Being in community with our fellows and offering kindness
and service is happening in classrooms all over TBS. Every Thursday this year,
kids go to the Chaparral House
in Extended Day to visit with the residents. Students in Sweet Briar Creek have
been going to The Women’s and Children’s Daytime
Drop-in Center on Acton St. for years with deliveries of songs,
feasts, and handmade student gifts. Temescal Creek has an annual food drive for
The Alameda Food Bank, while Laurel Creek
has a student-derived project of community service (such as this year’s Penny
Drive). The list goes on.
This year, we wanted to add a specific educational component to our community service efforts, as well as to do something on a school-wide level. To help us do this, we drew on the concept of service learning, which is a multi-step, action-oriented experience that focuses equally on the service being provided and the learning that is happening for those taking action, benefiting both the provider and the recipient of the service. In this way, it is different from community service, which may not have an educational component.
We began by convening a council of student representatives from across all grade levels in January, and explained our goals. The students then dreamt up the idea of the Walk-a-thon, a learning experience that would culminate in an all-day service event. Council members listened closely to their classmates’ ideas, and walked them through a process to help each classroom pick a charity or organization to support. Final selections included The Berkeley Free Clinic, What If? Foundation, Seva, AISCS (Karibu), Children’s Hospital of Oakland, Meca, Red Cross, and Rainforest Action Network. Representatives from each beneficiary organization then came to speak to the elementary classes about the work that they do, and students worked hard to raise donations from friends, family, and neighbors.
From making t-shirts and banners in art class over the last two weeks, to the cheering crowds of our youngest students who greeted K-8 students at the ECC, to the inspirational leadership of the student council members, yesterday’s event embodied the promise and potential of the TBS educational model. The Walk-a-thon brought a generation of ideas about community and what it means to be a brother or sister with people in our own backyard, as well as our fellows all over the world. It was a chance for students, teachers, administrators and parents to work hard in support of our core beliefs and values.
This year, we wanted to add a specific educational component to our community service efforts, as well as to do something on a school-wide level. To help us do this, we drew on the concept of service learning, which is a multi-step, action-oriented experience that focuses equally on the service being provided and the learning that is happening for those taking action, benefiting both the provider and the recipient of the service. In this way, it is different from community service, which may not have an educational component.
We began by convening a council of student representatives from across all grade levels in January, and explained our goals. The students then dreamt up the idea of the Walk-a-thon, a learning experience that would culminate in an all-day service event. Council members listened closely to their classmates’ ideas, and walked them through a process to help each classroom pick a charity or organization to support. Final selections included The Berkeley Free Clinic, What If? Foundation, Seva, AISCS (Karibu), Children’s Hospital of Oakland, Meca, Red Cross, and Rainforest Action Network. Representatives from each beneficiary organization then came to speak to the elementary classes about the work that they do, and students worked hard to raise donations from friends, family, and neighbors.
From making t-shirts and banners in art class over the last two weeks, to the cheering crowds of our youngest students who greeted K-8 students at the ECC, to the inspirational leadership of the student council members, yesterday’s event embodied the promise and potential of the TBS educational model. The Walk-a-thon brought a generation of ideas about community and what it means to be a brother or sister with people in our own backyard, as well as our fellows all over the world. It was a chance for students, teachers, administrators and parents to work hard in support of our core beliefs and values.
(This column was co-authored by Kate Klaire, our Social Facilitator and faculty advisor to the Student Council, who was a central figure in the Walk-a-thon's success).
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