I could not be more excited to start this service learning project or this new blog. Hello, world! To get this started I thought I'd talk about what "service learning" is, where I'll be doing it and what I hope to gain from it.
Service learning basically means providing an unpaid service for a community, an organization or in my case a school in hopes to learn something by hands on participation and real world observation. Service learning can be beneficial for many reasons: to help meet community needs, to enhance knowledge and skills, to get engaged into a certain subject etc. My Service Learning Project will be done at an elementary school under one specific teacher. I will be observing her classroom, working one on one with the children, I'll walk around and help answer questions etc. Basically I will be working hands on in a classroom, watching an amazing teacher work her magic and most important, I'll get to interact with young kids! I am beyond excited about this because this is what I want to do when I "grow up"!
The elementary school that I will be working at sits in a neighborhood that is filled with families and little kids. Many parents and kids are seen walking to and from the school every day.You can tell it's a really family friendly community. The neighborhood seems to be a typical middle class neighborhood. The school building is made of brick and everything inside is incredibly small! Perfect for all the kiddos they have running around. This school building is very old and is not up to code and not earthquake safe. They are currently in the process of building a new updated school building right behind the old one. I believe that the new building will be completed in the fall of 2017. Something about the school that I really like is that they have a dual immersion program! That means that most of their students go for a half a day in an English class and half a day in a Spanish class. What a better way to learn a language!
My service learning placement is under a teacher that I know. She was my little brother's teacher last year. I have observed her class a couple times before and the work she does is astounding! I want to be her when I "grow up"! She is literally a role model for me! I'm so excited to work under her because I know I could learn so much from her. I will be working in a first grade classroom and I couldn't be more excited!
Throughout this journey I am hoping to pick up some tips and tricks of the trade. I want to create a relationship with the teacher as well as the students. I want to be of help to this classroom and this community. I'd like to see how technology can be a resource for a classroom. I'd also love to be exposed to ethically and racially diverse kids. But most of all I'd like to take the first step into the world of a teacher.
