Best Practices

“We realized we were expecting to see changes in the children when we
needed first to see changes in ourselves. If we wanted the children to feel
they had voice and autonomy in the school, we needed to give it to them.
We had to stop being control freaks. Let the children decide what they
were going to do with their buddies, how they were going to work on a
particular academic project. As we started to give that up and turn it over
to the children, we started seeing the changes we were hoping to see.”
PRINCIPAL
“Another technique for getting students involved is at the teacher level.
Say to the teachers, ‘This year, take on the responsibility of being a
mentor to two students. If you are going to sponsor a robotics club, find
two of the most unlikely students and find a way to make them part of
your club. Or find two students to be part of your dance club.’ We know
that won’t get every student involved, but it will get 60 more students
involved—and form 60 more positive relationships —than last year. We’ve
SERVICE LEARNING
ENGAGES STUDENTS IN
ACTIVE CIVIC PARTICIPATION
THROUGH ORGANIZED
EXPERIENCES THAT MEET
REAL-WORLD NEEDS.
done that, and it has worked wonderfully.” SCHOOL COUNSELOR, MILITARY
CONNECTED DISTRICT
“I think when you give children that sense of power, that sense of control
over their environment, they will live up to your very high expectations.”
PRINCIPAL
“Evaluation studies have shown us that when you teach a young person a
new skill, teach them how to use that skill to be of help or service to
somebody else, and give them an opportunity to process that experience
with a trained facilitator, kids absolutely blossom. The kids report that
they feel confident, competent and needed, and that’s the kind of sparkle,
the kind of quality, we seek to instill in all of our kids.” RESEARCHER
ENHANCING THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT — Participatory Environment PAGE 23