RUNNING HEAD: The Joys of Service

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The Joy of Service Learning

Carrie Cline
EDUC 101
Deborah Cale
Ivy Tech Community College

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Standard, Description, and Rationale

Standard 3: Learning Environments: The teacher works with others to create environments
that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction,
active engagement in learning, and self-motivation
Artifact: Service Learning Summary
Date: April 26, 2015
Class: EDU 101
Rationale: I can connect this paper to standard 3 because it showcases experiences in the
classroom.
Description: In the following paper I summarize my first experience in a fifth grade classroom. I
talk about classroom strategies and procedures I observed and will use in my own future
classroom.

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During my Service learning project I had the opportunity to work with the 5th graders at
Zionsville West Middle School. I work in this school as an Instructional Assistant with the 8th
graders. So, it was a refreshing experience to be in the 5th grade hallway. The mornings were
cheerful and exciting. I was paired up with a teacher who has been teaching for 8 years. Megan
McNeely was everything you would think a 5th grade teacher would be. She found a balance in
her classroom that included all students, while keeping the peace. Her classroom was warm and
encouraged critical thinking. She had inspirational posters everywhere, and encouraged out of
the box creativity. She really nurtures the individual thoughts of her students. Her students had
already fallen in to their routines when I arrived. They were fascinated by me at first. Then grew
accustomed to me. I was on the fence when I started my SLP with early elementary, but after my
8 weeks was over I really missed those kids. I still stop in once a week to check on them.
Relate Service Learning Experience to the Classroom
In the course of my SLP I was able to see a great example of classroom management. In
our book it says by management they mean the ways the teacher can get students to do what the
teacher wants. (Koch, 2014, p.165). I was able to see a teacher who was fully aware of all that
was going on is her room. She actively monitored by wandering around the room checking in as
students did individual work. She was calm when the excitement level would reach a pitch,
Meagan would deftly instill order again. Megan had the word NOISE made out in magnets on
her whiteboard. As the childrens volume increased, she gave a warning. If the volume continued
to increase she would take a letter away. Once the word was gone so was recess. This did not
mean the kids could not earn letters back, but they worked together to keep order in the class.
She did not expect a quite classroom, but did expect ordered chaos. She broke through the
stereotype described in Chapter 9 of our text (Koch, 2014, p. 169).

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Personal Reflection
As a future teacher this experience really solidified that this is what I want to do. I was
able to absorb so much in this classroom. In the morning the kids had what is called bell work.
They would work out the grammar problems alone, then Megan would pick one student to be
the teacher. The kids loved this, and so did I. I know this is something I will use later on. I
wrote the idea down in my future classroom notebook. It put them in charge of what they were
learning. She also arranged the desk in an opened u-shape that encouraged group work, and
allowed the students to talk. I also was able to see a great way to organize all of the supplies I
will have to shove into my classroom. I even asked if I could take photos of her shelves. Her
classroom style was stern, but approachable. She made it known early on that the rules were to
be followed. I think the best advice I received from her was to act like I was at the beach, jump
in and let the waves take me over.
Future Teacher
While rolling around in those waves I was able to see why we do this project. It was a
way to get our feet wet. Many people go their entire degree path without stepping into a
classroom till the very end. That is a terrifying thought. What if you got into a classroom and
hated it? The benefits of this project was really seeing an early elementary classroom
functioning. To really see if it was for me, and I think it is. I have always been passionate about
learning and teaching is the best route to share that. I was able to learn how many copies and
staples a teacher does not just weekly, but daily. I was able to see how long it takes to hang 60
literary pizza projects on a small space of wall. Yet, beyond that I saw a teacher who showed that
truly caring about what was being taught not just the standards made all the difference. She
found a way to connect to standards, but keep the excitement and creativity alive in the lessons. I
was able to get a good idea of classroom politics and how to balance the chaos with, the peace. I

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also learned a few techniques about communicating with the kids. It was amazing every day to
see all the pieces fitting together.
Summary and Recommendations
This Service Learning Project for me was the most enjoyable part of this class. I think it
is good that we get into a classroom so early. I had no problems getting into a classroom, only
because I worked in the school I did my SLP at. I know many of my classmates had problems
with background checks and getting into the classes. I cannot really think of anything to improve
on that though. I think that was just the way of the beast. The only think I can think of is maybe
allowing student who have gotten the 16 hours before the 8 weeks are up should be able to be
finished. I was one of those people. I spent 8 hours in a classroom in one day. I got the same
amount of experience as I would have spacing that out in 2 hour increments each week. I had a
really good experience with my SLP and truly value the time I spent doing it. I recently found
out Megan McNeely is retiring to stay home with her infant daughter. It is bittersweet since
future generations will miss out on her unique qualities as a teacher.
Conclusion
This Service Learning Project really allows us to get our hands dirty. It was fun to jump
in and help the kids with their reading projects, spelling test and to see ah ha moments clicking
left and right. To me that is what brings the joy from teaching is seeing a concept click in a
students eyes. I really had fun doing this and it just makes me more eager for my own
classroom. I am glad the first project on this journey I got to be in a classroom getting hands on
experience. As with anything new that you are doing you can have all theories and practices
memorized, but it is the hands on experience that really strengthens what you know. It also helps
you as a person to grow and learn new things. I truly valued this experience and cannot wait to
do it again.

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References
Koch, J. (2014). The Classroom as a Community. In Teach (Student Addition ed., p. 165-69).
Belmont, California: Wadsworth.