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New Attitude Part 2 FITTING IN BY PITCHING IN Service-learning projects can also be classroom-based-for example, a shop class building wheelchair ramps for a local business. For kids on the work crew, however, projects that place them in the community allow them to witness firsthand the contributions they are making. In one such project, the crew is building "quail hotels" on the Ochoco National Grasslands. Each hotel consists of 20 to 25 juniper trees that the students cut down and pile in a crisscrossed mound. The birds get protection from predators and the elements, which can claim as much as 80 percent of the quail population each year. The students get fresh air and exercise, along with a chance to see what elements of biology and ecology look like in living color. Another project places students as peer tutors in nearby Ochoco Elementary School, where they work one-on-one with younger kids who need extra attention. To emphasize the learning component of this service project, Tami Barnes, the adult leader who supervises the work crew and runs the peer-tutoring program, used the description for a teacher's aide position to discuss the job skills students would need if they were applying for this opening. The positive effects of service learning are well grounded in research. According to the National Youth Leadership Council, study after study has shown service learning to be effective in promoting growth in a wide variety of domains that include academic learning, more complex thinking and problem-solving skills, heightened self-esteem, a deepened sense of social responsibility, and a greater inclination to participate actively in the community. Many schools are plagued by disruptive behaviors from a handful of students who demand more time and attention than the rest of the class, exhausting teachers' stores of energy and patience. Removing struggling kids from the regular classroom, even for part of the day, provides these students with more individual attention, allows them to work at their own pace, and gives them an opportunity to learn through hands-on, genuine experiences instead of studying vague concepts in a textbook or on a blackboard. Principal Chris Yaeger believes the program not only gives the students a foundation of positive experiences to build on, but also gives the school some leverage in working with them. Because Barnes and Billie Estridge, the special education teacher who coordinates the academic component of the program, work so closely with the crew kids, conflicts are dealt with earlier and kept smaller. "One of the first things that is noticeable is that kids who have had a history of being in the office for discipline reasons, we now see very infrequently," says Yaeger. "They come to school feeling better instead of feeling they are going to be defeated or feeling frustrated." At Crook County High, students like David are proof that the program is working. Once described as "constantly in the office," "defensive," and "not part of the system," kids on the work crew are now more positive and more involved in the school. The Alliance for Service Learning in Education Reform says that because students in service projects learn to work cooperatively and to relate to peers and adults in new and constructive ways, their self-image improves "in a legitimate way, not because of imagined good feelings but rather as a result of increased competence and positive experience." The service aspect of the program enables kids who were once a cause of problems to become a source of solutions. As more and more people demonstrate confidence in their ability to complete important tasks, the kids develop confidence in themselves. Crook County's school-to-work coordinator Beverlee Jackson is a firm believer in the power of service learning. "It can benefit all kids, but it is especially beneficial for those students who don't see themselves as productive citizens. They find themselves suddenly having successes they haven't had before," she says. "It is transforming these kids in ways we never expected."
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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