PREPARATION | ACTION | REFLECTION | CELEBRATION
II ACTION
Action implements core learning. Students have the opportunity to exercise new knowledge and skills to service their community. The information on this page will help you to put your proposal into practice. You may need to download a helper application to view documents if you do not already have one.
A. Scheduling
The service aspect of this model was established with one initial partner, but grew to be many more. A significant challenge here will be your schedule. School systems that have infrastructure that supports service segments will have an easier time, as will after-school clubs or other out-of-school-time programs. Our calendars varied from year to year, depending on how many students were involved in service and the resources of agencies to support student volunteers.
B. Integrating students into the service site needs:
Beyond the preparatory meeting with supervisory staff in order to arrange sites, it was important for service effectiveness for students to meet with the clinicians or teachers who develop programs for the youngsters we are contacting. This not only made the activities we developed more meaningful for the youngsters, but it gave the students concrete direction for their efforts. For example, we worked with 2 students in a 1:1, 2-brother sibling group for building the sibling relationship, initial-sound production and eye-contact development. Once these goals were expressed, and some direction was gained from the clinicians, students were able to pursue activities that targeted those particular behavioral elements, better than a general goal of “therapeutic play for interaction”.
While this depth would not be necessary for students to gain from the experience, students who had this level of focus from the coordinator and the service site expressed more satisfaction with their placements than those who had a more general exposure. In addition, students who are considering careers in support services are exposed to a higher level of clinical evaluative process than those with a more general experience.
