Unit Three/Creating Projects

Introduction

1. Exploring Reasons for Community Service
2. Identifying Problems in the Neighborhood
3. The Community Search
4. Choosing Good Community Service Project
5. Designing a Specific Project
6. Evaluating Proposals
7. The Role of the Project Director
8. Planning an Awards Ceremony

Introduction to Unit Three

Creating Objects

The service projects will work best if the ideas come from the students. Again, ownership is very important here and adult advisers must be reminded of this. You should have planted the seeds with students and staff in your school by holding a meeting with them earlier in the year. Foundation members should keep in touch with those who attended that meeting to make sure they understand how the foundation works and that they are developing their own community service project. This is most easily accomplished by having a member of the foundation in each of the different school clubs and teams.

In Lesson Five, students develop projects in small groups. Some of these may be used as actual projects by students in the class. Other students may wish to work with a club or group outside of the foundation class to design a project. Once class members understand how to complete the application form, they can "consult" with other groups in the school and help them complete their applications. Once all the applications are submitted to the foundation, the class will establish a review process (Lesson Six) to select the projects to be funded.

Determining which are worthwhile projects may seem like a daunting task. Students will learn to ask "Who benefits?" from the project and "How does it work?" They are hard on their peers when it comes to giving them money for projects. They ask tough questions and make good decisions. It is very serious work and they rise to the occasion.

This unit may take you up to the end of the first semester. After Christmas vacation, grants are evaluated and monies awarded. If you continue working with this unit into the second semester, that's okay too.

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Lesson One

Instructional Objectives

• Identify reasons for community service.
• Achieve consensus on reasons for service.

Activities

• Discuss "What is community service?" Elicit answers and have a student write them on the board.
• Discuss motivation question and have students write answers on the board. Aim for 20-30 reasons.
• Have students copy the reasons so they all have the same list. Have individual students circle their top 10 choices. Call on students to read their list.
• Have students pick their most important reason. Call on students to share their most important reason and explain.
• Break into small groups (4 to 5) and have each group come to a consensus on the 10 most important reasons.
• Have a spokesperson from each group report back to the class. See if the whole class can reach a consensus on the 10 most important reasons. Have the class write those 10 in their notebooks. It would be interesting to revisit these lists when they evaluate their experience at the end of the class. 

Conclusions

• People have different reasons for doing things.
• If each person gives up a little, a consensus can be reached.

Homework

• Students write a paragraph on their number one reason for doing community service. Encourage them to cite any personal experience they have had.
  
  

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Lesson Two

Instructional Objectives

• To identify the needs of the student community
• To prioritize these needs through consensus building

Activities

• Break the class into groups of four. Students will elect secretary of each group.
• Two groups will discuss school needs. Two groups will discuss community needs.
• In group discussion students will brainstorm needs and secretary will record list for groups.
• Secretary will report back to class and one student will write list on the board.
• Students will vote on the most important problems and needs (5, 8, 10 etc.). They will be recorded in their notebooks for future reference.

Conclusions

• People see the problems differently.
• A consensus can be reached by working together through democratic means.

Homework

• Each student will choose two community needs and write several paragraphs describing them and what they think can be done about them.
  
  

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Lesson Three

Instructional Objective

• Students do field research to find community needs

Activities

• Use questions to generate a short class discussion and get the students to create a sample list of community needs. Sample questions: "Is there a day care center (senior citizen's home, etc.) down the street?" "Has anyone noticed trash in the school yard?"
• Distribute maps of the school area and copies of the Community Search Information handout that follows this lesson.
• Have students locate the school on the map and draw a one-mile radius around the school. Divide area surrounding the school into "pie" pieces to indicate the area to be searched.
• Divide the students into groups of 3 to 5 (one group for each "pie" piece).
• Each team has a block of time that is appropriate to search the community on foot or by car to look for: schools where students might tutor; convalescent homes or senior citizen centers; libraries or hospitals; parks that need cleaning; walls with graffiti, etc.
• Each time students spot an opportunity for service, they mark the name and address of the agency or site on a community search form (see below). If possible, they go inside to speak with someone in authority about l volunteering; alternatively a student could be assigned to go back at a later date to make inquiries.

Conclusions

• There are many resources in the neighborhood to help people.
• There are opportunities for students to serve their neighborhood.

Homework

• Students will make a list of all the community service opportunities they found.
  

Have students take these questions and any additional questions and design a questionnaire. Use the following to start with: Name of Agency/Business; Contact Person; Street address, town, state and zip code; Telephone number; Fax number; E-mail; Description of services; Population served; Languages spoken; Area served; Description of needs; Information submitted by; Date.

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Lesson Four

Instructional Objectives

• Learning to identify good projects
• Reaching consensus

Activities 

• Distribute "What Makes a Good Community Service Project"worksheet. Discuss each point with the class.
• Have students report back on their "Community Search" from the previous day. Place names of organizations and needs on the board.
• Have students report back on their work from the day before on identifying the needs in their school and their community.
• Break into 4 groups and discuss which projects can be done, using the 10-point guideline as well as the knowledge of what organizations are in their neighborhood.

Conclusions

• Good guidelines help in making good decisions.
• Good information is important in making decisions.
• Working together is more productive than working alone.

Homework

• Choose a project and write a short report on how it might work.
  
  

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Lesson Five

Instructional Objectives

• Learning to complete an application form
• Identifying goals of the project
• Working in a group
• Expressing ideas in concise language

Activities

• Review discussions from previous days and have students vote on which project they will work on as a group.
• Ask students what they need to know to write up a "how to solve this problem." List on the board.
• Hand out SSPP application form (it follows this lesson) and compare what information it asks for with what the students have on the board, taking them through the application page by page.
• Break into 3 groups, each to work on a different part of the application: goals (page 1) project itself (page 2) budget (page 4)
• Or have each group work on the application for the whole project, then compare their work at the end and produce one final form. Do what you think will work best for your group.
• Have class review final proposal and see if it meets the guidelines for a good project. A list of projects follows this lesson that you may want to share with the class.

Conclusions

• Two heads are better than one.
• Planning is an important part of any project.

Homework

• Have each student choose another project and complete an application on his/her own.

Click here to download Student Service and Philanthropy Project Application Form.

Examples of Projects Funded by Student Foundations

• High school students volunteer at a local hospital, providing storytelling, arts and crafts and companionship. Funds pay for books, arts and crafts supplies and a small party for the children.
• A church youth group fights graffiti by painting a mural on building wall in the neighborhood. Funds pay for paint, brushes, other supplies and some snacks.
• A Unity Chorus was formed by the students to sing at homeless shelters, hospitals and community centers. Funds provided gowns, music and a small stipend for the piano player.
• Aids Peer Educators, trained by a local hospital, spoke to school classes about a healthy life-style. Funds bought teaching aids and T-shirts.
• Students mounted a voter registration campaign for eligible students in the school and took their campaign to the neighborhood as well. Funds went for T-shirts and follow-up letters reminding people to vote at election time.
• Students visit senior citizens living at a home to give manicures and play cards and games with them. Funds pay for the supplies as well as a little party.
• Two perennial gardens were planned and planted on the school grounds to beautify the area. Funds provided plants and gardening equipment.
• A quilt with the faces of the students became a multicultural work of art displayed in the school and community. Funds paid for fabric and other materials.
• Students mounted an International Day celebration for classmates of different races and nationalities, with food, music and dance, in an attempt to reduce racial tensions among groups. Funds helped support the event.
• School artists designed and painted murals for the school cafeteria. Funds provided paint, canvases and other supplies.
• Students created anti-violence videos to educate their other students about conflict resolution techniques. The video was shown in school classes and at neighborhood junior high schools. Funds paid for professional camera work and editing.
  
  

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Lesson Six

Evaluation of Proposals

Important: Each foundation will decide its own individual procedure for evaluating proposals. What follows is simply one method that worked successfully.

1. All members of the foundation are given copies of every proposal to read. Sets of proposals may be shared to save paper.
2. Each project proposal is presented to the members of the foundation by 2 to 3 students from the project in a 3- to 5-minute oral presentation in front of the class. Depending on the number of proposals, this can take 3 to 5 days of class time.
3. After all proposals have been presented orally, the members of the foundation select a committee to do final evaluation of the proposals. This committee should include the officers of the foundation, plus 4 to 6 additional members.
4. The members of the evaluation committee select a time to meet, probably 1 or 2 days after school.
5. At the evaluation meeting, the group discusses all proposals and each member of the evaluation committee completes project evaluation ratings.
6. The group will discuss the value of the proposal to the school/community and the clarity of the budget requests. Any budget changes are made at this meeting.
7. After budgets have been altered and ratings of all proposals completed, the proposal ratings are tallied and proposals listed for the committee to examine.
8. The committee then will decide how many of the proposals, in priority order, can be funded, based on the amount of money for grants that is available to the foundation.
9. After the final list of funded projects is composed, letters of congratulations and letters of rejection are composed and sent by the officers of the foundation. All members of the Evaluation Committee may sign this letter if desired.
10. The letter of congratulations should also include the Grant Award Outline and information concerning the awards ceremony (time and place).
11. A listing of all the grants and a brief description of the projects should be part of the program for the awards ceremony. A copy should also go on the project bulletin board and be placed in the school newspaper and local papers as well.

Click here to download Lesson Six Worksheets.

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Lesson Seven

Instructional Objectives

• Understand what good supervision is
• Recognize the importance of follow-through
• Learn to work with others
• Take a leadership role

Activities

• Review vocabulary list and the role of Project Director.
• Draw up a checklist for Project Director activities such as attached checklist.
• Assign student to prepare checklist for student Project Directors.

Pivotal Questions

• What makes a good ''boss"?
• Is there a difference between a boss and a coach?
• Should each Project Director have a checklist to follow?
• How important is it to encourage efforts and applaud achievements?
• Is a Project Director a coach and a cheerleader?

Conclusions

• When we know what is expected of us we have a better chance of succeeding.
• Leadership isn't always easy.
  
  

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Lesson Eight

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to:

• give 2 reasons for a grant reception for winners (recognition, morale, networking, public speaking);
• list at least 3 steps that must be taken to arrange the reception;
• decide who will do what, with what, how, when, etc.

Activities

• Students draw up a list of guests to invite (winners of grants, various key students and staff members, members of the community, press, etc.)
• Project Directors assigned to funded community service projects should present grant to their project.(Sample program follows)
• Students decide on entertainment and invite performers.
• Student officers decide on hosting, presenting, public speaking jobs.
• Students decide on refreshments.
• Students volunteer to set up a room for the program, serve refreshments, etc., clean up.

Pivotal Questions to Students

• Why should the grant winners be acknowledged at a reception?
• How will sharing of projects assist students with leadership, communication skills and building school spirit?
• How can the reception also provide a showcase for student talent?
• How can students prepare a program/agenda and carry out the reception?
• How can the reception spread the word of the foundation's work throughout the school?

Homework

• Prepare a newspaper article about the reception.