PRE-SERVICE REFLECTION (Reflection #1)
(REFLECTING ON WHY AND WHAT)
- What is the community issue you hope to address?
- What is your organization’s mission or purpose? How does this relate to your personal and professional interests?
- How could working on this issue (or with this organization) help you understand course information?
- What are you most looking forward to about this Service-Learning experience? What are you most eager to learn? What strengths do you bring to this experience?
- What are your hesitations? What might be a challenge to your learning? What kind of support might be helpful from the instructor?
MID-SEMESTER REFLECTION (#2):
(LEARNING FROM/ABOUT OTHER PERSPECTIVES)
- What assumptions do you have about the people you will encounter? Where did those assumptions come from?
- How might your assumptions influence the way you interact with people?
- What similarities do you share with the people you are working with? What differences?
- What are their strengths? What can you learn from them and their strengths?
- How do you think you are perceived by the people you are working with?
- What might be potential miscommunications?
MID-SEMESTER REFLECTION #3:
(APPLICATION OF COURSE CONCEPTS) Tip: ask these frequently during the semester.
- Describe an interaction or situation from your SL experience, then relate it to course concepts OR
- Describe a course concept, and describe how you can apply it to your service learning experience OR
- Explain a course theory/idea/practice. Did your experience support or contradict it?
LATE SEMESTER REFLECTION #4:
(REINFORCING AND TRANSFERRING LEARNING)
- Identify and discuss three areas of academic growth or skills and attitudes you have developed through your experience? OR
- How has your thinking shifted? Have your assumptions changed about the people, community issue, or the discipline?
- When did you have your aha moment, and what brought it about? Why is this important?
- What will you do differently because of this learning?
Based on Ash, Sarah L., and Patti H. Clayton. “Generating, deepening, and documenting learning: The power of critical reflection in applied learning.” (2009).