Running head: SERVICE LEARNING REPORT

Service Learning Reflective Summary Report

Elizabeth Shields
Ivy Tech Community College

SERVICE LEARNING REPORT

2
Rationale

To acknowledge my understanding of InTASC Standard #8: Instructional Strategies, the

teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop
deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge
in meaningful ways (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011), we were assigned the
Service Learning Project. For this project, I was able to observe and be involved in a classroom.
Since I was able to be involved in this classroom, I was able to use different strategies to
encourage the students to develop their understanding in the content I was teaching. Not only did
I use different strategies when assisting students, but I was also able to learn different strategies
from the teacher that I was volunteering under.

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Introduction
For my service learning project I volunteered at Decatur Elementary Learning Center
Blue Academy in Mrs. Jill Venables 4th grade classroom. She has been teaching at Decatur
Elementary Learning Center Blue Academy for five years. She has been teaching for a total of
thirty years and of that thirty years she has been teaching fourth grade for twenty-two years. She
has twenty-eight students in her classroom this year, which is above the average that she usually
has of twenty-six students. She had me help mainly with grading papers, helping students get
caught up, taking lower level reading groups, and keeping an extra eye on those students who
might need extra assistance paying attention. She even allowed me to lead the class in their Daily
Oral Language, leading the class to specials, and one day we even participated in a fire drill.
Mrs. Venable is a very organized teacher and has a very peaceful and welcoming learning
environment.
Relating Service Learning Experience to the Classroom
In Mrs. Venables classroom there is a lot of diversity in the type of learners that she has
in her classroom. Just like most classrooms, she has some students that are really high learners
and then she has some lower level learners. Something that really stood out to me is that when I
first started volunteering in her classroom she told me that she had nine students that had
Attention Deficient Disorder. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of
Attention Deficient Disorder is a condition in which someone (such as a child) has problems
with learning and behavior because of being unable to think about or pay attention to things for
very long (Attention Deficit Disorder, 2015). As the class went on she kept telling me that a
few students were taken off their medicine, I think by the end of my time volunteering two or
three students were taken off their Attention Deficient Disorder medicine. Even though I only

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was in her classroom for two hours a week for eight weeks, I could definitely tell a difference in
those students behavior, schoolwork, and drive to learn. In the parent/teacher/student
conferences there was one student that had been recently diagnosed with Attention Deficient
Disorder and I could tell a positive difference in her behavior, school work, and drive to learn.
Before this service learning project, I was hesitant and even against Attention Deficient
Disorder and Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder medicine. My opinion was that it was
just over diagnosed and a solution for parents that do not discipline their children. Now that I
have seen children go from borderline unmanageable students that do not want to learn to
manageable students that want to learn, I can say that my opinion has changed.
Mrs. Venable had a total of twenty-eight students in her classroom and I would estimate
that she had trouble with about a third of them turning in homework and those were usually the
low students. Even though her classroom had a significant amount of students that were
considered in the low group, I did not notice that negatively affecting the students that were
considered to be in the high group. Mrs. Venable made it look easy when she made the
necessary accommodations for the students that needed it. It reminds me of the reading that we
did in class concerning the Multiple Intelligence Theory, If teachers can determine the
intelligences (enhanced abilities) in each child and then teach to those enhance abilities, the child
will learn better (Adcock, 2014, p.50). I can definitely see where Mrs. Venable took the
Multiple Intelligence Theory into account and made the accommodations that were necessary.
Mrs. Venable is one of those teachers that loves projects. I think projects can make
learning fun, especially for fourth graders. I saw some of the students who does not necessarily
like school and homework light up talking about their projects. I would Accept this and I will
remember if for my future classroom. Something else that I would Accept concerning the

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projects is that she would base the projects around the upcoming holidays and would make the
lesson fit into the project. One example of themed homework was for Halloween. For Halloween
she had Halloween themed spelling words, reading, and even had math problems on a skeleton. I
thought that was really neat and from what I observed really made most of the students more
interested in their homework. Overall I thought this was a great idea and something that I will try
and do in my future classroom.
Classroom Environment and Student Learning
I have noticed the culture, family, and general environmental factors do effect the
learning in the classroom. I was fortunate enough that the parent/teacher/student conferences fell
on my service learning day and I was able to sit in on seven of them. It definitely opened my
eyes to why some of the students behaved the way they do. Some of the students had two
involved parents, some had a parent and a stepparent, and one had their grandparents, and some
had just one parent. I have noticed that if at least one parent is involved in the students life, they
usually do better in school, have better behavior, have higher self-esteem, and they turn in
homework more regularly. I can see where Mrs. Venable has incorporated the INTASC Standard
number two: Learning Differences. The teacher uses understanding of individual differences
and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each
learner to meet high standards (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011, p.8). Mrs.
Venable takes into account the students culture and family environment and will try her hardest
to encourage her students and assist them in succeeding.
Future Teacher
The skills I have observed in myself that appear to be strong are organization,
compassion for the students, and passion for the career. I believe these are essential qualities for

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the teaching career. If the teacher is without organization they would have a hard time
performing their job because they have so many responsibilities. If they cannot keep track of
their stuff it will just make their job harder and they may forget something very important.
Compassion for the students is required because students have things going on outside the
classroom that are difficult for them and it may affect them in the classroom, both their school
work and behavior. If a teacher is without passion I do not believe they are fully equipped to
perform their jobs. Teaching is a lot of work and requires passion in order to impact lives. I also
believe that if a teacher has passion for their career, then it will be easier for them to work on the
things that need further developed.
There are a few things that I need to further develop and that includes: control of the
classroom, discipline, and remembering what educational level each grade is on. When I pulled
reading groups in a side classroom I had a hard time disciplining. If I told a student to stop
talking and they did not obey I did not send them to Mrs. Venable like I should have. I had a hard
time doing that because I felt bad, when I should not have because I was in charge of him. It was
in his best interest for me to send him to Mrs. Venable because he needs to understand he needs
to obey. If he got away with this once and kept on doing it, it not only negatively affected his
learning, but also negatively affected the other students learning. I also chose remembering the
level of education each grade level is on because I had trouble with that. For example, I was
helping a student with math and the last math class I took was college level algebra. His math
problems looked similar to those I had in college algebra and I was confusing him because I
honestly thought that is what he was doing (solving for x in a much more difficult way). I asked
Mrs. Venable and then she explained that I was just making it too complicated for him and

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helped me to simplify the problem. I think with time, experience, drive, and more observation I
will be able to further develop the things that I need to further develop.
Summary
I have definitely learned from this experience and have grown as an aspiring teacher. I have
found some of my strengths in teaching along with some of my weaknesses. As the volunteering
went on I could tell that I was growing and becoming more comfortable in teaching and helping
the students. I mainly did one-on-one and small group settings, which I think is a great way to
start out and get comfortable with the teaching environment. I plan on using the things that I
have observed and learned for my future classroom. Not only was this a great learning
opportunity, but I also think it was a great opportunity in the first Education course to make sure
this is the career for me. This is also providing a way to take a sneak peek at different schools
and see which school is the right environment to start our careers. I am very thankful for this
volunteering opportunity and look forward to my future career.

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References
Adcock, P.A. (2014). The longevity of multiple intelligence theory in education. Retrieved from
https://online.ivytech.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-29675391-dt-content-rid67657710_1/courses/EDUC101-EMH-H1-201520/Session%203-The%20Logevity%20of
%20Multiple%20Intelligences%20Theory%20in%20Education%281%29.pdf
Attention Deficit Disorder. (2015). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attention%20deficit%20disorder
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2011). Interstate assessment and support consortium
(InTASC) model core teaching standards: A resource for state dialogue. Washington,
D.C: Author.