AVID Class of 2021

Welcome to the AVID Class of 2021 Service Learning Projects.

Throughout their time in the AVID Elective, students participated in service learning as a class and were encouraged to engage individually.

As seniors, they are asked to research an issue that they care about and then design a project in service of that issue. We began by thinking about current issues that we cared about and exploring various websites that showcase community service opportunities. Different formats of service were also explained:

• Direct Service: Service that directly affects the persons, animals or places we want to impact. This may include volunteering or cleaning up a park.

• Indirect Service: Service in which you are not in the presence of the person or thing you are impacting. It might take the form of fundraising or collections.

• Advocacy: This is when you speak up for or against an issue or solution. When we use our voices, we are being advocates.

• Research: This type of service involves finding out new information that informs or demands action. For example, it could be scientific data collection or a survey.

Once students chose an issue to work with, they conducted research to learn more about the issue itself, as well as ways in which they could help. This started with a research question that would guide their learning. Since we're also strengthening college skills, students created Annotated Bibliographies in which they summarized their learning, reflected on the usefulness of the source for their project, and evaluated the credibility of its use as an academic source of research.

Each student has a page which includes the following:

• A Description of What They Did: This should also include evidence of their project. It could take the form of pictures, videos, podcasts, documents, links, etc.

• A Reflection of Their Learning

• A Rationale For the Project: This is a brief explanation of the issue, using at least two of their sources.

• Their Annotated Bibliography: This is a list of the research they did to learn more about the issue. It includes an annotation for each source that summarizes what they learned, reflects on how useful it is for this project, and evaluates the credibility of the source for academic research.

This was a new experience for most of the students, and many of them wish they could've done more. Please know that these are somewhat "works in progress" and a few weren't ready to put it up here. I know they all learned a lot, reagardless of how "finished" they were.