Exemplars from Community Works Institute

Rutland's Community Service Learning Summer Institute

by Jason Robtoy

Rutland teacher Dale Smith decided to host a five-day Summer Institute for service learning at Rutland High School in Vermont. With a clear vision but limited time to develop an event of this size and scope, Dale contacted Community Works Institute looking for technical assistance. Over the next few months she worked on institute design on her own and with a team of K-8 teachers and consultants from Community Works Institute (CWI). Rutland's Institute began to take shape. Some parts of Rutland's Summer Institute were borrowed whole from models shared by Community Works Institute, while others were modified or invented to meet local teachers' needs and interests. Community Works Institute provided planning strategies and templates for curriculum design, modeled a reflection writing workshop on Monday that was developed during the week by teacher Jason Robtoy, and assisted in developing a field trip to community resources and sites. The following are excerpts from a write-up of the event by Jason Robtoy

Many educators naturally support community service learning (CSL) projects, but fewer teachers actually incorporate service into their classes than might like to do so. How do the leaders of a school district cultivate CSL in their schools? One way is to find someone with passion for the topic who can organize an institute where educators learn about CSL and how it can be used to enhance their teaching.

Rutland City Public Schools had such a person in Dale Smith, a Family and Consumer Studies teacher from Rutland High School who has been involved in service learning there for three years. Dale realized that "before people begin to implement CSL, a professional development summer institute is very helpful... I've learned how successful summer institutes have been at Guilford Central School and at Thetford Academy.

Smith organized the Rutland Community Service Learning Summer Institute with several objectives in mind:
•to involve students and the community in designing and developing CSL activities.
•to integrate service learning activities within academic areas.
•to develop methods to assure that student and community needs will be served.
•to relate CSL activities to Rutland's local curriculum and Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities.

Dale worked with Joe Brooks, director of Community Works Institute, to develop methods to fulfill these objectives. Using models successfully implemented at Guilford School over the years, she brought in a diverse group of speakers, arranged a field trip to local resources, gave time for independent work on projects, and incorporated a reflective writing component.

Prior to the institute in June, Smith had the participants thinking about CSL by reading an issue of Community Works Journal, an educational journal focused on developing ties between school and community through service and experiential learning. Each class member was given a copy and asked to reflect on an article they found relevant to their own goals and work. The group thus started the Rutland CSL Summer Institute ready to expand on their first impressions of CSL.

The Institute began with the engaging speaker Cynthia Parsons, former classroom teacher, Coordinator of SerVermont, and author of Seeds: Some Good Ways to Improve Our Schools. Among other distinctions, she was a charter member of Vermont's Governor's Commission on Volunteerism and an Eleanor Roosevelt Public Service medalist. Cynthia began the week on a positive note, relating anecdotes about common sense ways to integrate CSL into the classroom and offering her help, free of charge, to anyone who needed guidance in setting up a CSL project.

An early and critical part of the institute involved professional writer Susan Bonthron, who worked on reflective writing with our participants. Susan works with Community Works to develop reflection writing as an active component of professional development. She also works regularly with Vermont's Department of Education and the New Hampshire College and University Council as a consultant, documenting service-learning projects throughout New England. She first discussed the importance of reflection to the effectiveness of any CSL project, noting that reflection helps put the emotional experiences often encountered during service in perspective. Susan added that good reflective writing surpasses the over-used journal concept, challenging students and prompting them to participate actively. Beyond the personal level, she noted that reflection can and should be useful and have real consequences, such as involving student and adult participants in the decision-making process.

Bonthron paired the group up for an activity developed by poet Verandah Porche called "told poetry"; which involved one partner telling a story to another while the second partner wrote down key words and phrases that were then composed into a poem. For the exercise, the participants described a powerful early memory. This activity paved the way for reflective writing activities done throughout the week directed by Jason Robtoy, English teacher at Rutland High School. Jason focused on different ways to direct, use and improve reflective writing with personal learning experiences as the focus. The intent was to have teachers later extrapolate the exercises for student reflection about their community service learning experiences.

A Local Field Trip: After a stimulating morning, the participants took a whirlwind field trip to various sites around Rutland that have potential for CSL. The first stop was at Interage, an adult day care facility. The group then visited the Rutland Planning Commission, the Rutland Regional Educational Alliance School-to-Work office, and radio station WJJR, all in the same building. The next stop was the Paramount Theater, a turn of the century theater where the group met with representatives from the Crossroads Arts Council and the Rutland Historical Society, who are trying to raise money to renovate the Paramount. The final stop was at RSVP, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, which coordinates many community service activities. The field trip provided opportunities that started teachers thinking about exciting CSL project ideas.

Program Examples: Tuesday was a full day workshop utilizing expertise drawn from Community Works and one of its partners Guilford School, a demonstration site in Vermont for professional development and CSL. Our workshop leaders were 4/5 teacher Margaret Dale Barrand; and 5th grade teacher Sue Bos, along with CWI's director Joe Brooks. The CWI team provided an overview of strategies for conceptualizing, coordinating, and implementing service projects as academically integrated learning experiences. They promoted CSL as an investment in the school and community, bringing both together for a single purpose. They also shared slides of student work while commenting on specific projects, which included vegetable and flower gardens whose produce goes to local seniors. During the second portion of the workshop they provided an integrated planning document for participant use specifically designed for CSL curriculum that incorporates Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. The document was used enthusiastically by many of the participants, helping to flesh out an idea with concrete objectives, standards, and assessments. After lunch, the Guilford team worked with different groups of the institute participants on their projects, giving feedback while sharing ideas and resources. The day ended with a short reflective writing homework assignment.

Each subsequent day began with reflection writing exercises emphasizing methods to improve and develop reflective writing. On Wednesday, the group observed a unique intergenerational puppet show. Later the group discussed CSL with Nate Allen, a senior at Randolph High School who has participated in numerous CSL projects; they found Nate's perspective very encouraging.

Portfolios: Lynn Bondurant spoke to the group on Thursday about the Vermont Framework of Standards, Vermont Student Development Portfolios, and how students can benefit from documentation of CSL activities in their portfolios. Group planning occupied the afternoon. By this time, most groups were planning the specifics of their future service-learning projects.

Friday's reflection work focused on ways to encourage both written and non-written reflection in students. The group brainstormed a list that was given to all participants as a quick reference resource. Friday afternoon was reserved for celebration and presentations. From these it was evident that the group's understanding of CSL had grown immensely.

The five-day institute, which was also attended by teachers from local elementary schools, was a way for Rutland High School to begin expanding on and sharing its experiences with CSL. These have moved forward steadily for three years at Rutland High School. The emphasis on CSL has led to the creation of a new CSL course at Rutland High School starting this academic year. Funded by a school-to-work grant written by Smith, the course's entire focus will be on CSL, which will provide a structure for students to use their academics to supply community needs. And thanks to the Rutland Community Service Learning Summer Institute, more Rutland students will experience CSL in their academic classes.