The KIDS Consortium will be conducting three service learning and civic engagement professional development opportunities in Maine in the coming months.
Project Citizen
Project Citizen is a national program that develops students’ academic knowledge and skills as they address community needs, consistent with the Maine Learning Results and the Common Core. Through Project Citizen, youth are engaged in a cooperative learning process through which they identify and seek to solve a problem in their community using public policy.
Participants:
- Identify and research the problem
- Evaluate alternative solutions
- Develop their own solution in the form of a public policy
- Create an action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy
Participants also create a portfolio of their work and present their project in a public hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members and policy-makers.
Participants develop:
- Public presentation and literacy skills
- An understanding of what public policy is and how to create it
- The motivation and insight of how to solve a community problem
The 2013 Showcase will be held on May 17, 2013, at the Maine State House.
KIDS Consortium can provide training and support to teachers and students in your school, through a generous grant from the Emanuel and Pauline A. Lerner Foundation. Read more about Project Citizen and contact KIDS Consortium to get started.
Service Learning Planning and Implementing Workshop
Service learning is a hands-on, learner-centered teaching strategy that challenges young people to work with community partners, applying academic knowledge and skills to solve real problems and needs. Through service learning, students develop and demonstrate proficiency of content standards, including essential 21st-century skills–critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and team work.
This two-day training will help participants develop a basic understanding of KIDS Consortium’s award winning service-learning model. Through interactive games and visuals, participants will learn the difference between community-based learning, community service and service learning, and why service-learning is an effective teaching strategy.
This event will be held Nov. 29 to 30, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Real School on Mackworth Island in Falmouth. Registration is required. The fee is $300 and includes the KIDS as Planners guidebook, contact hours certificate, light breakfast and lunch each day. Please visit our website to register.
Graduate Course: KIDS as Planners – Service Learning Institute for Educators
KIDS Consortium is offering a year-long (Oct. 2012 to June 2013) graduate course for three credits in collaboration with Endicott College and the Mount Desert Island Regional School System. The course includes five face-to-face class sessions throughout the year (dates below) and additional virtual monthly assignments. The class sessions will be held on Mount Desert Island.
Class sessions:
- Nov. 20, 2012; 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Dec. 6, 2012; 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Feb. 12, 2013; 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- March 26, 2013; 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- June 18, 2013; 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Based on the award-winning KIDS model of service learning, participants will discover the steps in creating a quality service learning experience in partnership with students and community organizations. This course will be an interactive, collaborative learning experience. Course participants will create a service-learning plan to implement with students in the spring of 2013. These plans will be integrated with curriculum requirements and assessment models, including strategies to build a collaborative environment in the classroom and help students reflect on and celebrate their work.
To learn more, please visit the KIDS Consortium website.
KIDS Consortium is also interested in customizing courses to meet the needs of your school district. Please contact them to discuss opportunities for the summer of 2013 and the 2013-14 school year.