A Powerful Event to Investigate Poverty
This speaker series, held this month in Venice on June 20th from 7-9pm, directly correlates to our spring panel on poverty. Coordinated by a few of our panelists, we highly recommend attending this special event to witness the power of story and first-hand experiences as a form of service learning investigation!
No Poverty: Exploring the UN Sustainable Goal at our Winter Meeting
Cathy Berger Kaye led the ECSL Winter 2018 meeting, where she unpacked the issue of poverty and how teachers can use the related UN Sustainable Goal to help address the issue locally with students. Take a look inside the meeting to learn how!
Winter Workshop 2018
New year, new opportunity to advance service learning for the sake of our communities and to the benefit of our students’ skills sets for addressing meaningful change! Join us for our Winter Workshop. RSVP below.
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Linking Frameworks of Student Inquiry (Fall Meeting Resources)
ECSL’s 2017-2018 professional development content was introduced at our fall workshop and focused on how the principles of service learning intersect with other student-led inquiry approaches (such as Challenge-Based Learning, Design Thinking, Project-Based Learning, etc). These frameworks are not mutually exclusive- they all support student-driven initiatives with outcomes that serve a purpose!
Participants were given the opportunity to hear two service learning stories with teacher and student presenters from Turning Point and Oakwood School. These stories helped attendees see the process of service learning in action and helped them glimpse ways they can expand and enrich their own plans for social action this year. Following the presentations, students and the supporting teachers engaged in discussion with participants. It was an opportunity for attendees to reflect upon their own programs and establish takeaways applicable to their plans for the school year ahead.
Participants were also encouraged to compare and contrast their existing curriculum frameworks (adopted in their classrooms or schools) with the Five Stages of Service Learning. Seeing the similarities in these philosophies offers teachers new ways of approaching student-led inquiry. ECSL welcomes you to use the framework comparison document shared at the meeting in order to explore ways popular curriculum frameworks intersect with service learning!
In this exercise, teachers examine other frameworks of student inquiry alongside the service learning process. The five stages of service learning are represented in the outer circle of the diagram. The inner circle is used to align elements of another inquiry processes with these stages to draw connections between the practices. With this exercise, teachers see how service learning themes tie into their existing curriculum and how they can use this five-stage method to add rigor to their student inquiry curriculum.
ECSL Dinner Workshop: Pathways to Understanding through Gardening and Food
Sustainability for our planet by reducing waste and growing resilient gardens. Sustainability for our communities by increasing empathy and embracing diversity. Join ECSL and Netiya for an innovative dinner workshop that bridges the concepts of food and social justice. Cook farm-to-table ethnic food and engage in conversation focusing on ways we can link concepts of bio-diversity and cultural diversity within our curriculum and school communities to create a more just society.
RSVP here
Lesson Planning for Service Learning
At our fall meeting, ECSL advisor Sammy Lyon outlined how planning for service learning fits seamlessly with the classroom planning you’re already doing. The article For Teachers Who Think They Can’t Do Service Learning accompanies the easy-to-implelement lesson planning tools that were presented and gives you a road map for integrating student-led action into the curriculum you already use. Download a free copy of the tools- Backwards Planning for Service Learning- to support your service learning curriculum.
