School district combines service with learning
by Bret Bradigan

Now in its third year, the Ojai Unified School District service learning program takes kids out of the classroom and into the community.
This program, paid for by a $50,000 grant from the state CalServe K-12 Service Learning Initiative, is designed to teach students that learning by helping is sometimes the best course.
Last week, 32 teachers, from all district schools, listened as a lineup of representatives from Ojai organizations talked about where the students could lend a hand, then met to talk about their past experiences and plan new projects for this year.
Chris Johnson, the district's CalServe administrator, worked with the teachers as they figured out how to integrate what they teach with the program. As an example, she pointed to the brochure, "Cool Places for Cool Kids" produced by third-grade classes at Topa Topa Elementary School. The brochure features a list of places in the Ojai Valley, and the activities which can be done there, such as the playground at Libbey Park, or learning about the original inhabitants of Ojai, the Chumash, at the Ojai Valley Museum.
Tracy Anderson's Topa Topa third-graders are now planning a youth-oriented Web site for Ojai. "Service learning really makes the curriculum come alive,' she said. "What better way to learn than to go out into the community and learn - the kids generate the ideas and do all the work."
Other teachers used their successes to motivate teachers new to the program. Pam Edwards, from Chaparral High School, said she took a group of 12 students around to the district's sixth grade classes to warn them of the dangers of smoking. The students also produced a video and a marionette show for Cesar Chavez Day. "They got applause from the community, and they've never had that before."
"They were the driving force," Edwards said about the various projects. "They kept me going when it seemed overwhelming."
Barbara Brown, whose fourth graders at Topa Topa have adopted Ojai Meadows Preserve for their service learning project, spoke about how the project helped motivate a student who struggled to learn. She read aloud the girl's poem, "The Frog Who Loved the Meadow," as an example of what occurs when kids make an investment in their lesson and their community at the same time.
Students often have a problem making these connections between what they learn and practical applications of those lessons, Edwards said. "This focusing on tests and standards, kids don't understand. This provides purpose."
Service Learning, as defined by National and Community Service Trust, includes five elements: meeting a real community need; integrated into and enhances curriculum; coordinated with another community group or organization; helps foster civic responsibility and provides structured time for reflection.
"Whether the goal is academic improvement, personal development, or both, students learn critical thinking, communication, teamwork, civic responsibility, mathematical reasoning, problem solving, public speaking, work skills, computer skills, scientific method, research skills and analysis," stated the teachers' handout.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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