Well, here we are in month 10! My AR is finally coming along as expected... even though we are at the end of the school year. Looking back at the data from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 it seems that the data coincide and support one another in many ways, just as I expected. The initial data from the showing the proposal and idea for the project is based on service learning initiatives and how they impact student achievement. My information looked at this data specifically from the perspective of middle school children in an urban environment. My cycle 1 data looked at the specifics of my proposal- urban school, middle school, urban garden project amongst other service project ideas initiated from the students in the Peace Jam organization. Also included in this was the survey designed and taken by the students and members of the community to determine the need, and impact of the project (urban garden) on both the students academics and the community as a whole.
After several delays and adjustments, Cycle 2 got underway and the garden training and actual planning got underway and have been able to complete the process. The garden was planted and the students have created a maintainece schedule and data management system that records every piece of information using skills from different subject areas. At the last meeting we discussed the pros and cons of our project and how it impacted the community and their learning. Some of the student comments were; " we really used skills from science in learning about what it takes to plant and maintain a garden, social studies in determining the conditions of and correct location for garden, language arts in writing out the plans and reflections of the process, reading in reviewing all literature and directions related to the project."
I don't think there is anything truly innovative, except the process of actually experiencing this process for yourself and seeing the kids enjoy the process and learn new things.
This LMO class will be helpful in organizing all the data, links, create test and data instruments and a way to share what we've done with others in a easy to access and understandable way. I like the idea of being able to link related information/material and access it in one place. It makes life so easy! Also will make it easy for others to access including the students.
