EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education

Service Learning
Journal Entries

NAME Whittney Graves

VISION FOR MY FUTURE

Here is what I want to accomplish this year:
Education: As far as my education goes, I want to complete this semester with As and Bs.
Career: I want to switch jobs. The one that I have right now just doesnt allow me enough
time to do my school work or spend time with my family.
Family and Friends: I want to get to spend some more time with my family. It seems like I
am always on the go and do not get to enjoy their presence as much as I would like to.
Involvement and Service to My Community: I would love to have the time to volunteer
around my community more than I do. It has always been my dream to volunteer at an
animal shelter or coach a little league softball team.
Personal Growth: It is my goal to get more involved with my church. It seems like I
havent had the time to truly get involved like I used to be.
Other:

Service Learning Project

Name: Whittney Graves

Course Title: EDUC 2300
Date: 2-15-2016
Agency Name: Grainger High School
Agencys Mission Statement/ Grades Served/ Community Needs:
We are committed to a partnership with students, parents and the community. Within this
partnership, we will provide each student with the knowledge, skills, and attitude to become a
productive citizen in a challenging, technological, and divers world

Prologue: What do you expect to get from your service learning experience (i.e., how will this
experience help YOU develop)? How will it impact your learning and link to class materials? How
do you think the students and staff will perceive you? What goals do you have for the semesters
Service Learning experience? What fears do you have (if any) about service learning?
I expect to learn what it takes to become a high school teacher through my service learning
experience. I think that it will only back up what I have been learning in my education classes. I think
that I will see a lot of the theories and strategies being put into motion throughout the entire journey.
I think that the staff will see me as a student still. I think that the students will think that they do not
have to listen to me because of my age and not being much older than them. My goals for this
semesters service learning is to absorb as much of the atmosphere as I possibly can. My greatest fear
going into this is that the students will not think of me as an authoritative figure. It is my fear that if
they do not treat me with respect, the staff will not see my potential as a future teacher at this agency.

Affect - Reflective:
These questions address the affective experience.
1. How did the experience feel?
The first day of my service learning the experience was an odd one.
Mostly because of the fact that I was an authoritative figure instead of a
student at the school. Throughout my experience of service learning, the
experience was overall fun and exciting. It was a new sensation around
every turn. The last day that I attended school as a service learner, I was
shocked that I was somewhat depressed.

2. What did it remind you of?

The overall experience reminded me of being in the high school as a student. Nearing
the end of my service learning; however, I felt more an authoritative figure.
3. How did your apprehension change or your confidence grow?
Throughout my time at Grainger High School, I felt my confidence grow
tremendously. My first visit, I was very nervous about the fact that the students might
not take me as seriously as I hoped they would, but it was evident that by the end of
my first day, the students thought of me as an authoritative figure.
4. Did you feel successful, effective, and knowledgeable?
During the duration of my service learning project at Grainger high School, I felt very
successful. During my last day at the school, the teacher let me talk to the students
about what college was really like. I felt knowledgeable that I could tell them what to
expect from their first semester at college.

Behavior - Objective:
These questions relate to the concrete experience.
5. What did you (student) do, observe, read, and hear?
Throughout the majority of my service learning project, I mostly observed the
teacher lecturing to the classroom about how economics would affect their daily life.
On my second day of student teaching, I mainly graded test papers and essay papers
of the senior class. Economics is a class that is required to graduate for students. It
was interesting to see what the students wrote in their essays. On my last day of
service learning, I got to take questions from the class about what college life was
really like.

6. Who was involved, what was said?

The teacher of the class, students, and myself were mostly involved in my service
learning. The teacher lectured on the importance of personal finance and economics.
7. What happened as a result of your work?

As a result of my work, I learned more of what it took to run a high school classroom
and what techniques work with the students.
Cognitive - Interpretative:
These are questions that explore cognitive experience.
8. What did the experience make you think?
The overall experience of service learning made me think a lot about my future in the
classroom. Observing a high school classroom reinforced my theory that high school
would be more of my thing than elementary school students.
9. How did it change your thinking about(learning theory, learning strategy,
social/moral development)?
My service learning experience reinforced that what I am learning in class will be
useful in my future classroom.
10. What did you learn?
I learned more about myself through this experience than I ever thought that I would.
I also learned that I could incorporate what I am learning in the classroom in more
ways that I ever thought was possible.
11. What worked?
I found that the teacher often let students self-motivate. This particular plan worked
wonderfully with high school seniors. They seemed to have a handle on the
information and could complete their assignments with little to no help from me or
the teacher.
Decisional:
These questions involve the incorporation of an experience into a new paradigm.
12. What, if any, shifts have you had in knowledge, awareness, or understanding that
affects how you see things and, ultimately, how you will act.
I have had an amazing turn of ideas since this experience. I witnessed a lot of
technology being used in the classroom that wasnt available when I was in high
school. This, in and of itself, has changed the way I use technology. I now look for
multiple apps that could be used in the classroom.
13. What will you do differently next time?
The next time that I am in a classroom, I would like to take a more active part in the
lecturing.
14. What decisions or opinions have you formed?
I have formed many opinions since I started this whole experience. One of the most
important opinions that I have formed is that technology is a force to be reckoned
with. Technology seems to be growing at an alarming rate.

15. How will the experience affect your career path, your personal life choices or
your use of new information, skills or technology?
My service learning experience has reinforced the idea that I would enjoy teaching a
high school class. I will also be staying up to date on current technology for my
future classroom.

Epilogue:
Reflect on your semesters service learning experience.
I feel as if my service learning experience was very much of a success. I
appreciate the staff and students of Grainger High School for being as nice and
accommodating as they were.
Revisit the prologue. Have your expectations been met?
My expectations were more than met. They were exceeded by a great amount.
How have you been surprised, delighted, or dismayed by the experience? Give
specific examples.
I was generally surprised at how easily I slipped into the role of the teacher.
From helping students with their coursework to grading papers, I felt like I was
finally were I was supposed to be in life.
How could this experience be improved?
I honestly cannot think of a single thing that could make this experience better
for me.
VISION FOR MY FUTURE
Here is what I want to accomplish in the next five years:
Education: In the next five years, I hope to receive my associates degree in
secondary education and my bachelors degree in Family and Consumer
Sciences from Carson Newman University.
Career: After I finish my bachelors degree, my goal is to get a job in a high
school teaching Family and Consumer Science classes.
Family and Friends: With my family, my goal is to grow closer with my distant
cousins.
Involvement and Service to My Community: My goal is to coach a little league
softball team and to volunteer at the animal shelter mobile spay and neuter
clinic.
Personal Growth: In the next five years, I would like to take the leader of my
church youth choir over.
Other:
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REFLECTIONS
Here are the Knowledge and Skills that I have acquired as a direct result of
taking part in this Service Learning project:
I have gained a confidence in a classroom that I never thought I would have. I
can also grade a whole class of test in 30 minutes with reading essays. The most
prominent knowledge that I have taken from this experience is that this is truly
what I am called to do. It took me long enough to figure it out, but I am finally
on the right road.
Here is how this Service Learning project ties in with my EDUC 2300 class:
My service learning supervisor used some of the theories and strategies that we
have talked about in class. I also got to see how far the school that I attended
had come with technology. It amazed me how far that they had progressed since
I graduated.
My Contribution to the Community
I have devoted 18 hours to my Service Learning project. Here are four lasting
experiences that are an outcome of my Service Learning project:
1. I think seeing the way that my service learning classroom was set up will
definitely be incorporated into how I set up my future classroom.
2. I have seen how students at risk are encouraged in the classroom and most
definitely will keep in mind how Mr. Mullins handled those particular students
in the my future teaching endeavors.
3. I am more determined now than I ever have been to become an educator.
4. I now have a greater outlook of what it is like to be an educator and could
not be more excited for the journey that I am fixing to undertake.