Strategies
Fourth grade students are preparing to take leadership roles as "seniors" at the elementary level. This unit is designed to challenge the students to take the knowledge gained through our Food Science study and see themselves as having the power to take responsibility for their own food choices then to be role models, educators, and disseminators of information in conveying to other students healthy choices. They will accomplish this goal by educating their peers, younger students, staff and/or parents through creating a Service Learning Project focused on sharing their new knowledge and insights gained, through their study. Using the KWLT chart and their journals from the Food Science study, the students will first select the topic of their project. The topic should be one they feel passionate about and want to share with others. Students will work individually, or in groups of two or three to create their projects. The projects will be self selected. I believe the students will come up with an abundance of good ideas through the KWLTchart (especially the "tell others" section.) The projects can range from posters, songs, bulletinboards, plays, books (authored and illustrated by fourth grade students then read to younger students), commercials for our closed circuit daily broadcast, orbrochures. Some students might want tomake a healthy snack cookbook for kids, create a nutrition game, make a power point presentation, form a group to meet with the cafeteria manager to create a lunch, demonstrate an experiment or design a flyer on nutrition. My goal is that my fourth grade students will grasp what has been important to them to learn, find a creative way to share their knowledge, create a service learning project, then share their Service Learning project with others so that they can help others to discoverhealthy choices.
The Music, Art, P.E., Technology, Talent and Development (TD), ESL teachers and Media Specialist have agreed to collaborate and focus their lesson on supporting the student's projects. Home room teachers and parents will also be asked to support their student's endeavors to show leadership skills through helping fellow students understand the importance of making healthy choices.These staff members or other interested adults will be asked to act as advisers for the Service Learning Projects.
Elements of Service Learning
The following strategies will be used while teaching this unit:
Preparation: The preparation phase of our service-learning project involves students making thoughtful decisions about the topic they feel is significant and want to base their project on. Students may need to learn a skill (i.e. learn to make a power point or use a camera). Students may need to gain additional knowledge in the area of their selected topic. Students will also decide the form the project will take and the audience they seek to target. In this strategy they will also select and ask an adult if they would serve as their project advisor. The students will make decisions about the materials they need and if they need to learn new skills in order to prepare and present their projects. They will also need to create a timeline of activities. I have created a Nutritional Service Learning Project Contract (See Figure 2) that will need to be completed the first week.
Collaboration
Due to the authentic nature of service-learning activities, collaboration among students will naturally occur. Whether it is student to student, student to advisor or student to audience, collaboration is an integral phenomenon that will occur during the entire process.
Collaborating students scaffold and support each other as they stretch their thinking skills, take more risks, and think divergently. Cooperative learning also leads these future leaders to improve their interpersonal relations.
Service
The fourth grade leaders will present their projects to their class either in the science lab or in their classroom. Their peers will have an opportunity to make positive comments and one wish as feedback for each project. After the project has been shared, the fourth grade students will share their project with the intended audience.
Reflection
Students will use their Food Service Journal to reflect on their progress, procedures and feelings. According to McPherson (1989) (3), reflection aids in cognitive development in several ways. By examining experiences, students learn how to handle real life problems more effectively and with a higher transfer of learning. An increased sense of personal power emerges as students analyze their goals and ways to achieve them. By reflecting and sharing reflections, "the big picture" of healthy choices and discovering connections between projects students will reinforce or gain knowledge learned through the Food Science Study. Finally, by analyzing their service projects, students can come up with possible alternative ways to inform others about healthy choices. This will lead the fourth grade students to see a connection between what they value about their choices and their peers and audiences reactions.
Celebration
Celebration of the students' hard work is an important strategy in Service Learning Projects. It is an important way of saying "Thank you" for your hard work and "A job well done." I will ask the audiences with whom the students have shared their projects with to write notes to the fourth grade students thanking them and commenting on what they have learned from the projects (authentic writing). These notes will be shared at the celebration. Volunteer advisors will also be asked to the celebrations where the fourth grade students will give the advisors a thank you note.
Evaluation
Students will write a reflection essay on what they have learned, what changes they would make if they could do it over again, and what procedures they went through to make their projects.
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