Spring 2006
Service Learning News
Portland Community College
Volume 1, Issue 2
Service‐Learning: Empowering Students, Making Real Change
Upcoming Events Written by Tom Huminski, Service‐Learning Faculty Coordinator Saara Hirsi knew only two words of variety of people—and a variety of English English when she moved to the United States speakers—at Ride Connection has quickly from Somalia three years ago: “yes and no,” developed her language abilities. she reports with a confident smile. Patty McNally, volunteer coordinator But that was then. Now Saara exudes the for Ride Connection remarks that “even relaxed air of a native speaker, of someone since October when Saara started,” she’s who converses with a couple strangers noticed a big difference in Saara’s English. April 19­21 without hesitation. Saara attributes much of With her new language skills, Saara says Western Region Continuums her language acquisition to her ESL and she can “use what [she] needs” and not of Service Conference GED courses at PCC; but in particular, she have to sit quietly while the bus takes her Bellevue, WA credits Judy Voth’s service­learning class far from her destination. Or sit quietly at with the biggest home, which is what May 24­26 difference. might happen Enlightenment: The Evolution of Change Service­learning without the Community College National has given Saara knowledge and skills Center for Community the opportunity that Ride Engagement (CCNCCE) to go beyond the Connection has Scottsdale, AZ classroom and given her. learn through Saara is glad she can October 14­16 ­ From volunteering. share her Passion to Objectivity: “I was shy independence by International and Cross­ before,” she teaching others— disciplinary Perspectives on grins. But since especially the Service­Learning Research International Service­ she’s been Saara Hirsi, PCC student, stands with Patty McNally, elderly and people Learning Research Ride Connection Volunteer Coordinator outside of the with disabilities— volunteering Conference Portland, OR Ride Connection office in NE Portland.
with Ride how to use public Connection, transportation. And Inside this issue:
Saara has gained the confidence to ask bus Ride Connection’s Patty McNally is Service to Community
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drivers for help navigating her route. And grateful to have a resource like Saara as a Scholarship
buses are a big reason why Saara lives in volunteer. Patty recounts Saara’s helpful Service‐Learning with ESL
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Portland. She tried living in California; but work performing a “barrier assessment” since she’s legally blind, public transit is between her apartment and the North Service‐Learning changes to 3
essential to her mobility, and California Portland branch library and the invaluable serve you!
didn’t have a transit system that allowed her connections Saara has provided to the local to be independent. Somali community. Learning Garden Update
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Saara doesn’t hesitate when asked about Saara plans to continue volunteering at her service­learning experience: “I’ve Ride Connection after her service­learning Spotlight on Faculty
4 learned a lot,” she says, especially about course is over. After she completes her communication. In fact, she says that the GED, she plans to earn her college degree Newsletter produced by: language barrier was more intimidating than and then return to Somalia where she will Jennifer Alkezweeny was her vision impairment when she first help other blind people become more [email protected] moved to the U.S. But working with a independent. April 15 Global Green Day—A celebration of food and agriculture 10:00—2:00 Rock Creek Campus Service to Community Scholarship
The Portland Community College Foundation Service to Community Scholarship Program provides scholarships to students in exchange for their volunteer work at social service and education agencies in the community. Local businesses and individuals donate money to the PCC Foundation for this specific scholarship program. Each term, fifteen $1,500 scholarships are awarded to PCC students. Recipients of the Service to Community Scholarship must enroll in 9 credits each term, maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5, and complete 75 hours of service each term. Many of the recipients have continued to volunteer long after the scholarship had ended. To apply for this scholarship visit the scholarship website: http://www.pcc.edu/pcc/fin/schol.htm and click on PCC Foundation Scholarships. For more information about this and other scholarships contact Mary Hazen at 503­977­4382 or [email protected]. To donate to the Service to Community Scholarship make checks payable to “PCC Foundation” and write “Service to Community Scholarship” in the memo line. By donating to the Service to Community Scholarship you are not only giving the gift of tuition to a deserving student, you are also helping bring volunteer hours to needy community organizations. Service‐Learning Program Award Recognizes Students The Service­Learning Program Award at Portland Community College recognizes students for their service­learning efforts in their courses and communities. In addition to gaining valuable academic and work skills, award recipients receive a certificate, college recognition, and the benefit of including the award on scholarship applications and resumes. Eligibility Students must have completed 3 service­learning courses. Cooperative Education credits can be used for one of the courses. Only formal service­learning efforts qualify for this award. Paid internships and basic volunteerism do not count. To Apply Students must mail or deliver application materials to Jennifer Alkezweeny at the PCC Sylvania Service­Learning office by Friday, May 26, 2006. For complete application instructions visit: http://www.pcc.edu/resources/service­learning/students.html Winter 2006 Numbers ESL to ESL Service‐Learning We’re still getting numbers in, but so far Winter term 2006 we had: 17 faculty teach classes with a Service­Learning component. This engaged 287 students in 3880 hours of Service to our community.
Evelyn Delgado’s ESL students are making a difference in the community. At Rock Creek Elementary School, PCC ESL students serve as “Book Buddies” with the Rock Creek Elementary Kindergarten ESL students. Delgado’s students spend between 18 and 20 hours reading with the kindergarten students in a term. An important need for second language learners is a meaningful context in which to learn the language (Christison, 1999). Students participating in this Service­Learning opportunity are interacting with kindergarten students who are also second language learners. The PCC students gain confidence in their abilities with English, and the kindergarten students get much needed 1:1 attention for their own language practice. Don’t forget to check out all the resources on the PCC SL web site! www.pcc.eduservicelearning Volume 1, Issue 2
I think that a service learning (project) is a great
opportunity to learn, to share, and to help others
and should be promoted at all ESL groups. Page 2
Service‐Learning Changes to Serve You!
We’re looking for a few good faculty members…..could you be one? To better support service­learning faculty and students across the district, we’ve restructured the faculty support portion of PCC's Service­Learning program. We’re keeping Jennifer as the Service­Learning Coordinator. It’s the faculty support part that we are strengthening. The old model had one faculty coordinator serving the whole district (with a two­ course release). The new model has a faculty coordinator at each of the three main campuses (each with a one­course release). In addition to the faculty coordinator at each campus, we will recruit volunteers to serve as departmental or SAC representative. This structure will allow for better faculty outreach, support, and retention. Here's an overview of the faculty campus coordinator positions: ∙The Campus Faculty Coordinator is responsible for recruiting and supporting service­learning faculty at his or her campus, among other duties. For a complete job description, see this web site: http://www.pcc.edu/resources/service­ learning/faculty/documents/MicrosoftWord­CampusCoordinatorsdescription_2_.pdf ∙Full­time and part­time faculty are eligible ∙The positions offer a one­course release, per term, for full­time faculty. Part­time faculty will be compensated for one class each term. ∙The positions begin Fall Term 2006 (the nominees must be available Spring Term 2006 for meetings with the current faculty coordinator). To be considered, please send a brief letter of interest, addressing your experience with service­learning or community­ based learning and what opportunities and roles you see for service­learning at your campus. Address your letter to the Service­Learning Steering Committee and send as a Microsoft Word attachment to [email protected] by April 10th. The Garden is Growing!
·This spring, Kevin Lien’s Organic Gardening class will tackle some projects in the garden.
·Plots have been marked, the cafeteria has a plot of mixed greens, the daycare is interested in a plot, ESL is looking at ways to bring their students to the garden. Others can have plots too!
·50% of the produce from the garden will go to the Oregon Food Bank.
·Jim Johnstone worked with Noelle to create a logo for the garden. Rock Creek Learning Garden
If you are interested in learning more about the garden or helping out, contact, Noelle Studer, [email protected], 503­614­7635. Higher Education’s Role in Promoting Citizenship On Friday, March 10, 30 PCC faculty and staff participated in a workshop called “Integrating Civic Responsibility in to the Curriculum.” Here’s a great quote from that workshop that really got me thinking about not only the Service­ Learning Program, but also our role as an institution. “We [higher education] educate a large proportion of the citizens who bother to vote, not to mention most of the politicians, journalists, and news commentators. We also educate all the school administrators and teachers, who in turn educate everyone at the pre­college level. And we do much to shape the pre­college curriculum through what we require of our college applicants. In short, not only have we helped create the problems that plague American democracy, but we are also in a position to begin doing something about them. If higher education doesn’t start giving citizenship and democracy much greater priority, who will?” (Astin 1995)
Volume 1, Issue 2 Page 3
Spotlight on Faculty…. PCC
Service‐Learning Each term, the Service­Learning Program awards $500 mini­grants for curriculum development. The $500 is compensation for curriculum Program development. The idea is to re­design an existing courses to include a Mailing Address PO Box 19000 Portland, OR 97280­0990 Jennifer Alkezweeny Partnership Coordinator SY CC 221 phone: 503.977.4419 fax: 503.977.8129 [email protected] Tom Huminski Faculty Coordinator SY CT 219 503.977.4636 [email protected] Diedre Cain Cascade Campus Representative CA SSB 101 503.978.5233 [email protected] Service­Learning component. Most instructors re­design a single assignment or unit of the course to include Service­Learning as an option for students. Here are a few of this year’s mini­grant recipients: Jessica Wade, Speech 100, Intro to Speech Communication Students worked in small groups to identify a community agency dedicated to addressing issues of hunger and food security or to meeting the educational needs of K­12 students. In partnership with the agencies, the student groups developed a project that would serve the agency and in which they could apply elements of communication theory. Paul Gregorio, Education 260, Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults Students collaborated with schools and/or libraries on activities that promote reading of multicultural texts by elementary, middle, and high school students. Some projects included designing course materials for teachers; other projects included hosting book discussions and read­alouds. Robert Flynn, History 102, Western Civilization Students learned history­related skills first­hand by volunteering with organizations that preserve or promote history. Volunteer projects addressed course goals like Carmen Martinez analyzing and evaluating primary and secondary sources and recognizing how history Rock Creek Campus Representative is preserved. RC 7 202 503.614.7417 [email protected] Cara Kao­Young, Dental Hygiene 208, 252, 253, Community Oral Health Students in the course learn that public education and public service are central pieces Comments on the newsletter? Send of the dental hygiene profession. Students not only provide dental services to them to Jennifer Alkezweeny underserved populations in the community, but they work to educate the public and [email protected] lawmakers about the importance of dental hygiene. New Partners!
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Volunteers of America
African American Health Coalition
Animal Aid
I Have a Dream Foundation
Columbia County Women’s Resource Center
Josh Otto, English 213, Latin American Literature PCC students brought Latin American literature to the students of Lane Middle School. The PCC students first selected and prepared poems from their course and then brought those poems to life for several classes in a day­long celebration of multicultural arts. For more mini­grant information, visit the faculty section of the Service­Learning website: http://www.pcc.edu/resources/service­learning/faculty/
How much time do you have? We have a new section on the Service­Learning website for projects that can be “Done in a Day”. Check there for service events that you can jump right in and get started! www.pcc.edu/servicelearning Reflection Idea:
Are your students into music? Try combining music with a writing reflection. Find a song (or ask students to bring in a song) that has lyrics connecting to the Service­Learning Experience (it doesn’t have to be the whole song, maybe just one line.) Play the song and ask students to free­ write about their service experience while listening to the lyrics. Can’t think of a song? Here’s a couple to get you started: Dylan “Blowin’ in the Wind” and Lennon “Imagine”. For more reflection ideas….look for a reflection workshop in a TLC near you, Fall term!