Seif+Said+Reflection+Essay

Service learning Essay

Most of the time, I simply thought that service learning as forced volunteerism, with no real direction, or purpose. This is due to the fact that the reason that we were made to volunteer was not exactly revealed to us. So, I decided, for my paper, to make some discoveries about Service Learning. These discoveries would be made most likely by viewing other schools’ programs, which implement service learning. The facts that would be of most interest are, service learning itself, the definition of service learning, the benefits of service learning, and finally, how service learning should and needs to be implemented into the curriculum, most importantly, the pharmacy curriculum. Although the key component of service learning is volunteering, service learning differs from volunteering in that service learning is connected to classroom instruction and academic requirements. Service learning can also be distinguished from internships and other forms of experiential learning. This is due to the fact that these types of learning do not necessarily involve students in social problems or in addressing unmet community needs, as service learning does.Service Learning was created for a purpose. The main purpose behind it was to benefit the student in a way other than the benefits received from the classroom. These benefits however must be real and evident to the students, if the program is to be successful. When the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas first incorporated service learning into their curriculum, some the intended benefits to the students were to improve their communication skills and to help them gain a better understanding of needs and issues in the community. When comparing other service learning programs, having students interact with members of the community seems to be a common benefit. According to the Academic Service Learning Advisory Committee, some of the benefits of students interacting with members of the community are that students become aware of their community’s needs, they have an opportunity to connect with members of the larger community who can offer important partnerships and resources, and also makes students more committed and involved in the community they belong to, thus building teamwork and leadership skills, and so did I. I went to a orphanage here in maadi called Yanboo El Noor, were I helped a group of 4 children learn the basics skills of English as well as helping them put their thoughts together to form a sentence. The children were able to make sentences describing their emotions as well as problem solving skills. One of the children I worked with was very slow at learning it took a lot of time to teach him everything from the beginning including the alphabet, but at the end he reached everyone else’s level. As for myself my attitude changed towards them, I felt bad for them so I always wanted to help them. Furthermore I developed a sense of community towards these orphans. One of the challenges was getting to the orphange finding a ride there and back. Most of the time we didn’t have a driver so we had to find a taxi that was willing to take us there, and for the way back we had to walk a long distance in the heat to find another taxi. I felt we really made a difference with these kids they learned a lot of things and now they can successfully express themselves in English and furthermore they started interacting more with each other in English overall the kids would be very happy waiting for us to come to teach them they were very enthusiastic. The problem we face is that these orphans have no parents and they get taught at a very limited level. In many poor countries orphans are often seen wondering about begging for money and food; many may not be going to school. Not much organized help exists for them in poor countries. But in richer countries many organizations and institutions help the orphans and work to help parents when they are sick or very poor so they do not abandon their children. Organizations such as churches and community services assist them. Overall this was a great experience for me and I will continue working on this project with these children hoping to teach them a great deal of information.