SERVICE LEARNING - KC KNUDSEN

I finished my service learning hours, Monday, October 8, 2007. I attended X School five consecutive Mondays for three hours at a time. Over the course of my service learning experience, teachers at X School asked me to help them set up their classroom for the next lesson(s), to provide extra help to students that didn't understand the subject area being addressed, to help students find resource materials, and several other tasks. The whole experience felt very natural to me. I don't know how to explain it. I just fell right in with the teachers and took their cues as to what I should do. I hope it is that comfortable at the school where I get hired. Throughout my service learning, I noticed that the population of the school wasn't very diverse. Most students that attend X School were Caucasian. Mixed within that population were a couple, and I truly mean a couple, of African American students. I thought this was very odd. I was informed later that X School is a private institution and that this difference in population is normal. Once, after the students went to lunch, I was able to speak with my mentor teacher. I asked the teacher about lesson plans and if they (and us eventually) were really accountable and actually record their lesson plans for the day. The teacher told me that they are accountable for everything that goes on in the classroom and that they are required to record their lesson plans and post them on the school's website. My service learning experience was just that, an experience. I feel that it has prepared me for my first internship by giving me a taste of what it is like to be in a working school today.