Service-Learning Project Ideas: Education

Project Description: Teaching young people to mentor and serve others is a gateway to accelerated academic achievement! The purpose of this project was to accelerate the achievement of two distinct groups of students through mentoring service-learning. An older student with poor academic performance and severe behavior, discipline referrals and academic difficulties was one partner in this effort. He was taught to mentor/tutor a second grader with a similar profile. Recommendation: it is crucial for this type of effort to include a collaborative problem solving approach with the grade level team.

Project Description: As a seventh grade language arts teacher, my student service-learning projects often come directly from something the students have read about people in need. In 1998, my students read a Baltimore Sun article about the plight of an inner-city elementary school which had lost its entire library collection in a flood. Students quickly mobilized and collected more than 7,000 children's books for the school. In 2000, my students organized and carried out a bake sale fundraiser for the Harlem Park Community Organization after reading about the financially threatened summer program for children in that neighborhood.

Project Description: Early in 2006, an e-mail from Jodi Lavin at the Maryland State Department of education was sent requesting new and used books for the New Orleans Public Library which had been devastated by hurricane Katrina. The library planned to use the books to restock their shelves. Any extra books would be used for a book sale, with the proceeds benefiting the libraries. As the devastating effects of the hurricane’s damage were continually aired in the broadcast news, many students felt sorrow and pain for the victims. Most students did not have an avenue to help and assist the victims of the catastrophe. The book collection presented an easy, personal way they could help. The posters, announcements and advertisements provided students with a constant reminder of the victims, and a small way to touch their lives. The students, faculty and staff collected over 300 books for the project.

Maryland Curriculum Indicators for: Social Studies, English

Level of Service: Direct, Indirect, Advocacy

Project Description: Students worked in committees to write letters of advocacy to county officials and the local newspaper, created fundraising events, a historical play about the park, information PowerPoint outlining the finances of the park, scale models of the park, and created informational posters about the events at Furnace Town for the public. Finally, the students present their projects to the park and to 3rd graders from the town as well and worked directly with the park to assist them with their needs.

Project Description: The English as a Second Language (ESL) homework club is an after-school program devoted to helping elementary school children with their homework. The elementary students, who do not speak English as their first language, meet with teachers, high school student mentors, and fellow students to discuss problems they are having with their classes or homework.

Project Description: As a concerned student, I founded an annual event to raise awareness of safe teen driving and to raise money for a new college scholarship fund.  The event is a softball game day where students from Havre de Grace High School play against the town’s volunteer fire fighters.  The inaugural event generated nearly $10,000 for the new student scholarship fund.

Project Description: Wolfsville Elementary (WES) fifth grader, Felicia Clements, organized a school wide book drive – Give A book “GAB.” Wolfsville Elementary School with 202 students enrolled, donated 2350 books to GAB. Frederick County Head Start was the recipient, distributing the books in classrooms and to enrolled families to use in their homes. Head Start said the book donation was equivalent to $18,800.

Project Description: To honor the memory of the school's principal who died prior to the beginning of school in 1999, students from Sudlersville Middle School decided to participate in the George Henckle Memorial Walk-A-Thon. The event generated scholarship funds to benefit former Sudlersville Middle School students who attend post-secondary education or trade school. 

Project Description: I established a dialogue between high school students and their feeder schools to encourage positive student self-concepts and success in "real life" conflict and environmental situations. High school students in public speaking and literature classes teamed up with science students. They led Sunset Elementary School students in small group plays, poster creation, songs, and discussions about improving self, school, and community.

Project Description: About 30 high school students tutor elementary school students in two elementary schools. The students being tutored have learning difficulties or special learning needs. We have found placing ten to fifteen tutors in any one school to be the most efficient as any more creates an overcrowding problem.

Project Description: The students were performing an invaluable service to the community by valuing the contributions of older citizens in Allegany County as they were interviewed for the book. The students were also doing a service to the community by compiling and publishing a history of the community.

Project Description: Frederick County Service Learning Advisory Board (SLAB) is a unique county-wide board comprised of youth leaders who engage in meritorious service projects and help provide technical assistance to teachers and community organizations on service-learning. The Youth Center is an after-school program for at-risk children. It is the goal of SLAB to send members to the Center everyday. We help by tutoring, chaperoning, and entertaining the children. SLAB members help the students with their homework, read with them, make posters or play games. After everyone finishes their homework, snacks are served and everyone gathers upstairs for a group activity, such as a movie, guest speaker or a game.

Primary Subjects: English

Project Description: MUSE is a mentoring program that allows elementary students at Pine Crest Elementary School to send pieces of creative writing via email to their high school mentors at Montgomery Blair High School. The mentors offer suggestions, critiques, and compliments.

Project Description: The Frederick County Service Learning Advisory Board (SLAB) initiated a partnership with the Frederick City Youth Center. Together, we developed a mentoring/tutoring program between 20 high school students and 20 children enrolled in the Center's after school program for at risk youth. Individual relationships were formed as high school students were matched with younger students to provide support with homework and other activities such as combined service-learning projects. SLAB members also acted as role models and mentors for the younger students.

Project Description: Students created brochures about Pemberton Park to promote the park. Each brochure included the following information about the park: history, ecosystem, top ten reasons for a student to visit the park, and a brief summary of their experience at the park.  The students used Microsoft Publisher for their final copy. The brochures were then given to Pemberton Park to be distributed to other young adults who visit the park.

Project Description: Our Service Project was with Port Discovery the New Kid-Powered Museum, sponsored by the Education and Student Service Division. This opportunity to volunteer in downtown Baltimore, provided our students a more global outreach than they usually enjoyed. Students served as mentors, tutors, and docents. They assisted other students from public and independent schools throughout Maryland, in the most effective use of the interactive educational exhibits.

Project Description: A sister-school relationship was created between our school, Thurmont Middle School, and Las Brisas de Acosasco, a school outside of Leon, Nicaragua. Seventh grade social studies students exchanged letters, self-portraits, and posters illustrating homes, communities, and schools.  The project culminated in a school supply fundraiser for our sister-school and a Latin Cultural Celebration.

Project Description: This service-learning program is infused into the eighth grade theater arts curriculum, specifically the unit on storytelling. The project extends and gives purpose to the performance objectives in the curriculum. Because of the nature of live performance, any performance-based unit can be adapted into a service-learning project by addressing a needy population. This particular service project is based on a partnership that was developed by the teacher and the Education Coordinator from Headstart.

Project Description: The Restoration and Preservation of Historic St. Paul's Cemetery Project is a school-based service-learning model which enables 8th graders to perform service and enjoy educational experiences that are mutually related. It has been an on-going project since the Fall of 1990 and in 1993 was awarded the Maryland Excellence Award in Social Studies and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society Award.

Project Description: The service-learning project was part of the seventh grade's integrated unit on the 2000 presidential election. Students studied voter apathy and related issues in social studies and science classes. Math classes covered measurements for borders, lettering and artwork. Language arts teachers reviewed the purpose of student service-learning and also provided the time for the creation of the posters.

Primary Subjects: Science

Project Description: While students are studying the interactions of force and motion they will research the impact of safety belts and child restraints on human fatalities. The students will then develop and implement a plan to promote the use of vehicle safety devices in their community.

Contact:

Lauren McKinley, M.Ed.
Service-Learning Specialist, Youth Development Branch
Office: (410) 767-0357
lauren.mckinley@maryland.gov

Reginald Burke, M.S.
Director, Youth Development Branch
Office: (410) 767-0313
reginald.burke@maryland.gov