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Service-Learning Log

Going into my teaching experience practical I was quite overwhelmed and nervous about our required “Service Learning - Social Action Project”. At first I was unsure of why we had to do a social action project and “does it even matter”, and I can confidently say after completing it “yes, yes it matters” and it’s very important.


I did my “Service Learning - Social Action Project” with one of my peers from campus. Our project was called “Lights of Love”, which was focused on providing safe and sustainable load-shedding lights for underprivileged child-headed homes. We created these lights with the Grade 3’s using empty cool-drink bottles, permanent markers for decoration, and fairy lights.


I’m sure that my peer and I can both confidently say that our project was highly effective and successful. We thankfully managed to implement all four components of the service learning framework, namely: “create awareness, educate, unite, and parent and community involvement”. We were able to create awareness by sending home an informative email to the learners parents, and by creating information posters for the learners. We were able to educate the learners by having a discussion with them before doing the project, and by answering any questions they had regarding it. We were able to unite the learners by making the project a whole-grade initiative. All of the Grade 3’s brought empty bottles, civvies money and markers to create their load-shedding lights. We were able to involve the parents and community by informing them about every aspect of the project from the beginning to end. The parents were encouraged to donate funds on the civvies day and to send their children to school with empty cool-drink bottles. The community involved was the underprivileged children that Reagola Home (the home that the schools ROAM club works with) assists that received the load-shedding lights.


The experience of this project was incredible, especially watching the learners create load-shedding lights with such care and kindness for peers their age that are less privileged than them.


Service learning changed me personally by not only opening my eyes to the amount of admin and work that goes into planning a fundraiser, but by making me realise just how important working with one’s community and getting learners involved in social initiatives are.


Service-learning has developed me professionally quite a bit. As previously mentioned I thought that doing this project was somewhat “unnecessary” in the beginning of TE, but after actually planning, researching and implementing it I see just how important and necessary it is. I developed mentally, personally and professionally. I also developed new knowledge and skills, specifically how to plan and implement a school initiative and fundraiser, as well as how to handle each aspect of it.

I believe that the initiative greatly benefited the school, because it opened up the learners eyes to how lucky we all are to have safe and sustainable lights to use for load-shedding, as well as got them involved in a hands-on initiative to help peers in their community that are underprivileged. I believe that the project is sustainable, as the school already has a recycling initiative where learners bring empty bottles to recycle, so the school can take those bottles and create load-shedding lights with them instead of sending them off with a recycling company.

Overall this “Service Learning - Social Action Project” was quite eye opening, informative and beneficial not only for the Grade 3’s, but also for me as a teacher. I am glad that my mentality of the “necessity” of initiatives has changed, and that I now understand the importance of them and also what skills are needed to properly plan and implement one.

 
 
 

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3 Comments


Nabihah Mahomed
Nabihah Mahomed
Oct 30, 2023

It's amazing to hear about your "Lights of Love" project and how it made a positive impact on underprivileged child-headed homes. The way you implemented all four components of the service learning framework shows your dedication and effectiveness. It's heartwarming to see how the Grade 3 learners actively participated and how you involved parents and the community. Keep up the fantastic work!

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jennaevans0
Oct 30, 2023

I love this idea especially because it is so relevant to today. This sounds like an impactful initiative. Well done.

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