Susan Riggleman

April 11, 2023

Service Learning Project
I found a service learning project to have a very self-explanatory name. It is simply the

combination of both service and learning but, what does that mean? As a teacher, we strive to

make it so that our students learn every day. This is the part that tends to come more naturally

and make sense. However, there are times when that education is not related to the outside world

and therefore isn;t making a difference in the outside world. This is where the service part comes

into play. Rather than just teaching students about the environment and how to protect it, allow

students to tangibly help the environment through some sort of project. Instead of calculating

how many items you need to sell to raise enough money for a local shelter, raise the money while

you determine the necessary funds. Service learning is the connection of serving the community

by using what you have learned.

It benefits a variety of people including the students, teacher, receiving party of the

service, and future individuals who need a service. The students benefit because they gain

knowledge about a certain subject, area, or organization and a tangible way to help the chosen

group. They can take what they know and teach others to spread awareness or generate even

more ideas or new services to meet similar needs. The teachers benefit because they get new,

fresh ideas from their students. Sometimes old ideas need refreshing or even sometimes a

remodel and having young, growing minds who are in touch with their peers and community to

help you think of ways can be very helpful. The receiving party benefits because they are the

ones to actually receive said service, that can look many different ways but, each time a service

is given to a group or body, they benefit. The last group is the future groups who are yet to be

determined. If students can understand the value of and learn how to organize services for
various groups, they will be more likely to do it again in the future. These projects could plant a

seed for future initiatives.

I chose to do the service learning project with my study hall duty class. I did this because

the learning we did was not related to what we were currently working on in math class and we

could spread out the work over more days. We learned about the Beaver County Humane Society

(BCHS), and also humane societies as a whole broad topic. This included what they do, where

they are located, how you can support them, and how they came to be in the first place. The

service was that we made promotional posters, instagram posts, and videos for an upcoming

event at the BCHS. We did this to spread awareness and increase attendance. This was connected

to math because we used predictions and inferences to estimate how much money could be made

and how many people could be reached with the advertisements.

I benefited because I was taught some new ways to promote events, better ways to reach

my students in what I do based on their ideas for the project, and I got to see their creativity. I

think it woke them up so to speak which benefits me when I have them for class. The students

benefited because they were able to learn about the humane society and actually help them out.

They were proud of their work and I think that benefited them as well. They got to do something

that was new and low pressure while still helping other people. The last group that benefited was,

hopefully, the humane society. If our flyers and posts reached anyone who may not have attended

and encouraged them to go, then the humane society was helped. Even if no one else attended,

maybe someone noticed the humane society and may donate goods or adopt a pet. The benefits

of the humane society could potentially go further than we could ever see.
 I learned that setting up a community service project is more work than it may seem

which has given me a greater respect for those who organize events like this frequently. I also

learned that, when allowed, students do care about other people and will make an effort if given

the freedom to. Empathy is something that I haven’t seen a lot of in the kids so it was nice to see

them soften up a bit and give for the good of others.

Something I think could improve this project is if we had made the poster/video/post

making a competition or combined the designs as a class so the advertisement would be

consistent. It would also be great to have someone from the humane society to speak to the kids

but there are a lot of logistics in that for such a short amount of time that I don’t know how well

it would have worked. Another tweak I might make would be for the kids to do the research

themselves rather than having me teach them about it. This would’ve added a sense of ownership

and the concepts may have been grasped more deeply.

 Works Cited

“Our impact | The Humane Society of the United States.” Humane Society of the United States,

https://www.humanesociety.org/our-impact. Accessed 11 April 2023.

“Tea For Tails.” Beaver County Humane Society,

https://beavercountyhumanesociety.org/tea-for-tails/. Accessed 11 April 2023.

Wolpert, Heather, and Steve Debenport. “What the Heck Is Service Learning?” Edutopia, 7

November 2016,

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-heck-service-learning-heather-wolpert-gawron.

Accessed 11 April 2023.