Yesterday, Steve Culbertson offered a great seminar on YSA's Semester of Service, a service-learning program that focuses on duration and intensity. Upon finishing, he opened it up to questions.
As is almost inevitable when speaking about service-learning, one woman expressed her strong desire to be a proponent for service-learning but had a hard time just justifying it to her education colleagues who were already so burnt out. How can she get her administration to possibly add one more thing to the teacher to-do list when they're already running at full speed?
In 2007, I assisted a colleague in PA in designing a semester-long arts residency. While it was by no means designed as a service-learning program (honestly, at that point I hadn't heard the term!) it really followed many of the S-L standards: youth voice, duration and intensity, diversity, linking to curriculum, reflection and celebration.
The principle chose a fifth grade teacher in her first year of teaching. The school, in the City of Harrisburg, faced many of the same problems as any inner city school faces and we hoped that this semester-long residency, connecting theater with social studies, would have a positive and lasting-impact on the students.
It turns out that, even while designing the program, this teacher was already thinking about quitting and fall semester was over yet. The teacher, a strong, energetic young woman who was wonderful with the kids, felt like she was baby-sitting more than teaching. This was not the gig she had signed up for.
The residency launched early spring and culminated on with the kids picking up "William Penn" from the train station and spending a day with him. At the end, the teacher decided she was willing to give the job a shot for another year.
I know it's important to have goals and outcomes for students. And, honestly, I realize that most funding goes toward keeping kids in schools. But why keep kids in schools that don't have dynamic teachers unless we really are paying for a one large government-funded daycare.
I'm obviously no longer in Harrisburg so I can't tell you the long-term impact on the students. But I can tell you that we saved an incredible teacher for at least one more year.
What does this have to do with service-learning?
S-L can breathe new life into a teacher's day. It can offer them a new way of looking at the curriculum, a new way of communicating with students, and a hope that things will get better. S-L is important for students but I believe it can also be an amazing opportunity to increase teacher retention.
I'm hopeful that YSA will gain funding to offer the STEMester of Service grants. One unique aspect of this grant design is that it provides a stipend for teachers to find an "ally" in their school, to support and assist them in implementing a S-L program. I realized what a wonderful idea this was and, perhaps, should really be part of all S-L funding.
I hope that as we move forward and speak about the importance of dropout prevention, we remember that teachers drop out as well. Our kids need to finish school to succeed and one of the ways to achieve that goal is to keep our dynamic teachers in the classroom.
