Many of you may have been hearing about the area's first community school, a pilot program which will begin at Robberson Elementary this fall. As one of Springfield's most impoverished schools (see report), the Community School project is an exciting new concept in which we are eager to partner. The school will serve as a community hub for numerous activities and programs designed to provide support for not only the children who attend, but for the Robberson community as a whole. Programs could include such things as parent education classes, on-site medical clinics, tutoring, health care, mental/behavioral health services, etc. Parents will play an active role in determining the most pressing needs. School officials will work with community partners (area businesses, nonprofits, and the faith-based community) to help meet these needs. As a community partner, Missouri State's CASL office will conduct a workshop/luncheon to help train Robberson faculty about service-learning as well as assist them in integrating this type of teaching into K-6 curriculum. Additionally, … [Read more...] about New community school presents opportunities
In March, representatives from the MSU-West Plains campus attended the "Beyond the Borders: The Future of Service-Learning" Faculty and Staff Development Conference here at Missouri State University. The conference featured keynote presentations by nationally recognized service-learning scholars, Drs. Rick Battistoni, Patti Clayton, and Jean Strait (see CASL website soon for conference video presentations). The West Plains administrators were so impressed by what they heard, they approached the CASL office requesting guidance on how to expand service-learning on their own campus. From this conversation, an exciting new partnership was formed. Beginning this summer, CASL staff, along with a graduate assistant (funded by MSU-West Plains), will begin identifying and meeting with community partners, developing databases, assisting with program marketing, setting up processes and procedures, etc. In the fall, a new CASL satellite service-learning office will come on line in West Plains, staffed by a CASL graduate assistant, who will be onsite one to two days per week to accommodate these … [Read more...] about CASL program expands to include West Plains
This fall, students from GEP 101, First-Year Foundations and a few UHC sections will not be the only ones reading Outcasts United, Missouri State's 2012-2013 common reader. GEP 101 faculty Carol Gosselink, Patrick Grayshaw, Diane Leamy, Paula Moore, Kathy Nordyke, and Dane Wallace, will pilot a new service-learning opportunity that brings the message and story behind the common reader to the community. Much of the effort for this new common reader service-learning model is based on the result of Communications Senior Instructor Robyn Rowe's stellar collaboration efforts to promote the University's common reader throughout the community, which in turn, provides new ways for our GEP 101 students to engage in service-learning. The above named instructors will select one of four options, centered around the common reader, for their integrated service-learning experience. Options include: 1) serving as reading discussion leaders at public libraries, 2) reading partners at multicultural, veterans, or other community organizations, 3) reading buddies for hospice patients or at health … [Read more...] about New Common Reader service-learning model gains momentum