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3.1 Why Integrating Service Learning into the ICS curriculum?
3.1 Why Integrating Service Learning into the ICS curriculum?
Service Learning is part of the ICS mission, strategic plan, ESLRs, and motto. Authentic service learning in the curriculum can transform students’ hearts, minds, and actions. It is one way to equip students to make a difference in their world now. By serving others, students become more aware and care for others, they develop empathy, personal ownership, grit, enhance personal and interpersonal development, and communication skills.
ICS Service Learning connects classroom learning with service opportunities in the wider Hong Kong Community and in other countries. Service Learning is integrated at every level and guided by the 12 Learning Standards such as being meaningful, sustainable, developing student voice, collaboration, and servant leadership. Further, teachers integrate Service Learning into a class Service Learning Unit or more during the year so that academic and service goals are aligned and many service learning opportunities are offered to all students.
Service Workshop Part 1.pptx3.2 The Role of Service in the Curriculum
3.2 The Role of Service in the Curriculum
Community grows out of common commitments and that learning is the result of interaction between people, ideas and experience. As students’ accountability and responsibility to others is increased, they are better able to understand themselves, respect others and serve as compassionate disciples of Christ and as constructive members of society.
Planning any service learning unit starts with investigation as both the teacher and students look for ways to authentically apply what has been learnt in class. The danger of starting with the action is that the outcome can end up disjointed from the actual curriculum.
3.3 Service Learning Standards and Benchmarks/Indicators
3.3 Service Learning Standards and Benchmarks/Indicators
Skills required for students to be successful in the 21st Century include Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Flexibility, Leadership, Social Skills and the ability to take initiative. At ICS students are given multiple opportunities to learn, develop and demonstrate these skills through Service Learning opportunities. Our 12 Service Learning Standards and Benchmarks/Indicators guides teachers to develop best practice in designing Service Learning Experiences both in Curricular and Co-curricular activities.
Basic Statement of the 12 Service Learning StandardsCopy of Service Learning Standards with Benchmarks for ICS3.4 Service Learning Units
3.4 Service Learning Units
In ICS, teachers are required to infuse service learning into at least one unit during the year. Teachers integrate Service Learning into one class unit or more during the year so that academic and service goals are aligned and many service learning opportunities are offered to all students.
Service learning doesn’t mean adding more! “When done well, Service Learning moves the curriculum forward integrating essential skills with content knowledge, advancing competencies and confidence” Cathryn Berger Kaye, 2014. Infusing service learning into your curriculum will not necessarily be easy, or feel natural. It will get better, and feel more natural as teachers become intentional about designing learning with service learning outcomes in mind.
Poster designed during MS WWW by students
3.4 Sample Lesson Plans
3.4 Sample Lesson Plans
Service Learning is integrated in the curriculum through class-level social studies/science projects. When teachers plan for their service unit, it is important to ask good questions which can help students brainstorm Service Learning Projects that align the specific content to authentic community needs.
Could students teach others what they have learnt?
Could their efforts be shaped into a product, performance or research study?
What are important concerns of the school or the community and how could they address them?
Could they advocate for public or company policy change?
Could they provide direct assistance to a non-profit?
Could they start their own venture or Social Enterprise?
P1 100 Days of School - Canned Food Drive
100 days of School Food Drive Campaign is part of the P1 Math unit. Food cans are collected, counter, and graphed as part of the Math unit. Students also learn about food banks and how their donations make a difference in lives locally.
The Grade 4's will be visiting Crossroads to participate in the “Water Challenge” simulation as an educational opportunity that coincides with our Social Science Unit on Poverty.
The Crossroads Foundation is a Hong Kong based non-profit organization. It serves as an intersection between those in need and those who can help. This is a unique opportunity for the children to learn more about the world around them and their contribution to the needs of this larger world.
Students write their own poems and read to younger students. All four ELA classes will be visited by the same Gr1 class that we visited in Dec for sharing information and laptop resources in their Egypt study. This 2nd visit will entail the Gr1 students sharing and reading their collected poems while the Gr6 students will read selections from their BWI Poetry Portfolio. A joint language collaboration.
Students are asked to research conflicts that are happening in the world today as a connection to our Unit on WW2. Students are then asked what we can do about this problem and are asked to create a public service announcement that discusses some real world issues today, as well as research 3 NGOs that specialize in how we can help victims of war / conflict. This also ties in to a service project we have done several times a year where students donate their own money to World Vision several times a year to participate in a small way in helping others.
Students will Observe, Interpret and Apply a passage of Jesus serving. After they study, they will have to apply and reflect on how they too applied the same actions or principles of how Jesus served in their WWW trips.
Build an insight into the water needs of 3rd world countries. Gain insight into the need for collaboration with the Majority World. Students seem to be slightly aware of the issue of doing projects for a people is a danger (understanding before being understood). Students designed great projects.
Students have to produce designs for the following: 1) a typography based poster on one of the ESLRs, 2) a poster for a school event (can collaborate with a teacher/organization, e.g. posters for music department), 3) new logos for the school and the week without walls program
In the first semester, students followed the AP with WE Service curriculum unit on Access to Clean Water. Students learned about how access to clean water varies in different parts of the world, some current initiatives to improve access to clean water, and then brainstormed what we could do as a class to improve awareness about this situation. We used the classes after the AP exam to build a virtual reality "field trip" that shows different situations around the planet where people do or do not have access to clean water, and how this effect their living situation, in an effort to advocate for increased access to clean water worldwide.
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