TEXTO ANTICORRUPCIÓN
TERCERA.- ANTICIPO.-
Learning Goals Know:
• the traits, qualities, and expertise that you have to offer your community
• the type of civic contribution that matches their lifestyle, as well as personal and professional goals
Do:
• assess your own personal and professional goals and skills
• reflect on the goals and purposes you have for volunteering in your community in order to make for a positive and meaningful experience that will encourage continued civic engagement • develop a plan of action that creates positive change in a manner that engages you and is relevant
to your goals and development Be:
• reflective and proactive when planning civic engagement
• positive and engaged in the potential to contribute to the common good of their community
Lesson Objectives
The first three lessons provided students with an understanding of the program and of what makes volunteerism important. The previous lesson had students evaluate someone else's experience to
deconstruct what made it meaningful for them and made them a contributing member of their community. With an appreciation for meaningful volunteerism, students will now be asked to create their own goals and criteria for their volunteer experiences.
In order for students to have a meaningful experience, they need to feel that the experience is relevant to them and be able to reflect on their experience. With goals set, students can better evaluate the quality of their service and reflect on the learning and contributions they have made.
In order to achieve student engagement in the community service program students need to be able to build connections between their service to their future goals, feel that they are developing a competence at something, and be personally invested in the moral and civic goals of the service (Dawson & Larson, 2011). By these standards, mundane unskilled jobs, such as fundraising, cannot possibly be engaging them and promoting continued community service. Therefore, educators need to encourage students to articulate what they want to gain from their service so that when the time comes to plan a service placement they are aware of what to look for and their standards. In addition, educators need to reiterate that the goals and criteria that students set should be continuously reflected on throughout their service in order to advocate for themselves and ensure they feel valued and are making contributions that provide them with a positive experience.
Instructional Plan
Setting the Stage:
Educators should cover the basics of what makes goals “smart” prior to the core activity. Smart goals are specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Students should consider their lifestyle and availability when they plan their placements in order to make sure that their goals are practical and that their service is meaningful but not unrealistic. As students perform and complete their service, they should reflect on their goals and criteria and determine what made their experience valuable or reassess their goals before planning their next one.
At this point in time, educators should recap with students the knowledge of what makes volunteer service engaging and meaningful. Students will then begin to set their own goals and expectations for any service they complete based on the standards they have been taught and their own personal aspiration and
development. Student goals should include the contribution that they want to make on the community, their personal interests and passions, as well as their professional development as a student and their future employment/careers.
Educators should have students reflect on the various skills that they use in their lives and interests that engage them. Students need to view volunteer placements as something that utilizes and develops their skills and qualifications, just like an employment position would. Educators need to emphasize that students will only get as much out of their placement as they put into it, so they should plan carefully and reflect on their goals. If they settle for a placement that does not develop or utilize their skills and
challenge them, then they will not grow from that experience. They should also consider the experience as being an asset to their resume and something that could help them find employment
Core Learning Activity:
Students will evaluate the skills that they are good at and want to utilize in their placements, as well as skills that they would like to develop through their experience. They will also be provided with examples of placements that align to a civic issue of personal interest.
This lesson should be focused on self-assessment and personality testing in order to match students to volunteer placements. Students need to decide what they are passionate about. It could be a hobby or it could be a future career. They also need to decide what skills they value and what they want to enhance and use so that they feel like a valuable contributor. In order to help students begin to think of various skills that they feel they have or want to develop they can use skills self-assessments such as the one at the following site:
Volunteer Canada in partnership with Manulife Financial (n.d.a). Building Blocks for Youth Volunteer Engagement. Retrieved from http://volunteer.ca/content/building-blocks-youth-volunteer-engagement Based on the criteria that have been set for meaningful community service and their own personal interests and aspirations, students will create a checklist of criteria for their volunteer placement. This checklist will be something that they can use not only to help guide them when planning their placement, but it can also be used to evaluate their service during and after their experience. By having specific measurable goals and standards students can judge what makes their experiences positive or what they might be missing in their placement that is preventing them from having the most impactful experience possible.
Lesson Consolidation/Debriefing With Students:
Students will debrief together by peer-assessing their goals and providing each other with constructive feedback in order to ensure that goals are “smart” and clear. The assessment criteria should be class- created.