Students and Teachers Engage in Service Learning (A Learn and Serve America Subgrantee)

Last fall, teachers at Powerhouse, a small school within Lakewood's Clover Park High school, kicked off the school year by spending one of their half-day professional development sessions participating in community service projects. The staff was divided into four groups and worked at a soup kitchen, family resource center, organic farm for disabled adults, and local wetlands. Afterwards they debriefed and talked about the implications for service learning and the possible applications to their classrooms.

"For our small school, we see service as an important component of citizenship, and citizenship is a value we all hold as one of our three core values," explains Debra Shanafelt, administrator at Powerhouse. "Service learning is a powerful instructional strategy for making learning more relevant and meaningful by giving students more ownership and more choice," says Deb. "Since we are a CES school, we also like that it embraces a number of the CES Principles, including 'student as worker' and 'using one's mind well.' Service learning is a type of instruction that engages all different types of learners."

This year, ten Clover Park teachers—six from Powerhouse and four from other academies—are implementing service learning projects in their classrooms. Clover Park plans to implement service learning in all four academies and content areas during the next two years. Kristie Fetterly, who teaches Advanced Placement U.S. History at Powerhouse, believes service learning helps connect student learning with what is happening in the community. "For the students in my class, they were given the opportunity to participate in the history, instead of just reading about it," she explains.

Kristie started the year using the traditional AP history textbook, but soon decided that she needed to supplement it when her students reported the text was "boring." Kristie asked her students to brainstorm topics they were interested in learning and out of their conversations developed the Lakewood History Project, which connects Lakewood history to the larger national historical context. Throughout the project, Kristie's students partnered with the Lakewood Historical Society and the Lakewood History Museum to create a documentary on the political history of Lakewood. For Kristie, a third-year teacher, service learning has required her to "step out of the traditional teacher role and act more like a coach."

"Instead of 'stand and deliver,' I am sharing content and helping students work on projects based on their individual interests." Kristie's students were so excited about the Lakewood History Project that they recently began a second project that involves research and fact checking for the Tacoma Civil Rights Project, an exhibit that will open next year at the Washington State History Museum.