Service Learning Project:

For our service learning project as a group we are going to serve dinner at My Brothers Table in Lynn, Massachusetts. We haven’t contacted anyone yet but are going to soon. We are planning to go the last week in November.

The contact information is:

My Brother's Table
98 Willow Street
Lynn, Massachusetts
01901


Main Phone: 781-595-3224
Fax Line: 781-595-3224

Reconnection:

While I was looking online to reconnect with my topic I found two interesting articles and videos on the Good Morning America website. One is about foreclosures and the other is about food stamps. These two topics are both closely related to homelessness and contain interesting information.  

Nearly 15 Percent of U.S. Receives Food Stamps

 

2010 Had Record 2.9 Million Foreclosures

 

From my experience teaching I have not really seen citizenship and getting involved in issues that the students are interested in connected to the curriculum. I’m not sure if this is because I am in a second grade classroom and this can be difficult to do. Or this may be because there is not space for it. Personally as a teacher I would make space for it because I feel it is important to have the students involved in issues going on around them and that interest them. I would make space for this by connecting it to something we are learning about in class already or have an outside assignment/project be done. Finding out what the students are interested could be done in a class discussion or their interest could come out in the classroom while taking part in a lesson or activity. Then I would try to engage the students in topics that are relevant and interest them.



In the school I am at I do see the school promoting civic competence. This is done because every morning the entire school says the school pledge. The school pledge has students say that they will appreciate the differences in others, make good choices, think before speaking or acting and treat others the way they would like to be treated.  In the pledge it is teaching the students positive ways to act in the school community. And these qualities encouraged in school are then used outside of the school and the outside community. Overall, the students are taught how to act in order to be active and understanding individuals.


I do think getting involved with issues can reach the goal of social studies because it helps show students that they can make a positive change by being an active member in society.
I do think this current event project gets me connected to as a teacher what I should be as a learner and modeling inquiry. This is because the current event project has shown me how you can take a current event and connect it to other things. Also exploring an issues that is interesting to you allows you to learn more and also take action to on that issue.


-Elizabeth