SITUATING LEARNING WITHIN LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES: THE POTENTIAL OF SPANISH

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING

Ann Abbottarabbott@illinois.edu

http://spanishandillinois.blogspot.com/@AnnAbbott

http://pinterest.com/abbottbarbieri/

How do we design a community service learning (CSL) course?

1. Why should we design CSL lesson courses?

2. What do we work backwards from?

3. How do we form community partnerships, create course materials and provide structured student reflection?4. What are your next steps?

Why should we create CSL courses?

What are the benefits and challenges?

BENEFITS:

CHALLENGES:

What do we work backwards from?

Create a mutually beneficial community partnership.•Meet a community-identified need.Structure course to connect the academic content with the CSL work.•Use double-duty course components.Incorporate structured student reflection.•Design multi-modal reflective exercises.

Form a mutually beneficial community partnership.

Consider various CSL structures. • Ongoing partnerships: Refugee Center.• Special programs: Vida alegre.• One-time events: Feria de salud.• Research and report: Lissette’s address to the

school board; drop the I-word.• Virtual volunteering: CU Amigos/Friends;

language-learning social media sites.

Consider various types of community partners. • Schools: Leal; Garden Hills; school districts.• Human service agencies: CCRS; ECIRMAC.• Health care organizations: Provena language

services department; Smile Healthy.• Special programs: Connect for Health.• University units: CLACS outreach; student

groups.• Civic organizations, clubs: Boy Scouts.• Virtual volunteering.

Who will you contact?

Colleagues:

Umbrella agencies:

Cold calls/visits:

Create effective course materials.

Design course materials that are clear, efficient and flexible.

• Course title and description.• Syllabus: course components, rubrics, calendar and

policies.• On-line resources: wikis, Facebook, blog and

Pinterest.• In-class activities: continue to use the best

practices of your discipline. Example: Comunidades: Más allá del aula.

• Assessments: Test what you teach and how you teach.

How will you design your course?

Create new course/course elements:

Tweak existing elements:

Other:

Provide students with opportunities for structured reflection.

Signature search. Find someone who...• Has had a negative experience with CSL.• Has been a CSL student.• Learned something new in this session.• Has decided that while CSL is interesting, it is

something he/she will pursue later on.

Structured reflection can take many forms.• Reflective essays.• Journal.• Research papers.• Oral presentations.• Tweets.• In-class activities.

Best Practices: CSLThe 5 C’s of Effective Student Reflection

(Eyler & Giles, Where is the Learning in Service Learning?)ContinuousConnectedChallengingContextualizedCreative/Coaching

How will you incoporate structured student reflection?

Create new course/course elements:

Tweak existing elements:

Other:

What will you do now to begin a CSL course?