National Urban Service-Learning Institute Brings Academic Rigor to Service-Learning

On August 11-13, 2010, a group of nearly 70 gathered in St. Paul, Minn., for the Seventh Annual National Urban Service-Learning Institute. Held at Crosswinds East Metro Arts and Science School, the event brought together urban educators, young people, and community members invested in using service-learning as a strategy to advance achievement and equity in urban education.

Unlike previous years, the 2010 Institute took more of a workshop approach, focusing less on invited speakers and centered more on hands-on activities for creating academically rigorous service-learning experiences for urban youth. NYLC Research Director Susan Root, Ph.D., along with NYLC’s Managing Editor Caryn Pernu, led a three-part workshop on using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design backward planning method for designing service-learning experiences that spring primarily from the academic content standards teachers must meet in their classrooms. “Backward planning begins not with learning experiences, but the goals of a unit,” explains Root. Its three stages involve identifying the academic outcome, planning for assessment, and only then developing the learning activities that will achieve the desired results.

The Institute kicked off Wednesday evening with a welcome ceremony at the Science Museum of Minnesota, where students from the Barack and Michelle Obama Service-Learning Elementary presented a video they created, Champions of Service. Thursday and Friday activities included experiential community-building exercises that laid the groundwork for deeper conversations on equity, race, and academic expectations. “If we fail to build the capacity of teachers to help urban students learn deeply and learn well, then we really have not done a good job,” says Wokie Weah, Vice President of Programs. The institute concluded with a series of presentations and performances from young people, service-learning activities related to the urban water cycle, wetlands restoration, and connections between health and art.

Dedicated to bridging existing gaps between urban stakeholders, the Institute was presented by NYLC in collaboration with the Minneapolis Public Schools and Crosswinds East Metro Art and Science School.