Service Learning
Sample Reflection Assignments
and Activities
Gail Eisenberg
Accounting, Business & Economics
Erika Sutherland
Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Linda Bips
Psychology
Service Learning Workshop
August 23, 2005
Gail Eisenberg – Accounting, Business, & Economics Department
This is the reflective assignments I’m using this fall:

Reflective journals-- During the semester you will be doing a service-learning project with a non-profit
organization and, hopefully, seeing and experiencing many new things in this course. To process the
experience better, I am requiring you to keep a reflective journal. The literature on service- learning pedagogy
states that reflecting on what you are experiencing while doing your project is a very important component in
the learning process. I am requiring that you turn in the journal in three installments during the semester. Each
installment should be a minimum of four pages (double spaced) in length, and a minimum of two separate
entries.
The first journal installment covers the first third of the class and should focus on your initial expectations
and impressions. Tell me about your initial impressions/expectations/ fears about the course, the organization
for whom you’ll be working, the scope of the project itself, etc. You should write a minimum of two separate
entries in the journal.
The second journal installment covers the second third of the class and should focus on the service-learning
experience to date (what’s going well, not going well, what’s frustrating, what should be changed, etc). Tell
me about the interaction among your team members; about the quality/quantity of the work done to date; about
the interaction with the client; if applicable, the interaction with the artisan group and the challenges they face
in their daily struggles; interaction with other important parties, etc. Again, you should write a minimum of two
separate entries in the journal.
The third journal installment covers the last third of the class and should focus on reflecting back on the
service-learning experience in its entirety. What have you gained (educationally and personally) by having a
service-learning experience, rather than a textbook project? Tell me about your experience at working the Ten
Thousand Villages Sale and/or your experience at presenting your work on IJCU to community experts. What
do you recommend I change to the format of the projects and how they fit in to the course in order to improve
the overall experience? Again, you should write a minimum of two separate entries in the journal.
This is the reflective assignment I used last fall:

Reflection papers—During the semester you will be doing a hands-on-project with a non-profit organization
and, hopefully, seeing and experiencing many new things. To process the experience better, I am requiring you
to write two reflection papers. The literature on service- learning pedagogy states that reflecting on what you
are experiencing while doing your project is a very important component in the learning process. Each paper
should be about 500 words in length. The topics for the two reflection papers can be picked from the following:
(1) How have I changed as a result of this project/experience? (2) Describe the people you have been interacting
with at the organization (professionals, volunteers, clients, etc.) and what impact, if any, they have had on you?
(3) What changes, if any, would I recommend to society (political, economics, legal, etc.) to reduce the need for
organizations like Ten Thousand Villages? (4) What have you gained (educationally and personally) by having
a real world experience, rather than a textbook project?
Reflection Activities for SPN-383-00
Spanish for the Community
Erika M. Sutherland
goals for the class:
Spanish for the Community blends on-campus preparation and reflection with community-based practical
experience, investigation, and exploration. Class sessions consist of three parts: discussion of and deliberation on
community placements, cultural issues, and development of the linguistic skills and technical tools needed for
successful interpreting.
Students who complete the class successfully will have the principles of and basic skills for oral interpreting from
Spanish to English and from English to Spanish. They will be able to negotiate effective communication with native
Spanish speakers from a range of regional, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds and in a variety of social
and professional contexts.
Once community placements begin, each class begins with a reflection.
1. A quick reflection is a warm up of round-robin questions or pair interviews:
What was the most surprising or unusual thing that happened at your placement this week? Why was it surprising
and how did you respond to it?
In the first class we talked about expectations, hopes, and fears. Which of your expectations and hopes about your
clients and community collaborators have you seen play out? Have any of your fears been realized? How so? Revisit
your expectations, hopes, and fears: are they the same now as they were a month ago?
2. Other reflections are more extended and are designed to encourage self-evaluation; these are generally done in
writing with discussion afterwards:
It’s normal to have some linguistic breakdown when you interpret, especially at the beginning. Where did you lose
words this week and how did you deal with it? How did your colleagues and clients react and how did you respond
to that reaction? What will you do to avoid that particular breakdown in the future?
3. Reflections often incorporate media and ephemeral material:
media:
Students view a clip of a movie (The City / La ciudad is a great source for this, featuring short vignettes of
immigrant life in New York highlighting specific issues or situations students may encounter or hear about in their
placements…) and respond to a specific question.
In this video clip an immigrant father tries to register his child for school. What challenges does he face, and what
are the implications of those challenges for his daughter and for society at large? How does your community
placement site work with these challenges-ephemera:
Students view a clip of the previous night’s Spanish-language local news and respond as if they were speaking on
behalf of the organization where they have their placements. They write a one-paragraph comment with at least one
appropriate “sound bite” regarding the news and their organization’s position on it.
A second paragraph elicits each student’s individual and personal take on the news and on their organization’s role
in the community.
Psychology of Women Spring 2005 – Linda Bips
Students were asked to write an initial journal entry about meeting their senior women partner at Phoebe Terrace in
February. These journals were turned in for review and comments. For students who merely reported the facts, I
asked questions about their expectations and goals as comments in their journals. Many students needed little or no
prompts. These were all junior and senior psychology majors.
Students were then required to keep journals of all their visits (12 hours were required).
In class we do a check in at the beginning of class and this was often a time when students commented on their
Phoebe partnerships.
For their final paper, students were given the following guiding questions adapted from Mark Cooper, Coordinator ,
The VAC (available on our Faculty Center for Teaching website) for a formal paper that included their journals as
an appendix.
After compiling your visit journals and notes, read with the following three levels of reflection in mind:
1.
Reflection of the Self
What have I learned about myself from this experience? How has this experience challenged
stereotypes or prejudices you have/had? Will these experiences change the way you act or think in the
future?
2.
The experience
Describe your experience. What have you learned about older women? Does this experience
compliment or contrast with what we have learned in class? Explain. Has learning through
experience taught you more, less, or the same as the class? In what ways?
3.
Conclusions and the future
From your service experience, are you able to identify any underlying or overarching issues? What
could be done to change the situation? How will this experience alter your future behaviors/attitudes
or career?
Allison - "This first hand look into the lives of older women teaches us more than what a textbook can
present. We are experiencing living history; the actual embodiment of a woman who is living what we
are learning."
Rachel - "So to learn is to serve and to serve is to learn. We have done a service to the residents of the
Phoebe Terrace, by visiting with them and providing them with company and friendship; while at the
same time we have learned from these visits and from the lives of these amazing women. Service has
given us the opportunity to take the knowledge that we gain in the classroom and bring it out into the
community, to make a difference in the lives of others."
Melissa - "Our worlds have been opened up to the possibility that women are actually living until they die,
rather than living their last days as if they have already passed."
"I am very thankful for having been given the opportunity to partake in service learning that has
stimulated my thinking about myself, my peers, my environment, and my society as a whole."