In the Service of What?

… "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" like the late John F. Kennedy once said, what can WE do to better the place in which we live? The choice is ours to make really. Service learning is a form of education that not only provides classroom time, but time spent out in the community doing service for others in need. Many school systems and teachers are trying to promote service learning in their communities because it is a great way to get students learning but out of the classroom doing good things for others. Service learning classrooms or projects can be done individually or as a group, the choice lies with the teacher. Service learning classrooms teach children how to give up their time and energy and help those who are in much more need of it than they are.

When in High School and all of my life growing up, my community was very "service based". We literally could not graduate without completing 30 hours of community service of our choice. We would always go to local soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and help fundraise by bringing in food, clothes, household needs, and any other things others might need. We would clean up the lakes near our school that would get covered in trash by all of the people driving by that would throw stuff out of their window and into the water. When it snowed, we would go and shovel out neighbors that may not have been able to do it themselves. I would even babysit family friends of mine that needed someone desperately to help out. Sometimes I would even volunteer at my grandmothers Nursing Home. Not everyone in this world understands what it is like to be unable to do something for their own or not able to have what others may have but if we give a little bit of time and dedication to something, we may be able to change the way someones day turns out.

I make sure every time I go to my classrooms at Harry Kizarian Elementary School I have a smile on my face and I am ready to help all of the children I am working with that day learn something new or help them perfect something that they may be having trouble with. Though I am not giving them something physical to hold in their hands, I am giving them something to help better their future. I think that is is important to be the person that wants change in this world, and if more people like us,  (because I know we are such a kind class) could help out in any way possible in their communities there would be a much stronger bond between each and every place in which we live. 

I think that more school systems and communities should have service based learning within their classrooms. It is the best way to teach students in the classroom and have them actually doing what you are teaching them while they are learning it.