EL DESARROLLO LOCAL

The living room, packed with family members of all ages, falls quiet, and the students decide who will present their Final Portfolio first. Parents help their children to find their quiet spot on the floor, and the children’s eager eyes begin to wait expectantly. Hanna volunteers to go first, as I had expected from her readiness to go first in most other activities. She finds her spot in front of the majority of the group who are seated on the couches, chairs, and floor. Others students present after her in turn, with applause and smiles escorting them back to their seats. Their presentations are unique, each student deciding which aspects of the overall project to share with the present community.

When Solomon’s turn comes, he begins by telling us that he will illuminate the two aspects he most enjoyed. He first opens up his Final Portfolio to his reflections upon the visit to the local fire department, to which he expressed gratitude through handcrafted Thank You Cards and homemade cookies (Figure 15). Reading from his page, he tells the audience, “What I learned when we went to the fire station was that they always have to work together.” He continues, “My favorite thing about going to the fire station was seeing all of the tools that they use [and seeing the] guy dress up in the gear that they use to fight fires.” The pages he shows us contain photos from the tour, his personal and informational journaling, as well as tool-themed aesthetic embellishments.

Figure 15: Solomon’s Final Portfolio page about the fire department

After a few more comments regarding his experience at the fire department, he continues to flip through his pages until he finds his Photography Project (Figure 16). In this project, students used a camera to capture aspects of their community that meant most to them, aspects that have been influential in their understanding of civic engagement. I had observed over the years that they had a pre-existing interest in caring for their community. In the period of time of

and learned more still from their aesthetic productions. Using my understanding of their interest in their community as a springboard, I had asked the students to respond to the questions, “Why do you care about serving others? What has been your motivation to care?” From this prompt, the students aesthetically considered how they would represent their response through photography and symbolism.

Therefore, in his formal presentation of his Final Portfolio, Solomon explains, “My school books, my family, our house, my Alert group, and my dog. These things are to me ways in which I can see how my community is important to me.” Almost effortlessly, he expounds:

Our schoolbooks symbolize how we learn through books, which helps us be a better part of our community. Families are an important part of our community. Being in groups is an important part of our community, because we can interact with other people and make new friends. Music as well; we can go to nursing homes, or other places and play music for them. Dogs are a big part of the community, because they can help people with mental issues. Plus, I just like dogs. And, that’s it!

Solomon thanks the audience with a slight bow and we return his gratitude with cheerful applause. After my closing reflections regarding my appreciation of the students’ and parents’ sincere and sustained participation, as well as praise for a job well done, we continue to celebrate on this crisp autumn afternoon with bring-your-own-sandwiches and chips, and the reflections are far from ceasing.

Figure 16: Solomon's two-page set of Final Portfolio pages regarding his community via Photography Project

Solomon was not the first to introduce themes regarding teamwork and teambuilding; however, his contribution was outstanding. While being civically engaged, his sense of self within his community was directly related to the others with whom he is working. “Being in groups is an important part of our community because we can interact with other people and make new friends,” he shares with the audience during his formal presentation of his Final Portfolio. His being a member of a team represents his active desire to be involved with a community, an endeavor that engages him in a world beyond himself.

Similarly, when teaching literacy, students can be asked to look carefully (or notice deeply), ask questions, make connections to themselves, to other texts, or to the world, and to infer (or create) meaning. […] While not all the Capacities might come into play in a particular class or unit, there seem to be enough connections to concepts necessary for success in all content areas that teachers can use the language of the Capacities no matter what subject area is being taught. (pp. 13-14)

My study presents a unique opportunity to present its usefulness in the field of service-learning because of its uniquely “mind-boggling” enmeshment of reflective artmaking and service- learning.

A capacities-based analysis has enabled my exploration of the service-learning stages of my study. In this chapter, I therefore present my findings regarding the two intersecting themes of the Capacities for Imaginative Learning and service-learning. My view of the distinctive service-learning aspects within illuminate the essence of the enmeshed learning processes. This stage in my analysis revealed the kinds of skills and capacities the students gained in (reflective artmaking) service-learning. Teamwork and teambuilding came to the fore in this exhibition.

5.1 INITIAL QUERY RESULTS

NVivo’s matrix query function facilitates viewing the data with a high level of precision. It allows me to “reference and cross-reference occurrences in ways that make the analysis of patterns more systematic and less anecdotal” (Abramson, 2009, p. 71). In my first query, I cross tabulate the capacities and service-learning. The matrix columns outline the components of service-learning that were represented. These categories describe the components that mapped-

out a sequence of stages that the students experienced. The stages are an amalgamation of the common stages in the literature, specifically Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle and Brown and Leavitt’s (2009) synthesized stages of service-learning. I created this list according to what constituted the central components of service-learning in the context of my study. Additionally, I add numerical notations to further describe where each stage typically occurred in relation to the others. While the components are not mutually exclusive, at times occurring simultaneously or out of the order that I have described in the stages, this notation describes the typical sequence I facilitated (as the leader) and observed (as the researcher) within my study (see Appendix B). The results of this query are seen in Figure 17 below:

The names and descriptions of each stage represented in the matrix columns are as follows: A: Exploring or Observing a Need: “Students define the community and investigate

needs through research and documentation” (Brown & Leavitt, 2009, p. 17). B: Planning and Preparing: “During the preparation stage, a plan of action is

proposed, and details regarding school and community policies are arranged” (Brown & Leavitt, 2009, p. 18).

C: Taking Action or Testing in New Situations: “During this stage, students act upon the established plan” (Brown & Leavitt, 2009, p. 18) for the first time or in a subsequent new situation to create the change previously explored, planned, and prepared.

D: Reflecting and Forming Abstract Concepts: “Demonstrations of learning include multiple forms of documentation, layers of analysis, processes of individual and collaborative assessment, and varied reviewers” (Brown & Leavitt, 2009, p. 19). E: Sharing with the Community: After the service and reflection, students share the

“service-learning project with the community through presentation, performance, and/or exhibition” (Brown & Leavitt, 2009, p. 19).

F: Exhibiting Reciprocity: In this study, reciprocity is the mutual exchange of collaboration between my students and the communities they served.

G: Exhibiting Teambuilding or Teamwork: Teamwork or teambuilding occurs as a result of students engaging in community building practices that foster cohesion between: 1) the members of the group internally, as well as 2) externally between the members of the group and members of the community outside of the group. Teambuilding or teamwork is when the students, who have practiced community

building, work together to accomplish a goal or set of goals, such as in taking action or planning/preparing. Teamwork is the product of a group of people working together, and teambuilding is the process of this development.

Parallel to the matrix in the previous chapter, capacities and modes of artmaking, the rows of this matrix outline the Capacities for Imaginative Learning. Considered through an experiential learning lens, Holzer (2009, pp. 11-12) unknowingly describes a method of analyzing service- learning.

1: Creating Meaning: “To create your own interpretations based on the previous capacities, see these in the light of others in the community, create a synthesis, and express it in your own voice [each through service-learning].”

2: Embodying: “To experience a work of art [and/or service-learning] study through your senses, as well as emotionally, and also to physically represent that experience [through service-learning].”

3: Exhibiting Empathy: “To respect the diverse perspectives of others in the community [while engaged in service-learning]; to understand the [service- learning] experiences of others emotionally, as well as intellectually.”

4: Identifying Patterns: “To find relationships among the details that you notice, group them, and recognize patterns [through service-learning].”

5: Living with Ambiguity: “To understand [through service-learning] that issues have more than one interpretation, that not all problems have immediate or clear- cut solutions, and to be patient while a resolution becomes clear.”

6: Making Connections: “To connect what you notice and the patterns you see to your prior knowledge and experiences, to others’ knowledge and experiences, and

to text and multimedia resources [through service-learning].”

7: Noticing Deeply: “To identify and articulate layers of detail in a work of art [and/or service-learning] study through continuous interaction with it over time.” 8: Questioning: “To ask questions throughout your [service-learning] explorations

that further your own learning; to ask the question, ‘What if?’”

9: Reflecting/Assessing: “To look back on your [service-learning], continually assess what you have learned, assess/identify what challenges remain, and assess/identify what further learning needs to happen. This occurs not only at the end of a [service-] learning experience, but is part of what happens throughout that experience. It is also not the end of your learning; it is part of beginning to learn something else.”

10: Taking Action: “To try out new ideas, behaviors or situations in ways that are neither too easy nor too dangerous or difficult, based on the synthesis of what you have learned in your [service-learning] explorations.”

Particular capacities were consistently correlated to service-learning throughout each stage of the reflective artmaking service-learning project overall. These include Creating Meaning, Making Connections, and Reflecting/Assessing. Their greatest correlation was during the reflecting and forming abstract concepts stage.

However, Teamwork and Teambuilding also has a strong correlation to service-learning. Teamwork is the product of a group of people working together, and teambuilding is the process of this development. The component is not exclusive, but occurs throughout each stage of service-learning. The design of the study incorporated both throughout, and the result confirmed my expectations. Through engaging in service-learning, the students constructed community, or

practiced community building, because the academically facilitated service activities occurred in a group setting (Hayes & Cuban, 1996; King, 2004). External community building simultaneously facilitated the construction of teamwork and internal community building within the group of students itself (King, 2004; Wade, 1997). This is one factor that distinguishes service-learning from community service. Service-learning involves the use of group participation and encourages the practice of teamwork. Thus, in service-learning, community building developed both within the group of students, as well as between the group and the surrounding community (Schensul & Berg, 2004). I facilitated this dynamic interaction according to the principles of experiential learning as the students experienced the processes of defining and building community according to the categories listed in the matrix above (Figure 17). The activities of each stage were meant to draw students from “different social worlds” together, to cross borders, and to become a more unified team as they engaged in each stage (Keith, 1998, p. 86). Thus, the Capacities for Imaginative Learning provided a means of analyzing the community and community building in this study.