Why Does Service Matter?
Print this Page- Subject(s): Service Learning
- Region / Country: Latin America & the Caribbean / Dominican Republic
- Grade Level(s): 6–8, 9–12
- Related Publication: Insights From the Field
Overview
Students will sum up what they have found about why and how other people serve their communities and why service matters.
Objectives
- Students will summarize and explain the results of interviews with community volunteers.
- Students will describe the reasons people serve and why service matters.
Procedures
- Students are expected to bring their completed interview guides to class. In small groups, have the students take turns reporting
- Whom they interviewed.
- How the person serves the community.
- Why the person volunteers.
- Good stories people told about their experiences serving or volunteering.
- In class discussion, ask students to respond to the following questions:
- How have these individuals and organizations made a difference in our community?
- What would it be like to live in a community where no one served or felt responsibility for contributing to the common good?
- Journal Entry. In a journal entry, have students respond to the following prompts:
- What about me? What do I have to give?
- Why does service matter?
- How can members of our class serve our community and contribute to the common good?
- Have students share their journal entries with a partner, then in a class discussion. Make a list on the chalkboard of all the things students say they have to give—and the ways in which they feel they can serve.
Framework and Standards
Essential Questions
- How do people in our community work for the common good?
- How can I contribute to the common good?
- How can we, as a class, make a difference in our school or community?