as a teacher of middle schoolers, whether internationally or in the states, you cringe hearing the words "service" because you know that at this age there is no service involved b/c it's all about you and no one else. well, here at doulos, we strive to take our students above and beyond their normal behavior, mindset and attitudes. one way we do this is by having service week where our entire school from pre-k to 12th participates in projects around our community.
we truly believe that when our students have ownership in their projects they will have this desire and passion behind their service and will really connect with the people they are affecting. now as novel as this sounds, you must know this is process and here were some of the first projects they threw out:
-ms. baker we could build like a community skatepark where we could skate. and it would help out the community b/c it would something fun for the kids. (now i like where he is headed, but i think helping others was the afterthought:) also, money and construction were not thought through clearly on this one...this student is definitely visionary.
-ms. baker we could clean out people's houses who live by the river b/c when it rains their houses flood. (this is a true point, but do we not do service until bad weather comes?)
we finally decided to help out with an environmental project that asked for our help to reforest bamboo trees. now, my immediate thought was "seriously our kids are going to reforest? where is the service in that?" but once again how limited was my vision, b/c our kids actually did great! i found out that several of our kids love to get their hands dirty and do stuff outside, so this was perfect for them! we combined classes with 9th and 10th and all set out to save the bamboo forests!!
check out the pics on my photo album and may the pictures tell the story even better than me.