Kirkwood School District

Reflection is an essential element of service-learning activities.  If students are to learn from their service experience, they need to think about themselves, others, service, societal issues, citizenship and the events that take place as they try to make a difference.  Reflection activities should be clearly tied to goals and objectives for student learning.  Using a variety of reflection methods before, during and after the actual service experience will help students reach their goals.

Books in the Office to Help with Reflection

Reflection Activities

• Discussion - in pairs, small groups, or whole class format
   

• Writing - journals, poems, creative writing, essays, letters to the editor
   

• Arts - visual arts, music, theatre, dance, photos, slide show, video
   

• Presentations - for the school, the general public, a community agency; at a conference or service-learning orientation
   

• Photos - Take pictures throughout the service-learning project.  Children may be able to help with this step.  Put the photos up in a prominent place in the classroom.  Use them to spur discussion or journal writing.  When the service is complete, the photos can be made into an album for the classroom library.  It can also be checked out so that families can learn more about the service-learning project.
   

• Interviews - Students can interview each other about the project.  These interviews can be videotaped, audiotaped, or written down.  They can then be shared with families at home, other classes, the class completing the project, or those served.
   

• One to Three Words - Each person shares one to three words to describe the service activity or how you feel about the service activity or anything else regarding the project.
   

• Poetry/Writing Slam - Take turns; each day somebody else will write a short poem or sentence about the project, then share it with the group.
   

• Sculptor - One participant chooses a topic and asks for a set amount of participants to be the clay. The clay people let the sculptor mold them into the sculptor's vision of their topic, i.e., invasive plant removal or the plight of someone who is homeless or racist.
   

• What? So What? Now What? - To get to each step in the model, allow 5-30 minutes for group processing.
   

• The Image  -Prior to the project, each person writes or draws about the people or objects they will be working with (such as a tree for a tree-planting project or the community being served), the subject matter, or their feelings about the project. Revisit (or re-write/draw) it after the service project and discuss.
   

• Senses - Before activity, project, event, or even before the first day or service, ask participants to share what they expect to hear, smell, see, touch, and taste. The follow-up after the day with what the participant actually senses.
   

• Parables/Stores - Read a piece of pertinent literature and have participant's response and draw correlations to service experience.
   

• Letter to Self - Prior to a project, have participants write a letter to themselves about their personal and career goals regarding the project, or feelings about the project or community. Place it in a sealed envelope, mail it to yourself, or hand out again to the team after six months and reflect..
   

• All on the Wall - Put a large piece of paper up on one wall or all the way around the room. Participants write or draw feelings, thoughts/learning on the paper. Facilitator leads discussion based on writings.
   

• Recommendations - Compose a letter to your site supervisor offering suggestions for working with future volunteers.
   

• Quotation Writings - Students write and reflect on the following quotes:

Pre-Service Reflection Activities
Pre-service activities should assist students in looking at their assumptions and biases, as well as expectations of what they hope to accomplish.

• Have students write a letter to themselves describing their feelings, their expectations, and what they hope to gain from this process.  The teacher/facilitator should keep the letters and return them at the end of the program during the final reflection stage.
   
• Working individually or in groups, have students design and create a utopia envisioning what their community would be like if they could fix all the problems that they have discovered during the community inventory.  They could present their utopia in a variety of ways - in a written format, as a poster, or as a play.
   
• As a group, create a list of expectations and hoped for outcomes from the program.  Write the list on chart paper and refer back to it at the end of the program during the final reflection phase.

During Service Reflection Activities

Reflection activities carried out during service should allow students to process their feelings and revisit their expectations in light of what they have done so far.  Reflection is also useful at this point to help students look at the direction they are going, identify next steps, and make adjustments if needed.

• Hold a mock debate where students defend various sides relating to the issue they are pursuing. 
   
• Have students write a letter to their family or friends explaining the project they are working on and what their goals are.

Suggestion: The teacher/facilitator may be more successful using writing based activities as this point, particularly if students are very involved with the issue they are working on.

Post Reflection Activities

Post-service reflection activities should assist students in evaluating and drawing conclusions from their experiences.  They should also provide meaning and help students to understand what they found out about themselves during the service experience.

• Have the students take photographs throughout the process.  At the end, tell each student to select a group of photographs that most accurately portrays the experience they had.  Have them create a poster using these photographs with captions explaining why they chose particular pictures.
   
• Have the group save items throughout the process then use these to make a group scrapbook at the end.  Items that could be included - letters, meeting agendas, surveys, phone transcripts, photographs, etc.  
   
• Ask students to choose one word that best describes their service experience.  Have them make a poster based around this word.  (This poster could be combined with the photo poster.  Students could choose their word, then select photographs that represent it.)
   
• Individually or in groups, have students create an artistic representation of their experience.  It could be a collage, a drawing, a painting, or a mural.  
   
• To facilitate a final reflection discussion, create reflection stations by writing questions on chart paper, posting them around the room, and having students write answers to the questions on each chart.  Questions could include:
  1.  What was your most memorable experience?  
  2.  What do you feel best about?  
  3.  What disturbs or puzzles you about your experience?  
  4.  How has this experience changed the way you think?  The teacher/facilitator could then use the responses to lead a class discussion.  
   
• Have students videotape the process throughout then create a documentary at the end.  If discussion was the primary mode of reflection, students could record discussions on an audiotape then edit sections to create an audio documentary.
   
• Have students create a resume listing the skills they developed or improved through their experience with the program.

 Reflection Activities to be Used Throughout

1. As an alternative to a written journal, students could keep an artistic journal where they draw what they are feeling about their experiences.  They could also cut out pictures or use computer graphics.

2.  Discussion-based activities:

• As a lead-in to reflective discussion, pose a question  and have students do five minutes of silent reflection before the discussion begins.
• Write a quote on the board and have students respond.
• Use metaphors, (i.e. doing this project is like …)
• Create a continuum representing various views of an issue.  Have students stand at a point on the continuum and explain why they chose to stand there.
• Pose a question then think, pair, share (have students pair off, discuss the question, then report back to the group).  
• Skittle game – pass out a skittle to each student.  Have a list of reflection questions prepared and link each question to a color.  Go around the room and have each student answer a question based on the color of the skittle they received.

3. Writing based activities:

• Have students keep a journal throughout.
• Have students write stories or poems to express their feelings or describe experiences.  
• Round Robin Poetry – Pose a reflection question or a theme and have each student write two lines of poetry relating to that question or theme.  As the poem goes around the room, fold the paper so that each student can only see the lines written by the previous student.  At the end, read the full poem to the group.  Rewrite the poem onto a poster board.
• Each day as students are preparing to leave, pose a question (i.e. what did you find out today that you did not know before?) and write the question on a piece of chart paper.  Before each student leaves, have him/her write a one-sentence response to the question.  The teacher/facilitator could also write the sentence for the student.  
• Instead of keeping individual journals, the group could create a group journal where students could jot down ideas and feelings throughout the program.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What was the best thing that happened to you there today?  Why was it the best?
    
2. What was the hardest part of being there today?  Why?
     
3. What is the most frustrating thing about being a part of this program?
    
4. Describe two things you have done that make you feel proud.
    
5. What have you learned from the people involved in this program?  What have they learned from you?
    
6. Describe the atmosphere of the site you visited.
    
7. What have you learned about yourself since beginning of this program?  Do you think you have changed?
    
8. What do you feel is your main contribution?
    
9. Is there anything you have done or said that you wish you could have another chance to do it differently?
    
10. What did someone say to you that surprised you?  Why?
     
11. What compliments have been given and what did they mean to you?  How did you react?
     
12. Did you take (or avoid taking) some risk this week?

(Source: Janet Schuster, Kirkwood School District,700 S. Kirkwood Rd.,Kirkwood, MO 63122  (314) 213-6100 X. 8247
Missouri Learn and Serve)

1. How is the concept you are currently learning about in class reflected in a recent situation at your service site? What are the similarities and differences between the concept and reality?
    
2. If the situation is different in practice (at your site) than in theory (in class), why do you think this is? Why might agencies and people do things differently than theory? What explains the difference?
    
3. How is the agency or school meeting the needs of its community, and are these efforts effective? Using information you are learning in class and at the site, critique the agency’s efforts using a SWOT analysis (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (internal and external).
    
4. List some alternative methods for meeting the needs of the population you are serving.  Based on what you are learning in class, why would these methods be good responses to the issues or problems you have observed?
    
5. Before you interact with the agency’s clients, what expectations, assumptions, and “prejudgments” do you have? Where did these come from, and why do you think you have them?
    
6. After doing service learning for a few weeks, how have your previous expectations, assumptions and prejudgments about the nature of the agency or its clients changed or strengthened? Why?
    
7. At your service site, what are you learning about the people or agency you are serving?  How does this learning compare to what you have learned in class?
    
8. Point out any information you are learning in class that reinforces or challenges what you know from your service experience.
    
9. How is this agency school valuable to its community and our society? What role does it play in the community?
    
10. What useful skills did you discover while serving? How might you apply these newly discovered skills in other situations?
     
11. How did you refine existing skills and develop new ones?
     
12. Did you use a skill at your service site that you didn’t think you would need or use?  Why?
     
13. Describe something you learned as a result of a disappointment or a "failure" during your service experience. How does this new learning translate into your life beyond this class, i.e., how will you apply this learning after this course ends?
     
14. What is happening that is positive about your experience? What does this tell you about yourself or about the site?
     
15. How did you feel today at your service site? What motivated you to continue serving at this site? What does this tell you about yourself and what you are learning in class?
     
16. How does this experience connect to your long-term goals, and what knowledge from your service activity will you utilize to reach these goals?
     
17. How have you changed as a result of this service experience? How will these changes influence your future behaviors?

(Source: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ResourceCenter/Projects_Partnerships/Current/HorizonsServiceLearningProject/Curriculum_Tools/Reflection_2.pdf)

1. What do you think you will do and what impact do you think you will have?
    
2. What needs did/does/will your project help fill?
    
3. What are the causes of those needs?
    
4. How do people contribute to this problem? How do we help to solve it?
    
5. What expectations do you have about your service experience?
    
6. Did anything surprise you? If so, what?
    
7. What did you do today that made you feel that you made a difference? Why?
    
8. Did anything happen that made you feel uncomfortable? If so what, and why do you think it made you feel this way?
    
9. What did you do that seemed to be effective or ineffective in service to others?
    
10. How does your understanding of the community change as a result of your participation in this project?
     
11. How can you continue your involvement with this group or social issue?
     
12. How can you educate others or raise awareness about this group or social issue?
     
13. What are the most difficult and most satisfying parts of the service you are performing? Why?
     
14. What do you think is your most valued contribution to the project?
     
15. Is there a person or activity you find interesting or challenging in your project?
     
16. How do you see you role with this project? How does that compare with how others may see your role?
     
17. Have you learned from any disappointments or successes from your project?
     
18. Has there been a problem situation that you want to discuss with your teacher?
     
19. How is your service relevant to what you are learning in class?

Source: http://www.goodcharacter.com/SERVICE/primer-6.html

1. I am glad that_______________
    
2. I learned that___________________________
    
3. I am wondering _______________________
    
4. I was surprised that ___________________
    
5. I now feel different about ______________
    
6. I felt good because____________________
    
7. I wish that __________________________

 

1.  What do you hope to accomplish in relation to this problem?

2.  When you determined your criteria, which of the criteria were most important to you and why?

3.  What strengths in your community might help you solve this problem?

4.  Did you feel your voice was heard in the process of selecting the problem? you use to address these questions? 

5.  Is your group heading in the right direction to achieve its goal?

6.  Should the group revisit its expectations in light of what has happened so far?

7.  What are the next steps that the group should take? What kind of adjustments should the group make?

8.   How well did your plan for action work?

9.   What problems did you encounter in carrying out your plan?

10.  How did you respond to these problems?

11.  What were you not able to achieve?

12.  What did you accomplish?

13.  How do you feel about what you accomplished?

 (Source: http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:JQDgUxBXA8MJ:www.earthforce.org/files/567