By Lisa Greeves
Coming off of the dynamic 19th National Forum on Character Education and preparing for the Thanksgiving holidays is a fantastic time to harness your team’s energy, excitement, and enthusiasm for giving and sharing with others. Below is a sample of the rich service-learning practices from our 2012 Promising Practices that are easy to implement and emulate. Now is the perfect time to craft a new service opportunity at your school to round out 2012 and start 2013 with a focus on community, helpfulness, and appreciation.
For the past year the students, staff, and parents at Vandalia Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina have dedicated one Saturday a month to serving the homeless in their community through their practice Center City Saturdays. After gathering designated supplies, all participants meet at 7:45 a.m. at a designated local park, regardless of the weather to distribute their supplies, develop meaningful relationships with the individuals they serve, and get to know their strengths and talents as well as how they can best help them. Learn more about their practice here.
Students at Valley Middle School in House Springs, Missouri created the practice Caring Community Closet after determining that many local families were in need of even the most basic necessities after the economic downturn. Students, in cooperation with teachers, administrators, counselors, and social workers, began a campaign to collect the needed items, set up the closet and organized items by size and category. Appointments are made through social workers and counselors for families to have private “shopping” time. Read more about how to implement a practice like this here.
Lincoln County R-III School District in Troy, Missouri developed the Buddy Bag Program, where high school athletes and their coaches designate an afternoon before practices to pack kid-friendly meals into bags to be distributed to six county elementary schools. The elementary schools then privately deliver the bags to students whose families have been hit hard during the economic downturn to ensure that they have meals to eat on weekends when school is not in session. Learn more about this unique practice here.
Students at Rougher Alternative Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma participate in the Serve to Learn—Animal Shelter program. One afternoon per month students volunteer at the local animal shelter, walking, brushing, and playing with the dogs. The practice allows them to experience the unconditional acceptance commonly displayed by dogs as well as feelings of sadness that the dogs do not have permanent homes and witnessing the consequences of being irresponsible with pets and how that impacts a community. Students complete a reaction paper detailing their experiences and how these experiences have impacted their lives. Learn more about this dynamic program here.
The Promising Practices database offers dozens of practical, successful ideas on service-learning projects that can be implemented at all grade levels. Searchable by year or by advanced searching techniques including topics, you can easily find practices that have worked for schools in your area or practices that focus on topics you are interested in. Visit the Promising Practices Database at http://www.character.org/schools-of-character/promising-practices-overview/promising-practices-award-winners/ today and start looking for a practice to emulate or ideas to tailor to fit your school’s population and circumstances. Often, all it takes is one simple idea to make a huge impact on your student community.
Happy Thankgsiving!
