Affinity Community Learning Center

Topic Focus racticing Active citizenship / Working with others to actively address important concerns in our community.  How can we make a positive difference?

• Processes of Social Studies: critical thinking, credibility of sources, presentation skills, plan of action to address a problem or issue.

• uses speaking and listening to interacts with others,
• uses speaking to explore, express and present a range of ideas, information and feelings, for different purposes and audiences,
• listens purposefully to understand and anylyze ideas and information,
• creates meaningful visual representations for a variety of purposes and audiences that communicate personal response and information and ideas relevant to the topic.

 Gr. 8-9:

Social Studies:

• Identifying a problem or an issue: determining and clarifying a problem, issue, or inquiry that is relevant to the student,
• Gathering information: making use of a wide range of information sources such as libraries, the internet, mass media, and government agencies.
• Interpreting informatioin: drawing inferences from maps, documents, and other primary and secondary sources, both historical and contemporary.
• Analyzing information: developing and defending positions on historical and contemporary problems and issues,
• Presenting information: using various oral and visual media to communicate in small and large-group settings,
• Practicing active citizenship: working with others to actively address important concerns.

Rubric for Project:

Assessment Outline

Assessment for learning will be on-going and include self, peer and teacher assessment. Much of the feedback will be given directly on the class blog in response to the ongoing journal.  Students are expected to use links and information available to them on the blog and discuss findings as well as personal reflections.  “Tell what you are learning as well as what you are seeing.”  Although all learning outcomes will be weaved throughout the six weeks, the major emphasis for learning is outlined for the weeks below.

*Community issue to address is decided by students through group process

** Action plan determines what service students will become involved in.

Student Module Overview Plan

Week One: 

• Brainstorm community issues.  Students came up with four issues they might like to reflect and create an action plan around. 1) How might we approach the prevention and removal of graffiti? or a safe designated place to showcase graffiti 2) How might we contribute to the food bank’s success in meeting the needs of families in our community? 3) How can young people make a difference to the homeless population in our community? 4) What part can we play in increasing awareness and take action on recycling?
• begin examination of the question:  What is community service?
• start blog/or add to blog 

Week Two:

• Students do a reflection on the four issues with pair share and listen to the reflections of at least 6 peers before pair to present on the reasons that they’ve prioritized the community issues as they have and present to the group on why they’ve believe a specific issue deserves further reflection and selection by the group?
• Students present their reflections on prioritizing the issues and then decide on a way to select a single topic for further study.  Possibly a student vote after discussing pros and cons of each topic. 
• Students choose topic for further examination and reflection as a group.  [Student choice was: How can young people in our community make a difference to the homeless population?]
• Continue to examine community service and also seek out interviews with a variety of community resource people, who facilitate and assist the homeless population in the Comox Valley?
• Math (data analysis): research and compile statistics around homeless people in the valley, BC and Canada.

Week Three:

• Students contact community resource people and report back to their group on interviews.
• The soup kitchen is contacted and students determine that this might be a place that they can contribute to a positive action plan.  
• Students visit the soup kitchen at the Courtenay United Church and volunteer to serve lunch on their first day of service.
• Students brainstorm how they might further contribute to the needs of the homeless population through the participation and service at the soup kitchen.
• Student Ideas:  serving soup, busing tables, preparing soup for weekly meals,  making a long term service commitment to the soup kitchen.  Each group of students selecting a day of the week to practice active citizenship beginning Week four.
• Students participate in “Food Safe” course in preparation for service aspect and safe food handling.
• Students discuss in teams how they might choose recipes, select a recipe, calculate the groceries needed, the costs, how they’ll raise the money for associated costs, make a plan for food preparation, create food preparation teams and make batches of soup, which can delivered and served at the beginning of week four. Math LO’s around measurement
• Discuss / Reflect on long term commitment to this project in relation to a short term commitment.  Discuss how community service may or may not lead to relationship building with homeless population and meeting the basic needs of homeless community members.  Students decide to create a bank of questions that they might ask the clients at the soup kitchen?  Students reflect on wording of and depth of questions and if each question is appropriate or inappropriate?  Are the questions respectful of these community members and their life circumstances?

Weeks Four-Six:

• Student teams begin delivery and service to soup kitchen with on-going soup preparation.
• Student teams branch out at soup kitchen to interview the clients.  Students have previously decided that using technology to record the interviews may not be appropriate at first until they’ve built relationships and can ask permission to record or take photos; but students will journal reflections immediately after their visit to the soup kitchen while their impressions of this first visit are still fresh in their minds.
• Using student journals (can use a different medium) students further reflect using links, which the student group has generated on a student blog.  Recent articles in community newspapers will be linked to the blog as will links to links to community resource persons, and related websites.
• Weekly students reflect on how the project might evolve to continue to best meet the needs of the homeless population. How might they invest in relationships with the homeless through long term commitments? 

Closure:

• Students report out on their reflections. Dependent on whether they’ve received permission from the clientele students may post their reflections and interviews to the student blog.
• Student groups participate in reflection on the big overarching questions for the project: Use Faye Brownlie questions to determine:  1) What?, 2) So What? and 3) What’s next?[What are we going to do with what we've learned?]
• Each student group reports out on their reflections by presenting for 30-60 minutes using any format decided upon by the student group, which must include at least one aspect of the previously learned technology skills: powerpoint, blogging, on-line social networking, etc. ( facebook, interviews, flip cameras, blogging, search-cube, animoto)   

Comox Valley Homeless and Housing Survey Results: “Moving into Action” November 2006

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