Academics » Service Learning

Service Learning

Service-Learning is a teaching method that combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning.  Students improve their academic skills by applying what they learn in school to the real world; they then reflect on their experience to reinforce the link between their service and their learning.
 

Examples of Service Learning  Projects :

  • Tutoring other students and adults.
  • Conducting art/music/dance lessons for youth.
  • Giving presentations on violence and drug prevention.
  • Helping in a homeless shelter.
  • Creating life reviews for hospice patients.
  • Compiling a town history.
  • Restoring historic structures or building low-income housing.
  • Removing invasive plants and restoring ecosystems in preserve areas for public use.
  • Writing a guide on available community services and translating it into Spanish and other languages of new residents.
  • Conducting longitudinal studies of local bodies of water; water testing for local residents.
  • Gathering information and creating brochures or videos for non-profit or government agencies.
  • Mapping state lands and monitoring flora and fauna.
  • Planning and putting on public forums on topics of interest in the community.
  • Conducting public information campaigns on topics of interest or local needs.
  • Working with elected officials to draft legislation to improve communities.

If you are interested in offering Service Learning opportunities for students at Brooks, the following are some guidelines on how to make that happen.

In order for your project to qualify as a service learning project, you must make sure you follow these steps:

  1.  Write up your project on the service learning form.
  2. Submit it to Ms. Yackee for approval.
  3. Once approved, secure necessary items (bus, parent permission, admin permission, etc.).
  4. Work on the service project.
    Have students write a reflective essay about their experience:
    1. A paragraph explaining what they did.
    2. A paragraph explaining how this project connects to school.
    3. Instructor collects the essays and puts them in Yackee’s mailbox.
    4. After reviewing essays, Ms. Yackee will input project into the Student Information Management (SIM) system.

Sophomores, Juniors  and Seniors need three (3) projects to fulfill their graduation requirement.

Freshmen need two (2) projects for graduation-one being completed in the new mandated Civics course.

Brooks students weeding the gardens of the Florence Hotel, a part of the Pullman National Historic Park.