Below, we offer a few scenarios to consider as you prepare course materials and design opportunities for reflection:
1- A student placed with a local after-school program shares that they've had a good experience so far, and they feel positively about the ways they've been able to engage and contribute. They write, "I'm so glad that I can be there to help the middle-school age students with their homework. The counselors seem to be more focused on the younger kids in the program, so I don't think the middle schoolers would be getting any support if it weren't for the volunteers."
2- A student placed with a community food bank shares that they are seeing a lot of connections between course materials and their experiential learning. They write, "The food bank is clearly an important resource for community members, and it's great that it's open on weekends and holidays. However, I think it should be more of a priority to offer culturally relevant ingredients and produce."
What materials and discussions in your course might these students be able to utilize to stretch these reflections into increasingly critical and systems-focused questions?
Community-engaged faculty listserv: The purpose of this listserv is to connect the UW community of faculty, staff, and students who are interested in or participate in community-engaged research or community-engaged learning.
A list of possible reflection questions for students doing community-engaged learning from the UW CELE Center
2018 "Critical Service-Learning Conversations Tool" from the Duke Service-Learning center