Service Learning


I will be doing my service learning hours at Lewiston Elementary in Lewiston, Utah. Lewiston is a rural farming town. The school is surrounded by fields and agricultural land. I attended this elementary school forty years ago. The school has scored an 8/10 on the great school's chart. The students are making more academic progress than last year. They are also having strong progress with test scores and are well above the state average. The gender split is nearly even with 51% female and 49% male. The student-per-teacher ratio is 19:1 which is 3 students lower than the Utah state average of 22:1. 84% of the teaching staff have three or more years of teaching experience. The teaching staff is wonderful and is so attentive to their students. The administration is very engaged in introducing new and innovative ways to help students learn and have a positive self-image. The school has started many fun programs to encourage the students to read and learn new things. 

I have learned that the students at the school are predominantly white, approximately 88%. There are  Spanish-speaking children that makeup 10% of the student population. Most of their parents work on farms that are nearby the school. The school does not have a dual immersion program which is unfortunate for the children that are struggling to learn English. I will be doing my service hours with the third-grade team. The students I will be working with will be 8-9 years old. 

My understanding of service learning is that is a program that will do two things. By spending time in the classroom and seeing the responsibilities of teachers I will be able to see if teaching is the right career choice for me. My service hours will also provide additional assistance to the teachers I will be helping. The hours will provide them the service of extra hands to help them with their students. 
The materials I will study in this course coupled with my service learning hours will give me the information I need to determine if Education is the right career path for me to take at this time. 


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