Running Head: SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 1

Service Learning Reflection

Brian Evans

Ivy Tech Community College

 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 2

Service Learning Reflective Summary Report

Introduction

Service learning has been the most enjoyable and rewarding experience in my brief college

career. Not only did I get to work with one of the teachers that inspired me to become a teacher, but

I was also able to meet and work with some outstanding young children. The children were very

welcoming and didnt hesitate to try to get to know me. I connected with them early on whenever I

did my introduction to the class. I shared with them that I enjoy playing video games and watching

football in my spare time, and they took that information and ran with it. During one of my first

visits I watched over the sixth grade lunch period and many students asked me over to talk about

video games. From there on we had a connection and my time in the classroom was easy for the

most part. My experiences in the classroom, with Mrs. Romine, and her sixth grade math classes

will go a long way towards me becoming the kind of teacher I have always wanted to be.

Service Learning Experience Related to the Classroom

During my time in Mrs. Romines classes I did not get a chance to witness any racial diversity.

There was only one child who was a minority in either of the classes that I partook in during my time

at Greenfield Intermediate School, and all of the other students and teachers treated him equally.

Mrs. Romines class contains students of all abilities. She has students that are advanced for their

ages, and some that have trouble learning. The school does a very good job of stopping any kind of

conflict before it happens. For instance, Mrs. Romine sits students next to those who have varying

ability so they can help each other on their work. She had me create a seating chart where I

accomplished the same thing. By sitting boys next to girls and sitting advanced students next to

struggling students you accomplish a dynamic in the classroom that benefits most of the students in

an educational and personal way.

There are some similarities and differences between what I have experienced during my service

learning and the discussions we have had in class. For starters, the experience I had as a kid during
 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 3

the same age was very different to that of the classroom I have been working in. I shared my

seventh grade experience with the class about the kids in my grade and myself whenever the first

nonwhite student moved to our school. Most of the kids in our school, including myself, had never

even seen a minority, let alone be expected to get along with them. The teachers were also not very

helpful with how we handled the situation. The town I grew up in was one of the more well-known

KKK towns, so from a young age we were told some things that made us skeptical, and even scared,

of any minority. Once we got to know him though everything started to change. I know I got close

to him through sports. I learned very quickly that there really isnt much difference.
This was not the case in Mrs. Romines class. As I stated before, everyone liked the young boy,

and I never once saw anything that would have told me otherwise. For the similarity I found, I

remember talking a few times about funding for schools. Greenfield Intermediate School is one of

the worst funded schools in Hancock County. A lot of the teachers and students do not have the

same opportunities as others at the other schools in the county. For instance, all but one of the other

schools have personal laptops for the students that they can take to and from school that they use for

homework and lessons. Greenfield Intermediate does have laptops, but they are not personal. The

students are given laptops in class occasionally to help them with homework, take exams, or watch

videos. I feel that this hampers the kids at Greenfield Intermediate because they do not have the

same exposure to the lessons as most of the other kids in the county.
The experience that I had during Service Learning that relates the most to what we talked about

during class, in my opinion, is the need to have the ability to teach to students that have varying

learning abilities. We spoke and read about this in the article Profession-Ready Teachers, where it

stated, A profession-ready teacher has the ability to plan and deliver instruction to students with

different learning styles and also to assess and support student learning. (Roekel, 2013). This came

to fruition during my time working one on one with different students, whether they were absent, or

needed a little more of an understanding of the lesson. I worked with students that learned better by

seeing me do examples, reading the material, or simply just getting it by how I verbally explained
 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 4

the subject matter. This fascinated me. I had never experienced before the varying learning abilities

of different students. Fortunately for me, I had read about this before, so I was not caught off guard

by someone who learned differently than myself.

Classroom Environment and Student Learning

A lot has changed since I was in sixth grade. Childrens family lives and many more

environmental factors have affected how students adapt and learn in school. I noticed early on how

important electronics have become to the classroom. This was not the case back when I was the age

of the kids that I worked with. All we had in school were the course books and the school supplies

our parents got for us before the start of the school year. The kids at Greenfield Intermediate School

do not get books, all of the work they do comes off of the internet. Mrs. Romine also supplied most

of the supplies needed for the class. This is similar to what we talked about at the beginning of the

semester. I remember talking about how little money teachers made, and on top of that they are

expected to supply so much for their classes. Coming into this semester I did not realize how often

teachers are expected to provide so much for their classes. This doesnt turn me off though.

Knowing that there will be no excuses for the students not having what they need makes me a little

more at ease, even if it is coming from me.

When it comes to accept, reject, and refine, there isnt a whole lot of change that I can think of

right now. I accept that everything is moving to electronics, and I intend to keep my class the same

way. I accept this mainly because everything nowadays uses some sort of electronic. In our

handout, What is the Purpose of Education it stated, Other statements of educational purpose

have also been widely accepted: to develop the intellect, to serve social needs, to contribute to the

economy, to create and effective work force, to prepare students for a job or career, to promote and

particular social or political system (Foshay, 1991). Working so much on the computers and tablets

that the kids are provided with by the schools will go a long way to what they will need to know in

their future classes, jobs and careers. If I were to refine anything though, I would still like my
 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 5

students to use a book. Even just as a backup, in case something were to happen to the internet at

the school, I would like my students to still have access to the course material. I also feel I could

teach better using a book since I grew up learning with one. I would not reject anything at the

moment. Im not a fan of how important exams are, and how they dictate how to teach a class, but

there isnt anything I can do about that at the moment.

Future Teacher

While I was observing Mrs. Romines class the first things I noticed were the amount of bulletin

boards, and how loud she was. This caught me off guard because of how quiet I am. She had the

attention of her students at all times, and didnt have much trouble from them talking or acting up.

With me being so quiet, I always felt that it would be a problem. I have since been working on

speaking in a higher tone of voice, and I feel that if I continue to do so I will eventually get to where

I dont hear so many questions.

Another skill that she told me about was having backup plans. I asked her very early on if at the

beginning of her teaching career if she ever had any problems forgetting the material. She said that

it still happens to this day, and to counter it she has handouts and games printed out that she can pass

out to the class to keep the occupied for a little while so she can gather her thoughts. This has been a

question of mine ever since I decided upon being a teacher. I have had times where I have blanked

in front of groups of people, and froze because I didnt know what to do about it. Now I know I will

always have a backup plan.

By far the most useful thing, in my opinion, that I learned during this experience is sitting people

of mixed skill next to one another. I honestly never thought about this, and it makes a lot of sense

because of how much I am wanting to have group work in my classes. Somehow she was able to sit

people of mixed skill and boys with girls. This will solely rely on the number of boys and girls in

the class, as well as the number of mixed skilled students you have in your class, but I will do my

best to sit at the very least mixed skills together. This, I feel, will help each student because the

lower skill students will get taught by me, and see how the higher skilled students use what I teach,
 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 6

and it will allow the higher skilled students to learn how to translate what they learned to help

another person. Everyone benefits in the classroom by practicing this.

Summary

To summarize what I learned during this experience, I learned a lot about a lot of different things.

I loved getting to do this project with someone that has had a huge influence on how I turned out.

Her class was similar to what I remembered, but in doing the service learning project I was able to

learn a lot of things I can use in the classroom that I did not think about before. My experience in

Mrs. Romines classroom taught me how to use the volume of my voice to help teach lessons and

keep the classroom settled down. I learned how to always have a backup plan in case I were to

forget something, and most importantly, I learned to sit mixed ability students next to one another to

help get what I am teaching to everyone. The Service Learning Project was by far my most

enjoyable experience I have had at Ivy Tech.

 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 7

Reference Page

Foshay, A. (1991). The curriculum matrix: Transcendence and mathematics. Journal of Curriculum

and Supervision.

Roekel, D. V. (2013). Profession-ready teachers. NEA Center for Great Public Schools.
 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 8

Service Learning Reflective Summary Report

Grading Score Rubric

Points are awarded based on thoroughness and attention to detail Possible

Points

Cover/Title Page and Reference Page 10

 SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION 9

Reflection/Summary Paper Content 30

Demonstrates critical expressions in each section as the questions are addressed using all available
resources - teacher responses, class notes/discussions, course readings, and personal
insights/beliefs.

Explicit connections course readings or outside scholarly sources are used, including at least 2 in
text citations from 2 separate sources.

Subtitles must be included in this paper.

Paper Outline includes:

a. Introduction

b. Service Learning Experience Related to the Classroom

c. Classroom Environment and Student Learning

d. Future Teacher

e. Summary

Mechanics grammar, spelling, etc. 10

APA Format Heading, Font, Spacing, etc.

Total Points 50

Comments: