Incorporating
Reflection
Reflection is central
to the learning in community based service learning pedagogy. It provides
a way for students to not only record and synthesize their experiences,
but also to understand, theorize and question issues raised by
them. Reflection activities and assignments can provide stimulus
for class discussions, connections to course materials, and opportunities
to both review service experiences and imagine future action.
Reflection can also be designed in ways that allow students to
present their service experiences and discuss their learning in
forms that can be evaluated by instructors.
Some
ways you might incorporate reflection into your service learning
course include:
Journals or logs: ask
students to keep written journals. This is done in a variety of
ways: a double-entry journal (with columns for observation and
analysis); timed freewriting with or without instructional prompts;
fieldnotes; interviews, etc. Reflections might be collected weekly, several
times throughout the experience, or turned in with the final project.
Community learning
goals: students negotiate learning goals into contracts with their
community sites. Goals can then be reviewed several times during
the semester by both instructor and community partner.
Focus groups:
students meet with facilitators to discuss their service experiences,
the issues raised by them and connections to course content.
Representation interviews:
students interview classmates about service experiences and record
their findings. The interviewee then reads and reflects on the
ways they’ve been represented by someone outside the immediate
experience.
Artistic reflections:
students create reflective visual essays through drawing, painting,
sculpting, composing collages,etc.
Community
dialogue: students examine several personas (perhaps a community
mentor, a client, and themselves) and construct dialogues to explore
course concept from a variety of perspectives.
In-class written or
oral reflection sessions: students write/speak in response to
a prompt. Large or small group discussions can follow.
Visual representations:
students make public their experiences by creating a classroom
gallery. Students could exchange and analyze representations.
Class presentations:
students present on an issue that has arisen during their community
work OR students introduce peers to and analyze their community
site OR students connect course material to their experience OR...agency
staff might be invited to participate and/or listen to student
presentations.
End notes:
students turn in a brief (directed or undirected) note at the
end of class. This is a good way for students to share information
on service experiences, make connections between class discussions/course
readings and their community work, or ask specific questions.
Suggested
Readings on Reflections in the Classroom
Eyler, Janet, Dwight Giles,
Jr and Angela Schmiede. A Practitioner’s Guide to Reflection
in Service Learning. Nashville: Vanderbilt U and the Corporation
for National Service, 1996.
Rhoads, Robert
A. and Jeffrey P.F. Howard (eds.) Academic Service Learning: A
Pedagogy of Action and Reflection. New Directions for Teaching
and Learning, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (73), Spring 1998.
The Big Dummy’s
Guide to Service Learning (link to web site)
www.fiu.edu/~time4chg/Library/bigdummy.html
Faculty Resources Home
Designing
Service Learning Experiences
Common Questions Often Asked About Service
Learning
Incorporating Reflection
Maximizing Resources