11th Grade English Service-Learning Project
Sometimes I get these ideas, and I honestly think I am crazy for even entertaining them. But sometimes, they take over and before good, common sense has the strength to reign me in, I am off and running before I’ve had a chance to really consider, “What am I getting myself into???”
I am the QUEEN of Biting-Off-More-Than-I-Can-Chew – and just behind that, my secondary role is the Princess of Under-Estimating. I always think, “I can handle this! No big deal! It won’t be that involved…” That should be my first warning sign…
Sometimes, the gamble pays off, and I am so glad I took the chance. And other times…well, you know how it goes…it sounds something like, “What was I thinking???”
Well, I did something like that last spring…on something of a whim, and by God, I hope this is one of the times it pays off.
Our school is launching a service-learning program that will be implemented in the next five years school-wide. By service-learing, we mean that a service project for the community or some outside group/organization is tied specifically to learning objectives; we fulfill our learning objectives by incorporating some kind of service project.
Well, at an inservice day last spring, our administration announced this to us and was soliciting some volunteers to pilot the program this school year. We were to fill out the ‘non-committal, very open-ended’ interest form if we had an idea for a service-learning project for our class. We weren’t committing, just expressing an interest.
I did have an idea…but was this really something I wanted to commit to? I am always complaining about being over-worked, pulled in too many directions…did I want to commit to something that was sure to require so much planning and extra effort and surely involve field trips? (Not a fan of the field trip. There. I said it. I know, horrible for a teacher to say. I know they are fantastic ‘learning opportunities’ but … ugh. Sometimes I think I am just too old for field trip! I might just need to pass that baton to the young, naive, unjaded spunky new teachers.)
But since this was a ‘non-committal’ form, what could it hurt? Hmmmm…..famous last words…
Long story short, my project was selected. How could I back out now? And honestly, I didn’t really want to back out, but I was a little nervous about the amount of work involved. However, I really did see the potential of this project, and my passion in teaching truly is to see our kids live for Something bigger than their own small stories….so, I bit the bullet. I committed.
Now, the upside is that all of the participants will be in something of a ‘learning community’ – meeting regularly, doing this together with a lot of support. And since it is brand new, there aren’t a lot of high past expectations to live up to. Unless we ended up destroying who we were meant to help, we really couldn’t fail. Lots of support, low risk factor…OK, this was sounding better.
So aren’t you dying to know what our project is???
Well, it is not solidified, but here was my proposal idea. In 11th grade English, we study American lit. In our reading, we read a good deal of war literature as well as many stories written by former veterans. And without fail, their writings are either very dark or the authors come to a tragic end. My students usually question this, and we typically get into a discussion about how war really can have long-term effects on those who serve. Back then, nobody was talking about PTSD, but certainly, these writers probably suffered from this, even though it was undiagnosed (and unclassified).
So, my idea was something along the lines of helping and serving our veterans, our wounded warriors. We enjoy so many freedoms here in America, but someone (many, in fact) had to pay a very high price for what we freely love and experience here. I wasn’t sure what we could do, but certainly there was something we could do.
Now that is all well and good, but in our initial meetings, I was informed that to be legitimate “service-learning”(and not just a service project ‘sort-of-related’ to curriculum), we actually had to tie our learning objectives to this project: how could this project help our kids meet our academic objectives? So….I had to expand this a little…
What I came up with was something like this:
What if we interviewed veterans and wounded warriors (communication skills), wrote down their stories (writing skills), and created a memorial book? Part of our literature also deals with the theme of memorializing, paying tribute through literature – either through fiction, other prose or poetry, etc).
So, then in one of my walks last week (Remember? I have been getting most of my best thinking done on these walks!), I passed by all these gardens planted by the Boy Scouts in a town park.
And I began to think, ‘What if we planted a memorial garden in a local garden… Wounded Warrior Way, or something like that? We could have a dedication service and invite the veterans we interviewed to attend. We could have a ceremony and each student could bring up his ‘veteran’ and stick a sign in the garden with the veteran’s name on it to honor him/her? And then we have our memorial books available for donations that would go to Wounded Warrior??? Maybe we could even make a DVD with snippets of the veterans and the interviews and ….” and then this started taking on a life of its own.
I told you my ideas just start to run away with me…. This was getting bigger in my brain than I had anticipated. But I couldn’t help asking, ‘What if….?”
So all of this was hypothetical. Could we get in touch with Wounded Warrior? Would this be practical enough for them? Would this seem trite or self-serving? Would there be enough – or too many – veterans for us to interview? Could we get permission from a park to make a garden? Wait – I don’t know how to garden! What about the printing? What about ….
And now, I’m starting to panic. What have I gotten myself into???
But ya know what? I’m also feeling very excited about the risk. True, I have no idea what is going to happen, but I have to admit, I am loving where this could go.
So earlier this week, a Wounded Warrior commercial came on Fox News as I was making dinner. And as usual, I’m totally choked up. But at the end of the commercial, the wife of the veteran stated how important it was to them to feel remembered, like they aren’t forgotten, like they are honored.
Wait! That’s what we want to do!
I soon learned that their motto is “The greatest casualty is being forgotten.”
So, get this. I emailed Wounded Warrior Project in NY, to see if this idea is even feasible or am I just crazy???
Well, I got a response. Not only did he love our ideas…..wait for it….he asked if we would be interested in marching in the Veteran’s Day Parade in NYC with Wounded Warrior!!!!!!!
Are you kidding me????? Interested????
Oh my gosh. I was shaking. I could not believe it. My original plan was to assign the students to attend some local event on Veteran’s Day – a parade in their town, a ceremony at the VFW….I never thought we would get an invitation to march with these heroes ourselves.
I am blown.away.
OK. We are still in the early stages….but maybe this wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. Well, maybe it was, but maybe it is one of the crazy ones that just might work.
Photo Credit: Wounded Warrior Project
Am so excited for you and your students!! Way to go, Kate 🙂 (And am sure people will step up…after all, you’re marching in the Veteran’s Day Parade!) Am certain your students will never forget the lessons they’re about to learn/experience…
Thank you! This is really exciting for us. And I truly am so grateful for those who serve our country. It is an honor to honor them. I’ve always felt kids (anyone) learn best by doing. I’m so glad it will be linked to something meaningful! Thanks for your enthusiasm! 🙂
Can’t wait to hear about how it progresses!
WOW! You are such an inspiration! Way to go. You have incredible ideas and I hope this spreads throughout the USA! What a great experience for you, the students, and our precious brave soldiers and families. ~God Bless you on this new and exciting journey~
Thank you! It really hope this all comes together. I sometimes see things in my head and reality is a little different, but I am hoping this is a great experience for the veterans and for our kids.
The gardening, the marching sounds something that in my opinion is on the level of the maturity a child has. However, the interviewing… I am probably going to be misunderstood. I know you are very excited and you are being backed up so I am probably alone with my opinion.
When I was 18 I joined an organization sponsored by Steven Spielberg to interview men and women who came back from the Holocaust. They decided I cannot participate in the interviewing because they found me too young. At the time I thought they were unfair with me. Their reasoning was that it does not help the person being interviewed when a child or a very young adult is present. The topic of the interview is too serious. It is not like an interview about one’s first job. Since the topic is so heavy it can be tough for the listener as well. Do you see where I am getting at? What do you think?
xoxo, Eszter
http://kukolina.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/back-from-bangkok/
Thanks for you input – I really do appreciate that. Those definitely are valid concerns – and I am sure it will be something that we will have to discuss in our group meetings. We definitely are planning to go over with the kids a step-by-step for interviewing, what are good and appropriate questions to ask. We may have to ‘steer’ them in the kinds of questions they should ask. These definitely are valid concerns. I think we can figure out a way for our kids to do this without it being traumatizing for them and something that is meaningful for the veterans also. That is something I will definitely speak to my administrators about – as well as the WW leaders as to the best way to go about it. The WW project leader liked the idea, so I am hoping he has something in his mind of a way that this would work for everyone.
But thank you again for your input. I really do value that and it helps to have lots of minds thinking about a project! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Please do! Thank you for your reply! 🙂
This is awesome! What a fantastic way to make the kids care about learning! You will be fine, just don’t be afraid to ask. Good luck!
Thank you! Yes, I am hoping this all comes together. It feels risky – but nothing ventured, nothing gained!
This idea is not crazy it is pure brilliance and a day that many of your students will remember for ever, as well as you. What a gift from a teacher. Congrats and follow that whim again, it had led to an amazing result. Happy Sharefest too by the way.
Thanks so much for coming by! I am hoping it will be a good for the kids and veterans as I think it will! And thank you for your inspiring blog! 🙂
Sounds absolutely brilliant! Biting off more than you can chew is what life is all about 😉
Yes, I am learning that! I’m not a huge risk-taker, but a CALCULATED one, lol. I think the pay-off will definitely outweigh the investment! Thanks for your enthusiasm! 🙂
Wow!! How awesome! Definitely it seems like when we embark on projects so big that they scare us–the payoff can be very worth it! I think this is a project that you’re going to be able to look back on in years to come and be very proud of.
Thank you very much, Rachel. I am definitely hoping it is something that both the kids and the veterans will look back on and feel was a very meaningful experience. Yes, it’s a risk, but I think the payoff can be huge!
Thank you for coming by and reading! Much appreciated! 🙂
There are a lot of wounded warriors out there. Some of them weren’t warriors. I’m still haunted by Kent State which happened when I was 18. Today I was thinking of those traumatized who were present at the shooting and those who saw it on television–secondary trauma can be as harsh.
Thanks for the enthusiasm with service learning.
My favorite field trip as a more experienced teacher is going to the library to check out books. No permission slips needed. : )
I love the library idea!!! Def sounds like my kind of field trip!
And you are right…so many people deal with so many kinds of trauma – and we often don’t think about things like secondary trauma. Very good point.
I am hoping this will be a positive experience all around!
Popping over from the Saturday Sharefest. I think this is a wonderful idea and it sounds very do-able. Wouldn’t it be neat if this were something the kids could bring their children back to later on and show them what they had done. I’m thinking along these same lines for my son’s Eagle project. I’d really like it to be something physical that he can be proud of and look back on later as an adult.
Thank you so much for coming by! Yes, I love the idea of it being something permanent – and public – for both my kids and the veterans. I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one! Thanks again! 🙂
What a fantastic idea. You might let your ideas run away with you but when they’re such fantastic ideas it can’t be a bad thing. I’m so glad you got such a good response from the NY project. I hope your students get a lot out of the initiative. I’m sure that for some of them it will be a life changing experience and will set the course of the rest of their career either as journalists, therapists, politicians or peace keepers. Keep us posted on how things progress x
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm. I am really hoping that this will be as good in reality as it is in my head!!! Truly hope my kids get on board with this!
I def. will be updating! 🙂
I am notorious for biting off more than can chew too! But GREAT things have happened because of it!! 😀 I love your idea and can’t wait to hear how it all pans out.
Yes, I am hoping this is one of the ones I’ll be glad I went out on a limb for! But you know how it looks in your head, sometimes, compared to reality! llol
How exciting! I love how ideas expand to something way larger than we could imagine going in. The kids are really blessed to have you in their lives. Having worked with kids for 35 years, I can now openly say, I do not like field trips either, I agree, let the younger, newbies have that fun!
Yes, this one took a life on a life of its own…but I am hoping this one will pay off. Even in spite of the dreaded field trips! Maybe this time…. 🙂
How exciting! I love what you’re doing! I have the same issue with things getting away from me… just look at our “guest” room. That no longer can fit a guest. I’ve worked with the WWP before and its just an awesome experience, your students will have their lives changed and touched and you are doing such a service to the warriors who have served us! You really are the Queen of Doing it ALL!
I love that you have worked with WWP before and have had a great experience! That is so reassuring! I really think this will be a life-changing experience for the kids! OR I hope so! Your guest room, lol…isn’t it funny how things just escape us!!! Crazy! Nothing ventured, nothing gained…even the crazy ideas!!! 🙂
You are incredible! What fantastic ideas you have! This will be a beautiful tribute and one of the most important lessons/memories a student can have…as well as what our warriors will feel. This is beautiful! Good luck and keep us posted!
Thanks for your support, friend! I am really hoping that this is meaningful for everyone!!! Hope you are doing well in your neck of the woods! 🙂
It sounds like it will be wonderful!!!! You got this! xxoo
Great to see you take action. I usually have similar experiences with my ideas. I find my ideas taking me on a spin and at the same time the fear of not knowing how to do some things (like printing and planting a garden in your case). What I realised is that, our part is to focus on the idea, developing it and leading it withe visions we get as we go for about our days ‘our walks’. The other stuff, the people will come along somehow. When we share our ideas and visions with them. Great post!
So true! Step by step, but I really believe for things that are meant to be will happen. Not without hard work, but they will happen! It really is a fun ride! Thank you so much for coming by! 🙂