Community Works Journal

	On The Road to Find Out: Passionate Engagement and Counter-Cartography By BRAD HOUK “I’m creating counter-maps....” “What-maps? You have to explain this counter-stuff,” said Troy, genuinely curious but noticeably skeptical. “Counter-maps are maps not done by states or powerful institutions." I said. "Not government offices or banks or corporations. Not those guys watching us,” I said gesturing toward the police in the street. “Counter-maps are art-maps or protest-maps made by the people, for the people, as in groups, or communities, or individuals. read more
	Grow a-Way from Violence: Nurturing Community in the Heart of One of America’s Most Violent Cities By TIM and ELIZABETH COLLARDEY The first year that we moved Heirloom Peace Gardens to Flint brought extraordinary results. As the corn grew taller and the whole garden more lush, more and more people stopped by to ask questions. I’d often come home and tell my wife that as much “people gardening” happened as tending of the plants that day. They were very impressed, full of questions, and we often had long conversations about the project. read more
	Creating Positive LGBTQ Visibility in the Borderlands: An Overview of the Frontera Pride Film Festival By BRENDA RISCH We envisioned a student run film festival that would focus on the LGBTQ community to “Build Bridges across Borders” that activated an intersectional concept of identity, not simply an appreciation of diversity informed by race/ethnicity or sexual orientation or gender identity. We wanted viewers to understand that many challenges that affect people with non-traditional gender identities and sexual orientations also pertain to other marginalized groups. We envisioned the festival as an opportunity for open and affirming organizations to work together for a positive goal. read more
	Putting Problem Solving at the Core of Place Based Service-Learning By JONATHAN E. MARTIN At City High School in Tucson educators gathered recently for deeper conversations. A t the heart was the question, how do we make it real? How do we connect service-learning to genuinely meaningful, rich, situated community problems? How do we structure the experience of service-learning such that students are engaged, empowered, and motivated? How do we advance the possibilities that what they’re doing has an impact that is recognizable and rewarding? read more
	Rethinking Family Engagement: Hybrid Summer Camp Program By JAMARA M. WAKEFIELD The Boston Nature Center, like many out of school time provider’s, work under the constraints of limited resources. The increased demands to demonstrate outcomes to meet research guidelines presented by the funders can be challenging. Hence, engaging families may feel like an additional task in the face of other priorities. The AmeriCorps Summer Fellows recognized the importance of the task ahead and immediately identified several strengths of this community of students and staff. read more
	EVENTS—PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Summer Opportunities and More LIMITED SPACE Don't miss Community Works Institute's annual series of professional development events for 2013. Limited space exists for CWI's Summer EAST and WEST Institutes on Service-Learning. Join with educators from across the U.S. and around the world for a week of learning, exploration, and practical curriculum design. A perfect way for individual educators and teams to deepen their use of service-learning and sustainability, both in the classroom and program wide. These are best practice based events and appropriate for K-16 and community educators, and administrators. read more
	Making Waves Along the Bayou: Service Learning and Career E-Portfolios By DR. CATHLEEN BECNEL RICHARD, Ph.D. An unusual request was made of me one day. One of the archivists in Ellender Memorial Library contacted me asking for the help of my students in a very important project he was conducting entitled, “Oral History Collection on Veterans in Southeast Louisiana.” Budget cuts in higher education left him working on the massive project single-handedly. He agreed to work with me as a team teacher teaching the students involved the value of archives, how to conduct interviews and develop interview questions, and the transcription process. read more
	Directing Social Responsibility: Candid Observations on the Job By MIKE MACKENNA My job is a mix of being a service learning coordinator and fundraising coordinator. I am the first person to have this job, which is exciting because I get to create it from scratch, but also difficult because, well, I get to create it from scratch. When I was thinking of the angle I wanted to take for this article, I thought I’d like to make a list of what I’ve learned to make me better at my job. Yes, this is a list of fairly obvious advice, but I’ve found those kinds of lists helpful for teaching advice read more
	Medicine for an Educator By LORI SUNTREE Eight weeks into my teaching career, I stood in the middle of the faculty lounge wondering “how in the world did I think I could be a teacher?” Although being a teacher was a dream I had had since the first grade, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine the escapades of those first few months. I never anticipated that the first substitute teacher I would have would ask for the numbers of my fourteen year old female students. Nor did I think I would return to my classroom to find my second substitute teacher sleeping in the back of my classroom while my students were chasing each other with scissors and glue guns. read more
	One School's Journey: Toward a Continuum of Service-Learning By PATRICE BRYAN and MHS FACULTY At Maplewood Richmond Heights High School (MRH) in St. Louis, Missouri, every school year starts with innovative professional development work over the summer--for teachers and students. Last summer a MHS’s faculty team attended CWI’s Summer Institute. After conversations with teachers from all over the country, we decided to focus on hunger. We’d design a system for our classes to better collaborate across content areas on a global and local hunger study AND design a new or improved system for the district’s existing food pantry program—two systems that need finessing. read more
	What’s So Great About Being Great? The Legacy of Frederick Douglass Lives Through Vital Community Work By KENNETH B. MORRIS, JR., with ROBERT J. BENZ Recently, I was invited to speak at Yale University before a distinguished international audience of leading historians and the top anti-human trafficking activists. Humbling is the best way I can describe it. But, to say this was the path I had chosen may not be entirely accurate. In late 2005, my friend Robert Benz, showed me a National Geographic Magazine cover story called, 21st Century Slaves. When I read and absorbed it, the life I had lived for all of those years ended abruptly and I became an Abolitionist. Call it fate or fortune, destiny or DNA, I had, in fact, been chosen by this path. read more
	The Motivation to Serve By EDWIN BLANTON I ’d been through the tunnel countless times before. I knew its hot, stale air. I knew its crowdedness. I knew its posters for the latest Broadway shows. I was there in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops with a twenty pound backpack that was killing my shoulders. I knew the saying on the crossbeams by heart “so tired…if late…get fired”. But this time through the tunnel on a late July afternoon was different. This time, I saw her. I saw her sitting there to my right up ahead, on the pavement. read more
	Beyond Words: The Beauty of Outdoor Education By BETH KULINSKI From an unconventional educator who founded a one of a kind school for unique students. Jordan Lake School of the Arts is a groundbreaking program that pairs nature and the arts to unlock and expand the gifts each student holds. Beth currently hosts a national radio show, Breathing Underwater: Stories of Autism. Here Beth shares here experiences with her students, each one of a kind. Some use few words. Some can become overstimulated by sensory input. Many find it hard to connect to people and make friendships. In the woods, by the lake, that seems to fall away. read more
	Sustaining Service-Learning: Lessons From Two Decades of Change By MARTHA RICH Our service-learning experience provides our most compelling evidence that building professional community can make a difference in a school. While creating a collaborative culture for adults was an aim from the start of this decade of change, the emphasis on service-learning was not originally a goal. Over time, though, the principles and practices of this approach have emerged as a defining element in our ongoing change process. As we’ve sought to make professional collaboration a core experience for faculty, we’ve also sought to make service-learning a central experience for students. read more
	Not a Chain Link or a Picket Fence: Social Justice Pedagogy in an Urban Garden Project By TARA AFFOLTER We hoped that the garden would offer a space for students to act upon the knowledge base they already had, thereby deepening it. But what if our summer program became simply a five-week version of the strawberry compote demonstration, yet another place for the students to be introduced to an experience that someone from outside their world had decided was important for them?" read more
	Can You Grow a Pizza? Big Questions in the Garden By HEIDI REVELO “Miss Heidi, can you grow a pizza?” asked 13-year-old Jenifer at the first Children’s Garden in Lexington, Nebraska. The sign stapled to the side of the garden box said “Pizza Garden” which was next to “Peter Rabbit Garden,” “Salsa Garden” and “Vegetable Tray Garden.” The sun was climbing in the sky and the middle school enrichment summer school students were sweaty although it was only 9:15 a.m. A dozen students watered the 30+ garden boxes and vining plants area, planted tomato plants and pulled up weeds. read more
	Foghorn Leghorn and I By ROEETHYLL LUNN The non-traditional student is the primary reason I chose to work in pre-curriculum. I am familiar with their struggles on a first hand basis. In the late nineties, I was among the ones who were forced to enter into the realization that we were now in a place where the edge we thought we had in life, based on trivial premises such as youth, beauty, family backing, marital status, or high paying employment, seemingly had come to an end, and the things that use to fall into place so excellently before did not anymore. read more
	Engaging Children Through Playful Learning: A Case Study By PENNY ALLEN and MATT DILLER Common sense tells us, when we do what we love, we do it well. When work is fun, we are more creative, we are more thoughtful, and we want to keep building upon that success. Best practices in curriculum design start with that same wisdom. Students who are engaged in meaningful, creative learning projects that connect to the real world are more motivated to succeed. These students are invested in an excellent outcome. Doing something that matters compels kids to expect more of themselves and perform at a higher level. read more
	Through The Personal Lens: Reconceiving Language and Education BY HECTOR J. VILA, PhD In her final writing piece, Megan realizes that, “No, this class had hardly anything to do with ‘teaching writing’ at all; rather, the growth and self-actualization I’ve experienced throughout the semester lies in the somewhat ambiguous term scenarios.” She says that, “School is all about including, conceptualizing, and engaging scenarios. Scenarios are what give us context, personality, experiences, and voice. But perhaps the most critical product of one’s scenario is language.” read more
	A Trip to Remember By MONICA LOPEZ MAGEE, Jumping fish flew past our kayaks while catching bugs and brown pelicans waded near the coast. Some of our teens, nervous to sit in such a small boat, did a wonderful job overcoming their fears of the water while learning how to steer and balance themselves. Stopping for a lesson on the wetlands, we also sampled pickle grass which Germans grow and use as an ice cream topper. Trips like these are not only relaxing and educational, but tie us closer to the important habitats we try to protect. read more
	Trust Your Students, They Will Shine By STEVEN COLANGELI One of my students who comes from a tough home life, and has a tough exterior became the sweetest most engaging person when teaching elementary students about the respiratory system or how to plant lettuce seeds. Elementary students would hang on her every word and she had them laughing out loud with their full attention. It was as if she was a different person and so the culture of our program during these projects took on an amazingly positive vibe that is difficult to adequately explain or describe. read more
	Bridging Literacy from School to Home By ALTHEA BENEBY-DUREN My interest in family literacy began in the mid 1990s when I was finishing up an advanced degree in School Counseling. As part of my internship experience, I was provided the opportunity to work with a number of teenaged parents in a small group setting, under the guidance of the school’s Trust Counselor. These high-school students were involved in the Teenage Parent Program. I enjoyed talking with these young people and offering advice in terms of parenthood, as a mother of three. However, I wanted to find a way to combine my interest in reading with the specialized curriculum I was asked to implement. read more
	The Examined Life Makes Good Writers By PAM DYCUS One technique that I have used over the past few years to assist students over the hurdles of determining who they are is called “Life is a Highway”. The strategy begins by proving to students that they are writers. Many students begin with statements such as ”I have nothing to say” but by the end are usually spewing thoughts on a variety of subjects. The amazing part of the exercise is that students who don’t enjoy writing like the activity because it allows them to share their thoughts. read more
	Elder Documentaries: Student Initiative Means Community Connection at a Visceral & Emotional Level By TERRY LEE What makes a community connection successful in my documentary class is the level of engagement that students have with their elder subjects, the sustained visiting, interviewing and, most importantly, listening that documenting elders’ stories demands. It is a profound connection to community in just a semester. A sustained encounter with an elder’s daily life, my students report, dramatically changes their understanding of life’s vicissitudes, as well as the joys and sorrows of aging. read more
	Digging a Hole: Clinical Teaching and the Journey of Learning By Dr. STUART GRAUER As educators and students, what gets us ready to commit to an endeavor, to a class or study, to a purpose, rather than grazing half-heartedly through another class? What makes us tap in to something larger? What causes us to cast off our timid shadows and engage fully in life and the largest purposes we can find for it? At some point, we believe that probably all the best lessons really are journeys; we hope our students can somehow experience new worlds and that a great lesson is like an expedition. read more
	Mentoring a New Teacher without a Magic Filing Cabinet By DONNA ANDREWS Ph.D. I remember the day I met Emily like it was yesterday. I was helping out in the guidance office before the start of the school year, completely overwhelmed with last minute schedule changes for students, and the scheduling server was down. In desperation, I had decided to build a schedule the old fashioned way with paper and pencil when Emily walked into the office. I could tell she was very sweet and extremely anxious about teaching geometry for the first time. read more
	The Bridge: An Intergenerational Space for Learning By AHAVA SHIRA, PhD It was exciting to participate in these conversations, to feel the energy in the room, the free and spontaneous engagement between youth and adults. Adults shared stories and insights from their successes and failures, the challenge of pursuing their passions along with the practicalities of their work. Students shared their skills, talents and fears, as well as their experiences with work so far. Both adults and youth shared their dreams and visions for their lives. read more
	Moving From Bake Sales to Service-Learning Grants in Morrocco By ALEX DAILEY At Rabat American School in Morocco educators and students have worked hard to cultivate a variety of service opportunities in recent years.But service efforts grew, so did the fundraising to support them. The time and energy spent on fundraising brought a financial emphasis into our service program that diminished our true focus on fostering human interconnectedness. To combat this fragmentation we converted a small community service allowance into a grant-fund for student-initiated service projects. read more
	Green Club: A Reflection on Partnership By AUSTIN F. SCHWARTZ Partnership emerged as a foundational component of green club programming. Partnerships share the responsibilities of home, school, and community settings. The self-generating aspect of green club programming was set in motion and service requests emerged. The club became a container for environmental dialogue and opportunities. read more
	An Educator’s Entrée into Research on Service-Learning By ANN KIKI ANAEBERE, RN, PhD Pairing these concepts seems like a no brainer to me. Engage students in service within their community as a tool for supporting their professional development and learning. It was immediately easy for me to recognize the mutual benefit that such a service learning curriculum could have. For example, it could help support vulnerable populations’ access to care and health services, while at the same time provide important real world experience for nursing students prior to beginning their professional roles. read more
	East L.A. Teens Learn Confidence Through The Arts By TAMI ABDOLLAH In 1970, an estimated 30,000 people marched through East L.A. to peacefully protest the Vietnam War. But what is called the Chiacano Moratorium ended in violence when law enforcement officials clashed with marchers. Three people, including Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar, were killed. An arts based project at Monterrey High School that worked to document the Moratorium through the voices of its participants has transformed many of the students at the school. read more
	Nursing Center Without Walls Provides Health Care to Vulnerable Populations By SUSAN SIMS-GIDDENS, EdD, RN Many of our students are unfamiliar with the vulnerable residents in our community. Students who worked with us mentor the new students. Students teach residents about the medications they are taking. The clinical supervisor oversees student activities, discusses resources, and assists students to collaborate with community partners. Student placement in this project is dependent upon student interest in working with the vulnerable population. read more
	Maria Lights the Way BY BRANDY PRICE One day I found a group of first graders hunched over a plant in our reading garden. It was immediately after school and the crowd was growing. This level of crowd interest generally signals a fight, but the students were oddly silent.What I discovered that all eyes were on a six year old boy that was using a small leaf to “rescue” a worm that had fallen out of a planter. Times are changing and for the better. When I was growing up, boys in the neighborhood smashed snails with their shoes to hear the sad crunch of the helpless gastropod. read more
	Making Sustainability and Service-Learning Mesh in the Classroom By NATALIE LAROSE One way in which my classroom is going to improve the quality of life for all is through a service-learning project that I have designed that aligns with the first history unit I will be delivering, “North Street Then and Now.” Over the course of the unit students will learn about the history of the street on which their school is located, an area with rich cultural diversity and history but also traditionally an economically challenged area of the city. read more
	The Ideal Engaged Citizen? By JAKE GROHS Sometimes the fork in the road also serves as a necessary slap in the face. There I was—an over-caffeinated Master’s student in Engineering Mechanics at Virginia Tech, dutifully working on my thesis in preparation for a May 2009 graduation. Decent grades. A four-year veteran on a project sponsored by General Motors. Supportive advisors happy to recommend me to potential employers. read more
	Taking a Real Road into the Community By ANNEMARIE FRANCZYK, Ed.D. It can be an uncomfortable leap for them to consider the bigger issues in the world around them. But if they become professional journalists, it’s that world around them in which they will be working. There’s no time like school time to get budding journalists to think beyond their realm and provide a valuable service to others. read more
	The Transformative Power of Nature By KELSEY STAMM What happens when you take a group of inner-city kids from Philadelphia, most of who have never traveled outside the state, and plop them on a remote Costa Rican beach with no electricity? The answer? Magic. Eleanor Boli, a Spanish teacher at Germantown High School in Philadelphia, spent the last year raising money to take six of her students on a field science and cultural exchange program. read more
	The Grief Outreach Initiative: University Students Help Grieving Children in the Community By TRICIA MCCLAM, Ph.D. and MARY ALICE VARGA, M.Ed. She told him that her mother had died on Valentine’s Day. She still wanted to read the book, but Dean Rider could not forget the memory and how the child’s grief affected her—she was held back in school because she could not adjust socially and academically. “Right then and there, sitting outside Mrs. McCoy’s room at the school on a carpeted staircase, I was lost for words,” said Rider. read more
	A Nursing Program Comes Together with Community Supported Agriculture By NANCY LaPLANTE PhD, RN What better way to address human needs than through the food we eat and organic farming. I have always found being in a garden a place where I can pause to literally smell the roses, appreciate the wonders of nature, and reflect on life. My hope in planning this experience was that my students would have a similar response to working at the farm, and I am happy to say, this has happened. read more
	The Roots of Activism By CHELSEA ROOD-EMMICK, MSW, LSW We had a student who in his interview told us, to prove he was experienced with travel, that he had been to Iowa for two weeks. Two months later, that student who had been elaborating on how difficult it had been to be in Iowa was in a shanty town in Mexico beating a poisonous snake to death with a hoe. For me, as an instructor, this was about pulling back the veil for our students, many of whom had never traveled or thought about the international community. read more
	Digging Deeper: Charting a Path to Change Through Service-Learning and Sustainability By RICK COTA The experiences of an educator from Mississippi gave me unique perspective that I would not otherwise have ever had an opportunity for. Another educator from Hawaii gave me insight on the challenges that one has on an island paradise...that I later found out were the same as I had in California. What the Institute did for me was allow me the opportunity to share with individuals from different parts of the United States and abroad and realize that we all had unique experiences that we could all relate to. read more
	The Park That Kids Built By LINDA JASSIM In 1982 I came across a story in the Los Angeles Times that intrigued me. As a documentary filmmaker I was always on the lookout for a meaningful story that could effect change in people’s lives. This one was compelling. It was about a group of 5th and 6th graders who lived in an impoverished South Los Angeles neighborhood and their two green and idealistic teachers who thought they could change their world. read more
	Kids Making Change On Salt Spring Island By JANINE FERNANDES-HAYDEN, MA, BSc Welcome to Salt Spring Island, Canada, one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island. As an educator, I knew that, in developing this campaign, success was dependent on a design that would not be viewed as burdensome, or as a time-consuming add-on to the curriculum. It needed to complement the on-going work of administrators and teachers. Alignment was key. read more
	Something to Smile About By DR. MARY LASHLEY “I came in as an emergency patient from the Helping Up Mission for a tooth pain. I had been taking antibiotics (3) three times this year for the problem but it kept resurfacing. Your students explained that since the tooth was infected inside the antibiotic was only a temporary relief never fixing the problem. Knowing that I have not been at the…Mission very long, I knew that the only thing that the school was going to do was yank the tooth out. read more
	Voting at an Election: Students as Poll Workers By RUTH CHARLES The goal of the project was two fold. First we wanted to bring students from the classrooms to the polls to learn about democracy. Based on the previous experience we wanted to see if when expanding to a larger sample it would be successful. The second goal was to create habit-forming civic engagement Key to many city or county auditors who hire poll workers is whether the younger workers would ever return and continue working in the polls. We also wanted to encourage students that participation is key to democracy. read more
	Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Food Activism at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School By ANDREW WOLF I walked into my first food justice class in New York City last year. After writing “food justice” on the board, I waited for the class to arrive. As the students made their way into the room, it didn’t seem like many of them were taking notice of either the visitor (me) or the chalkboard. I was introduced by the students’ advisory teacher, Luz. A little nervous about getting the students interested in how food gets to our tables, I began by telling the class who I was and asking a starter question. “Who here knows what food justice is?” I asked. read more
	My Year in the Sisterhood Project A Story of Community Building By NANETTE TUMMERS, Ed. D. Many of our college students come from advantaged home environments and have misperceptions of our urban centers and the students in these urban schools. Eastern Connecticut State University is located in one of the poorest districts in the state: Willimantic, CT. Willimantic is an old mill city hit hard by decades of recessions and faces issues of poverty, low graduation rates, and immigration. Students “at- risk’ for stress include a broad range of situations read more
	Quail Ridge Schoolhouse: A Window on What Kids Need By NANCY HUMPHREY CASE A once-in-a-lifetime experience may hold clues for every educator. The setting had a lot to do with the magic, along with the calm atmosphere, closeness to nature, and the interaction with living creatures that depended on them. The small size of the school was a huge factor, too. Everyone was integral. read more
	A Place You Can Walk To By KRISTINA KENEGOS SULLIVAN I’ve learned there is a great importance in finding nature close to home. A creek has patterns of light and variation in its course as the water makes its way over the rocks. There are deep pools that barely move where water spiders skate across the surface just above a branch of braided stones that tumble down and curve this way and that. read more
	Saving Daniel’s Farm By AMY E. STEIN On a sunny day in late September just as the leaves revealed faint hints of amber and crimson red, I drove over to the farm after school. I swapped my clogs for a pair of worn hiking boots and walked over to the sunken front porch. A thin, elderly man with a long, gray beard and sunken cheeks sat in a rickety wooden chair. I extended my hand and introduced myself. read more
	Evaluation as a Learning Experience at Howard University By RODNEY D. GREEN, and ARVILLA PAYNE-JACKSON, with SUSAN BONTHRON A unique partnership with a Washington, DC based Even Start program is helping Economics, Sociology, and Anthropology students at Howard University gain real world experience with program evaluation using ethnographic methods. Personal relationships with community members forms a crucial part of that experience. read more
	Shaping the Young Leaders of Tomorrow: The Story of South Carolina Service-Learning Literacy Champions By JASON M. BIRD, with DR. BRADLEY H. SMITH As an undergraduate student, I entered my first leadership role with a slight nervous shake running through my hands. I couldn’t help but feel, for a moment, overwhelmed by 35 sixth graders staring back at me. Their curiosity and excitement to have college students come visit their classroom and work with them on new approaches to reading and writing shined brightly through their eyes. read more
	The Purpose of Inclusion: Setting or Vision? By SARA BAKER I still believe in the concept of inclusion. Not because I want to prepare students for the world as it is, but because I want to influence the kind of world that it will be—for all of us. Inclusion is about honoring diversity, not ignoring it. It is about responding to the needs of individual children within the context of their families, their classrooms and their schools. read more
	Service-Learning In A Community School: AmeriCorps VISTA and The University By LEE N. MITCHELL with ROBERT F. KRONICK Ph.D Longtime children’s television show host Fred Rogers once said, “we live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes” Working with cohorts aged K-5 has reminded me how important it is to be optimistic as well as to have an open heart. read more
	Connecting, Listening, and Learning to Teach By ROBIN GRIFFITH, NANCY ZELLER, and GUILI ZHANG The preservice teachers were also very interested in getting to know their students as individuals. Linda noted that the little boy she worked with, Adam, “didn’t have any books” and “had never been to a bookstore.” She said, “He basically watches the dogs and horror movies with his dad,” and added “I think that we have a lot in common[because we both struggled with reading!” read more
	Dispelling the Myths of Reflection By CARRIE WILLIAMS HOWE Body language changes; instead of leaning in eager and excited, colleagues, or students in my class, lean back and squirm. We’ve hit uncharted territory; preconceptions that surround the word “reflection” are tainting the conversation. Reflection is perhaps one of the most examined and written about aspects of service-learning pedagogy. And yet, it is also one of the most misunderstood. read more
	University Students and Children in a Homework Program Write Poems Together By CLAUDIA M. REDER The project began with the question: What would happen if prospective teachers, who were mostly unfamiliar with poetry, created poems with children? Would these students accept the possibility that poetry can be a journey of discovery, and would it enable them to become teachers who are not fearful of poetry? read more
	Nature Journals: An Enduring Marriage of Art and Literature By DEB CROWDER The creation of the nature journal has proven to be one of the most enduring forms of the marriage of art and literature throughout the journey of mankind. It is also one of the most accessible forms of art in that it requires only a few simple materials. The act of observation can foster a love of place and inspire positive actions to protect and preserve the natural environment. read more
	City Hearts: Reaching Inner City Youth through the Arts By SUSAN BONTHRON An in depth profile of the acclaimed Arts enrichment program in the Los Angeles County area where teachers from LA Arts community teach dance, acting, circus arts, musical theatre, Shakespeare, singing, crafts, and photography free to the community's most impoverished children. City Hearts connects thousands of underprivileged students with professionals to inspire learning and integrate disaffected youth back into the community through the Arts. read more
	Family History Writing: A Prototype for Local Service Learning By SUZANNE KELSER RUMSEY The themes of collaboration, reflection, and reciprocity, while certainly familiar to service learning researchers, are themes which I have found also articulate the correlation between service learning and family history writing as well as shed light on what family history is and how service learning can be used in other historical, family based, and localized research projects. read more
	Dynamic Landscapes, Dynamic Learning By SHARYL GREEN A Standard based study for third graders that includes hiking, technology, journaling, mapping, listening to guest speakers, experimenting, noting change and proof of human disturbance on the land—all with the aim of helping community members feel a sense of place by using a local resource. read more
	The Garden of Knowledge: A Collaborative Learning Experience By JENNIFER BALDWIN and SHEILA BALDWIN Working in the garden became an antidote for his noncompliance. His teacher often noticed that even though he was smaller than most of his classmates, he was the first to roll up his sleeves and grab a hoe to help till the hard soil. read more
	Documenting an Important Encounter: Fostering Sustainable Intercultural Exchange By REBECCA KENNERLY, TYSON DAVIS, and LYNDELL NELSON Educators and students at Georgia Southern University embark on a collaborative service-learning project to understand the issues facing their region's increasing ly large immigrant population. Students in Intercultural Communication and Advanced Video Production courses, along the Southeast Georgia Communities Project documented and share their work. read more
	Building Community Through Teen Led Public Forums By SHELLEY MURDOCK and CAROLE PATERSON Those working in the youth development field have known for many years that young people have the talent and energy to understand, analyze and create positive change in their communities. The authors share the exciting results from a University of California 4-H affiliated program where youth reported that they acquired confidence and skills that they were able to use in other facets of their lives. Adults increased their awareness of and appreciation for youth’s capabilities. Youth connected with their communities. read more
	“If These Walls Could Talk…” An Inside Look at Children’s Learning By CAROL BERNER His audience was familiar with concepts of talking walls and architectural problem solving. The children, teachers and community members listening attentively on this sunny June morning had spent the past year researching and building models of historic buildings. read more
	Mental Health Service-Learning Projects on a College Campus By DEBORAH L. MAY and CYNTHIA THOMAS Two university educators in Indiana introduce their students to real world problem solving. Identifying that students on college campuses are at risk regarding mental health issues. In collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness student nurses planned and implemented projects to highlight and reduce the incidence of depression on their campus. read more
	Empowering Students in a Second Language By KRISTA ZIELINSKI It was hours before the performance, and I was already nervous for my students. Did they bring in the items they said they would? Are they ready to be productive? Luckily, when my students arrived at school, they were prepared in ways I didn’t think were possible. read more