Week 5 Journal Specific Needs and Culture Using the Journal tab, respond to the following prompt: Explain how a service learning project can fit into the specific needs and culture of your school or future a school in which you will be working. Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entries. INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCEWEEK FIVE *Special thanks to Dr. Patrice Jones for sharing her original guidance in this document. According to the National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Roekel, "research and field-work show that parent-school partnerships improve schools, strengthen families, build community support, and increase student achievement and success" (Roekel, 2008, para. 5).  Schools cannot work alone in getting students to improve learning.  There has to be a structured, strategic plan that includes other stakeholders.  A variety of potential community groups such as police officers, firefighters, civil rights, and youth services organizations are great examples of resources that can be involved in the teaching and learning process. Consider the benefits of seeking out this type of community support?  What are some of the first steps in garnering the support of these leaders within the community? Additionally, when students get involved with this strategic planning in developing community relationships through service learning projects, the outcomes prove positive for social growth and academic development.  The benefits of service learning project can be seen in the Service Learning: You Can Make a Difference (Links to an external site.)  one and half minute video.   The first step in establishing a successful partnership between schools and community is the initial planning phase. This sets the foundation by assessing the school’s needs, establishing goals and objectives, and developing a vision for the future.  One of the key factors is getting those individuals involved who have a genuine interest and care about what happens to the schools within the community.  Price (2008) explains that through the “community mobilization” process, schools engage the community to create a list of community priorities, resources, needs, and solutions that promote stakeholder accountability and positive student support.  He believes that by "mobilizing the village" and having community meetings related to education, support for education can be garnered (Price, 2008, p. 90). The concern, however, is recruiting school and community volunteers who will spearhead these partnerships. Educators may not feel qualified to assume this role, or may not have enough time to add another responsibility to their already-full plate.  Price suggest that the key to getting teachers involved in creating partnerships is by tapping into their professional interest in community-based efforts in improving student success. A fully supportive community must include parental involvement ...

1. Week 5 Journal Specific Needs and Culture
Using the Journal tab, respond to the following prompt:
Explain how a service learning project can fit into the specific
needs and culture of your school or future a school in which you
will be working.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)
for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entries.
INSTRUCTOR GUIDANCEWEEK FIVE
*Special thanks to Dr. Patrice Jones for sharing her original
guidance in this document.
According to the National Education Association (NEA)
President Dennis Roekel, "research and field-work show that
parent-school partnerships improve schools, strengthen families,
build community support, and increase student achievement and
success" (Roekel, 2008, para. 5). Schools cannot work alone in
getting students to improve learning.
There has to be a structured, strategic plan that includes other
stakeholders. A variety of potential community groups such as
police officers, firefighters, civil rights, and youth services
organizations are great examples of resources that can be
involved in the teaching and learning process. Consider the
benefits of seeking out this type of community support? What
are some of the first steps in garnering the support of these
leaders within the community? Additionally, when students get
involved with this strategic planning in developing community
relationships through service learning projects, the outcomes
prove positive for social growth and academic development.
The benefits of service learning project can be seen in the
Service Learning: You Can Make a Difference (Links to an
external site.) one and half minute video.

2. The first step in establishing a successful partnership between
schools and community is the initial planning phase. This sets
the foundation by assessing the school’s needs, establishing
goals and objectives, and developing a vision for the future.
One of the key factors is getting those individuals involved who
have a genuine interest and care about what happens to the
schools within the community. Price (2008) explains that
through the “community mobilization” process, schools engage
the community to create a list of community priorities,
resources, needs, and solutions that promote stakeholder
accountability and positive student support. He believes that by
"mobilizing the village" and having community meetings related
to education, support for education can be garnered (Price,
2008, p. 90). The concern, however, is recruiting school and
community volunteers who will spearhead these partnerships.
Educators may not feel qualified to assume this role, or may not
have enough time to add another responsibility to their already-
full plate. Price suggest that the key to getting teachers
involved in creating partnerships is by tapping into their
professional interest in community-based efforts in improving
student success.
A fully supportive community must include parental
involvement. The efforts previously discussed to get the parents
engaged in the teaching and learning of their children may not
be successful for parents who are under the Tier IV category
(Hjalmarson, 2011). For example, many educators have
provided breakfast or lunch money to students of Tier IV
parents who may not have it. These same students may often
come to school without completing their homework from the
previous night. For these students, an alternative strategy to
complete homework is to provide time or peer help in the
morning before school. Providing extra time and attention will
help to build a foundation of trust between the teacher, student
and family.
Week 5 Discussion Guidance

3. For this first discussion post, Service Learning, we will begin to
focus on strategies for developing a service learning program in
schools. Remember that the purpose of a Service Learning
project is to connect the school’s curriculum with real-world,
community-based needs where students have the opportunity to
mature socially and academically. Think about the best ways to
incorporate this type of program into the school's curriculum.
What advantages would this type of program have on the
relationships? When writing your initial response, be sure to
include your personal and professional experiences with Service
Learning and specific benefits to your community.
The second discussion post, Hierarchy of Needs, is a reflection
on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs triangle. At the bottom of this
pyramid are our basic needs such as breathing, food, and water.
We need these things to function at the most basic level of
survival. Why do you think these needs must be met first before
people can move up the hierarchy? Review the discussion for
Hierarchy of Needs and be sure to include in your discussion
how these needs help children in schools. For some families,
being involved in their child’s education takes a back seat to
finding the resources to meet these basic needs. What is your
experience with schools that understand the imperative to take
care of basic needs as step one of any school to parent outreach
program?
Please review the discussion board rubric prior to your initial
post to ensure you are fully meeting each of the set criteria to
earn full credit. Your initial post should include relevant
professional, personal, or other real-world experiences in a
manner that is rich in thought and provides valuable insight into
the topic. Additionally, all elements of the discussion board
prompt should be thoroughly addressed with strong and precise
connections to previous and/or current course content, or to
real-life situations. When substantively replying to your peers’
post, be sure to provide a thorough and constructive analysis

4. relating the response to relevant course concepts that
incorporates pertinent follow-up thoughts or questions about the
topic, and demonstrates respect for the diverse opinions of
fellow learners.
Week 5 Assignment Guidance
For this week's assignment, A Strategic Plan to Involve School-
Family-Community Partnerships via Service Learning, in
addition to reading chapter ten in the text and the recommended
resource by Kielsmeier (2010), be sure to independently seek
out other sources that will assist with developing a plan to spark
interest in classroom service learning. Begin to think about
when you were in school and any clubs you may have joined.
Many of the clubs used community service to build a bridge
between the school and the community. Service learning
projects can do the same with building relationships, but from
within the classroom (i.e., using math and writing skills to plan,
create, and publicize a community garden space). Learning
becomes concrete and relevant for students as they apply
content-based learning in a real-world application while serving
the community. Next, you will create an annotated outline that
explains the steps you would take to help students plan, create,
and publicize this project. In this plan, you will include
academic, curricular, physical, and social skill development.
Make sure to use the grading rubric as a self-checklist before
submitting the final copy of your assignment to confirm you
have met or exceeded each required expectation. The highest
level of achievement on the rubric is “distinguished”, which is
only earned through exceeding posted expectations at the
proficiency level. Please remember you are in a masters-level
program. Therefore, your writing, research, and content are held
to graduate-level expectations.
References and Resources
Hjalmarson, F. (2011). Differentiated parent support: Engaging
parents in unique ways to increase their involvement in school.
San Diego, CA: TurnAround Schools Publishing.
HumanRelationsMedia. (2011, October 5). Service learning:

5. You can make a difference (Links to an external site.) [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-
MxJ01zeN4
Prawny. (2014). stained-glass-love-hands (Links to an external
site.) [photograph]. Retrieved from
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/912801
Price, H. B. (2008). Mobilizing the community to help students
succeed. Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
Roekel, V. (2008). Parent, family, community involvement in
education. NEA Education Policy and Practice Department.
Retrieved from:
www.nea.org/assests/doc/PB11_ParentInvolvement08.pdf
Required Resources
1. Read from your text, Differentiated Parent Support: Engaging
Parents in Unique Ways to Increase Their Involvement in
School:
· Chapter Nine – Tier Four: The Checked-Out Parent
· Chapter Ten – Community Outreach
Recommended Resources
1. Kielsmeier, J. C. (2010). Build a Bridge Between Service and
Learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(5), 8-15. Retrieved from
EBSCOhost.
1. Service learning is both a philosophy and a methodological
approach to meet academic development while using community
resources. It can create a bridge to business, government
agencies and nonprofit organizations to support student
learning.
· Lopez, C. & Donovan, L. (2009). Involving Latino Parents
With Mathematics Through Family Math Nights: A Review of
the Literature. Journal of Latinos & Education, 8(3), 219-230.
1. This resource investigates family-school partnerships that (a)
empower Latino families in the area of mathematics education,

6. (b) promote student achievement in mathematics, (c) impact
parent-child involvement in mathematics at home, and (d)
support Family Math Nights. Family Math Nights are school-
sponsored events in which parents, teachers, and students
interact around a mathematics curriculum.