Fall 2007

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©2007, Service-Learning NETWORK
Constitutional Rights Foundation
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New! Improved!
Giving Back:
Introducing Community Service Learning
 


Improving Mandated Community Service  for Juvenile Offenders

Download the .pdf Edition FREE!

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TAKE CHARGE: A YOUTH GUIDE TO COMMUNITY CHANGE

A Step-By-Step Guide to Solving Community Problems

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ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP TODAY

An exciting approach to civic education through service learning.

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Online Lesson Two: Building an Action Project

Overview

This guide provides teachers and students with a process to plan and implement a service-learning project ("Action Project") to address problems of school violence.

Materials

Handout One: Six Basic Steps of an Action Project
Handout Two: Project Ideas
Handout Three: School Safety Projects

Journals. Have students keep individual project journals. Project journals can serve as reflection and evaluation tools.

Preparation

• How much class time can students spend on an action project? After-school time?
• Will you limit the project to school or can students do a project that requires them to go off-site?
• Will the whole class do one project or will smaller groups do separate projects?
• Will you:

(1) Choose a project in advance ?

(2) Give students several projects to choose from?

(3) Allow students to identify their own project? Note: The more decisions students make themselves, the greater their buy-in to the project.

ACT Field Guide. A comprehensive, student-friendly field guide containing procedures, tips, tools, techniques, and resources designed to guide students through the planning and implementation of a service-learning action project.

Teacher Procedures

Introduce the project. Explain to your students that they are going to do an action project designed to address a problem of violence in their school.

Six Basic Steps of an Action Project

Step 1: Choose the Problem. Discuss what problems of school violence concern you.

Ask others: Conduct a survey asking the students in your school which violence problems they think are most important. Also interview teachers, school administrators, school resource officers, counselors about the problem of school violence.

Make a list of the school violence problems that people in your school think are the most important.

Next, choose one problem to focus on. Have students meet in small groups. Using the following questions, have each group select three top problems.

• How does each problem affect your school?
• What groups or individuals are most affected by the problem (age, gender, racial, ethnic, or religious considerations)?
• What is the school doing about the problem? Are they doing a good job? Why or why not?

When they are finished, have each group report on their three problems and why they chose them.

Reach class consensus on the problem(s) that students want to work on.

Step 2: Research the problem. Your students' research will depend on what problem they select. In general, they should look for answers to five questions:

• What causes the problem?
• What are its effects on your school?
• What is being done about the problem?
• Who is working on the problem or interested in it?
• Are they doing a good job of dealing with the problem? Why or why not?

To find answers to these questions, try the following:

• Explore the media--watch television news, listen to radio news, read the newspaper, or search the Internet. Begin your Internet search with CRF's School Violence Links <link>.
• Use the library. Look up newspaper and magazine articles. Ask the librarian for help.
• Invite teachers, school administrators, and outside experts to speak to the class on the problem.

Step Three: Decide on an action project. Distribute Project Ideas and School Safety Projects.

Discuss the pros and cons of action project ideas from Handouts Two And Three.

The class can brainstorm additional project ideas. Select the top three action project ideas, and choose a project.

Step Four: Plan the project. Have students read the Project Plan. If teams are doing different projects, have each team submit a plan filled out on paper. If the whole class is doing the same project, you can plan the project as a whole group or you can assign a committee to submit a Project Plan for the whole class to review.

Step Five: Do the project. If the whole class is doing the project, tasks may be divided among committees with a project coordinating committee overseeing the entire project. Make sure they keep an active Project Journal with their own thoughts on how the project is progressing and how it is affecting their understanding.

Step Six: Evaluation and Reflection. While students are planning and implementing their Action Project, have them reflect about what they are doing. Explain that, by reflecting on their project, they can correct problems, improve your planning and keep track of what they have learned.

Evaluation and Reflection methods.

• Record your progress. Have students use video or still cameras to record their activities.
• Keep a journal. Have them write down their personal impressions of your action project.
• Keep others aware of your project. Write a newsletter or present a live report at school assemblies.
• Keep track of your goals. Post a board with your goals, action steps, and tasks.
• Get an outside eye. Find an adult whose judgment you trust. What do they think of your goals, actions steps, progress, teamwork?
• Meet regularly as a group. Discuss your progress and what you have learned. Also, what has to happen next in the Action Project?

Evaluation Questions:

• How effective is your planning? Did you leave anything out? How can you improve your plan?
• How are you working as a team. Can teamwork be improved? How?
• Does your plan work? Are you completing your tasks and action steps? Do you spend too much time on some tasks? Too little time on others?
• What obstacles have you encountered? How are you solving them?

Evaluate your results

• What have you accomplished? Did your project make a difference? How?
• If you worked on the same problem again, what would you do differently?

Reflection Questions (Write answers in your Journal.)

• How have you changed as a result of this project?
• What new ideas about the problem have you gained by working on the project?
• As an individual, what would you do differently next time?

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Student Materials

The Six Basic Steps of an Action Project
The six steps you find here will guide you through six basic steps you can use to complete an action project : (1) select a problem to work on, (2) research the problem, (3) choose a project, (4) plan the project, (5) do the project, and (6) evaluate what you've done.

Project Plan
This resource will guide you through the most difficult and important step--planning the project. It provides a step-by-step guide for planning a project and filling out a project plan.

Project Ideas
Some suggestions for projects that you can use to help you build a project to address school violence.

School-Violence and School-Safety Organizations
A list of places to look for information and support around issues of violence in your own school and community.