Our group decided to work together for our service learning project. We rented a table at the North Commons Dining Hall to retrieve signatures of students and faculty members who believed in removing the derogatory use of the word retard from their vocabulary. We asked students and facility as they were walking by the table if they would like to sign our pledge to spread the word to end the word retard. We explained to them that this is our service learning project to inform people about how the word retard can affect so many people. By removing the word retard in a derogatory way will help promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
Kim's Reflection:
By doing this service learning project, I definitely felt like we promoted acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. By setting up a table and asking people to join on what we believed in really felt like we made a difference. Not only do I think we made a difference but we brought awareness to people that may have had no idea that a word such as retard can affect so many people in a negative way. At the beginning of the year I had no idea what a service learning project was but know I think service learning is more than just a project. It truly made me involved to do research and see what laws are supporting redefining autism. Not only was our main project was on redefining autism but our group branched off to this campaign called, "Spread the word to end the word". I think I would definitely do a service learning project with my future students. You can do a service learning project at all ages. I think I would try to adapt it into the first year of teaching to see how well it goes because it makes such a huge impact on yourself and the community. I think a service learning project would just make a methods course just that more involved. I don't think I would change anything about the service learning project we did. I have learned a lot from what we did. The only suggestion would be to allow more class time to work on the presentation portion and/or time during class to complete the service learning project.
Michelle's Reflection:
I was very excited to do out service learning project for the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign. We collected many signatures and were able to educate people on the derogatory use of the r-word and why it is so hurtful to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I felt proud being able to make a difference and teach about this campaign because it is something I have always been passionate about. I do think service learning is a great teaching strategy. It gets students involved with real world problems and teaches them things that cannot be learned simply in a classroom. I will start service learning as soon as a start teaching. I think it provides very valuable life lessons and is important for students to experience at any age. My suggestion to make this project better would be to allow more time in class to work in groups because it was really hard to get our group together for planning time. I also think that maybe bigger groups would be nice because service learning projects could be done on a larger scale.
Brittney's Reflection
As a group we did our project within the dining hall on North Campus. The result was a lot better than what I expected and we were really happy with it. Educating people on the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign was a great idea because not many people know about it and also use the r-word so much they don't even realize. This campaign is a great way to give people the knowledge of how their use of the word is actually extremely negative towards those with developmental issues. I think our biggest struggle with the project was just the lack of materials we had. We had our poster to show but we weren't able to capture people's attention because of the lack of room we had. We tried to get their attention by talking but some poeple just kept walking. Although it was a little bit of a struggle for an audience we did actually end up with a lot of signatures. I am extremely happy with how our project turned out and I'm glad Michelle gave us the idea of the R-word campaign because I've never heard of it and I learned a lot from doing our project on it. I would definitely use service learning projects within the classroom because it is a great way for students to not only engage with each other but also learn how to help their community. I believe this type of project would build their understanding of a sense of community and learn about current events taking place in their society.
Michelle's Reflection:
I was very excited to do out service learning project for the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign. We collected many signatures and were able to educate people on the derogatory use of the r-word and why it is so hurtful to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I felt proud being able to make a difference and teach about this campaign because it is something I have always been passionate about. I do think service learning is a great teaching strategy. It gets students involved with real world problems and teaches them things that cannot be learned simply in a classroom. I will start service learning as soon as a start teaching. I think it provides very valuable life lessons and is important for students to experience at any age. My suggestion to make this project better would be to allow more time in class to work in groups because it was really hard to get our group together for planning time. I also think that maybe bigger groups would be nice because service learning projects could be done on a larger scale.
Brittney's Reflection
As a group we did our project within the dining hall on North Campus. The result was a lot better than what I expected and we were really happy with it. Educating people on the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign was a great idea because not many people know about it and also use the r-word so much they don't even realize. This campaign is a great way to give people the knowledge of how their use of the word is actually extremely negative towards those with developmental issues. I think our biggest struggle with the project was just the lack of materials we had. We had our poster to show but we weren't able to capture people's attention because of the lack of room we had. We tried to get their attention by talking but some poeple just kept walking. Although it was a little bit of a struggle for an audience we did actually end up with a lot of signatures. I am extremely happy with how our project turned out and I'm glad Michelle gave us the idea of the R-word campaign because I've never heard of it and I learned a lot from doing our project on it. I would definitely use service learning projects within the classroom because it is a great way for students to not only engage with each other but also learn how to help their community. I believe this type of project would build their understanding of a sense of community and learn about current events taking place in their society.
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