Learning to Make a difference

Significant Civic Engagement: Service Learning Pedagogical Framework (the six Rrr's)

·      Responsive

·      Reciprocal

·      Recursive

·      Reflective

·      Resourceful

·      Responsible

We know that the actions of engaging in a project, in service or volunteerism engage students because what they are doing is "real" rather than academic.  That participants are intrigued by relationships, by their ability to make a difference, and that this makes the experience more concrete, less of an abstraction than just learning about things from "a book."

One the other hand, the skills required to make sense of the experience in terms of learning are not common because of the very lack of the kinds of experiences stated above--there are not many learning experience that require one lives in two frames, the learner and the deliverer.

Outside certification--MSW, Teacher license, Carnegie Classification

Scholarship--what are the resources, the knowledge base, the scholarship and research that support these efforts?

Practice and reflection--seeing the specific in the context of the Big Picture (Judy Francis)

·      How do you deliver a program, engage in working with others while at the same time thinking about meaning making for yourself?

·      What tools help us to live in these divergent worlds?

·      Taking notes, making time to reflect, talking to others

·      But part of the key is to be clear about what is going on and what does it mean?

Tools for learning and observation (Thinking about observing in classrooms "how is culture communicated and by whom?")

·      Ethnography list (human relations, rules, artifacts)

·      Observations on a specific topic of interest (culture, safety, inclusivity)

·      A lens on the context (learning community, active participation)

·      The desire to learn a skill, better understand a process (teamwork, leadership)

The Resume Skills Set

·      What is your style of leadership and what tools do you bring in the Leadership toolbox?

·      How do you work with others, in your ability to work in a team?

·      How is your professional practice informed through your understanding the role of culture and diversity in working with people?

·      How do you define and solve problems?

·      What skills do you use in communication with others (both personal and technological?)

·      How do you function as a Life-Long Learner?

Community Engagement --Reciprocity with clients as leaders and learners

The assumptions:

·      We are all in this together

·      Each participant has a voice that contributes to the work at hand

·      You must learn from them to serve them

·      That it's only through reciprocity that we will meet their needs

Being Present