activity that we all could look forward to. We dedicated a Saturday morning every month to going out in the community for good, hard work together.
The changes I saw in my students, myself, and my classroom were apparent and long-lasting. Adding a service learning aspect to my classroom was a bumpy ride at first (after all, there’s a lot to coordinate), but it garnered huge rewards.
Service learning shows students that their teacher is passionate.
As adults, we are bothered by people who don’t seem to be their true selves around us. Kids feel that way, too. They crave authenticity from us. It’s beneficial for teachers to share their passions and let their personalities shine. For me, I’m totally geeked about the idea of serving the community and by sharing that passion with my students, we were able to strengthen that student teacher relationship, making them much more willing to keep up with my rigorous academic expectations.
It helps students grow passions of their own.
If we are excited about something, chances are our students will get pumped about it, too. By giving students a voice with something like volunteering, an endless number of topics open up to them, often neglected in the curriculum. With service work, too, a natural curiosity comes about because the students want to know more, to understand. I can’t think of a more important trait than that in the classroom. Curiosity is pure gold.
It builds classroom community.
I teach seventh grade in a district with an overwhelmingly competitive atmosphere. My students often feel at odds with other kids, themselves, and their families. It’s vital to create a safe space for them when they walk in the door, and service learning helped build that in my own classroom. The volunteer work we did and the discussions we had about it charged our spirits and brought students together for a common purpose, kids who maybe never would have interacted naturally otherwise. Accomplishing challenging goals together is a special thing. It’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement.
It expands their world and teaches them new skills.
Service learning is a way for students to experience their community in a totally different way, pushing them out of their comfort zones. Students also have opportunities to learn new skills through service learning. When I brought students to the local Ronald McDonald House, for example, we cooked up some deluxe dishes for the guests there. Most of the students who came had spent little time preparing food before (it took one boy, Adam, twenty minutes to dice up a bell pepper), but by the end of the day, I swear it felt like we were all in an episode of Iron Chef.
It fosters compassion and understanding.
I incorporate service learning into my curriculum because I believe my purpose as an educator is to teach my young students to care about the world and the people in it. By volunteering together, students see and experience more than just what they are used to. Volunteering within the community teaches them how an open mind and a willingness to listen can mean the world to someone.
I took a group of students to a small homeless shelter specifically for families with young children. The place felt more like a cozy house than a sterile shelter. One kid, Reece, shocked everyone and signed up to go. Having a reputation for being a bully, he’s the last kid I’d expect to be interested. “You’re going to let him go with you? I’d be worried if I was you. You better watch him,” a coworker warned. When the day arrived, the employees explained to us many of the issues surrounding homelessness and why most families don’t go to traditional homeless shelters. My kids listened intently and had an endless number of questions, including Reece. My fifteen students and I broke up into groups to accomplish different tasks: some were baking cookies, others were sorting the food pantry, and my group was given the chore of folding and organizing clothing donations from stores, including men’s underwear. I expected my students to laugh, but they never did. I expected them to be grossed out, but they weren’t. And no one took more pride in folding the clothes well more than Reece, who lightly criticized the other boys for not taking care of the clothes properly. “Would you want to get a shirt that’s all bundled up and wrinkled like that?” he questioned. “Here, you gotta fold it like this.”
At one point while working, Reece disappeared. With Reece’s reputation in the back of my head, I panicked a little bit and went searching for him. What I saw made me feel ashamed for ever doubting him: I turned the corner and saw him crouched down playing catch with a toddler staying at the shelter. Both Reece and the boy were laughing and smiling.
Service learning breaks down barriers between people. It lets people shine in ways they never knew they could. It fosters responsibility, builds relationships, and gives young people confidence and develops empathy. With the next school year fast approaching, I’ll soon have over a hundred new faces looking up at me, wondering what we’ll be doing and where I’m taking them with our year together. I can’t help but smile at the thought of all the possibilities and what we will accomplish together.
Shelby Denhof is navigating her second year as an educator. She teaches 7th grade English as well as an intervention course for struggling readers in Rockford, Michigan. Embedded in her teaching is her passion for literacy, service learning, and fostering character strengths in her students. When she’s not in the classroom, she spends her time cooking, petting every dog she sees, listening to history podcasts, and going camping and hiking.
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