COUNTDOWN to COMMUNITY LEARNING

A week-by-week diary for teachers on the brink…

T minus 13:  What a beautiful day!  Think wistfully optimistic thoughts about your courses next semester.  Inspiration:  Maybe students could work in community as part of a course!  Call around to get ideas about potential community partners.  Call two of them; leave messages on voicemail. 

T minus 12:  Potential partners both leave return messages on your voicemail – they are interested, want to know more.  Think about structure of the project:  How does it fit in your course?  (Meanwhile, forty students in 101 hand in their ten page papers.

T minus 11:  (Hand back 40 ten page papers.)  Try to remember community learning idea.  Find lost community partner phone numbers.  Call and arrange meetings.

T minus 10:  First student placement arranged!  The course will be great.  Begin draft syllabus.  Include Derrida?  Euphoria.

T minus 9:  Second student placement arranged.  Definitely add Derrida.  Greatest course ever.

T minus 8:  More phone calls.  More meetings. Two more site arrangements.  Decide to volunteer at site #1.

T minus 7:  Site 2 defunded, reorganized, evicted, and revises mission statement.  Your contact person leaves for job with VISTA.  The site will no longer work for your course.  Sites 1, 3, and 4 reassure you that all is well.  Drop Derrida from syllabus.

T minus 6: Awake at 2 AM.  What if 80 students enroll?

T minus 5:  Message from registrar:  40 students preregistered.  Sigh of relief.

T minus 4:  Awake at 3 AM.  40 students!  How will you place 40 students?

T minus 3:  Phone calls and meetings – one more partner.  

T minus 2:  Everything is ready.  Consider joining fitness club.  Second wave of euphoria.

T minus 1:  Seven emergency campus committee meetings called.  You need a new transmission.  Your hard drive freezes.  Office copier fails.  Revise all syllabi.  

0: CLASSES BEGIN.  “Good morning, and welcome to…”     

Course week 1:  Early student response to your community learning project:  “Can I do ___ instead?” “My schedule won’t allow me to go to any of these placements.”  “I already did this last year.”

Course week 2:  “I’ve heard such great things about your course. Can I join it?”

Course week 3:  Hold in-class panels of community partners and students:  what to expect?

Course week 4:  Early discussions indicate reflective integration of community and campus experience.   Third wave of euphoria.

Course week 5:  TA reports two student no-shows.  Excuses peak.

Course week 6:  First reflective papers handed in.  Many good things!

Course week 7:  Site director complains about student; student reassigned.    Student complains about a site; student reassigned.  Ride fails to show up – three students take a cab home.  Who pays?

Course week 8: Students hand in second reflective papers.  More good things!  Fourth wave of euphoria.

Course week 9: Still rolling.  Consider adding Derrida next time.

Course week 10: Is it too late to add this to all my courses?  

Course week 11: Third reflective paper:  Sophistication!  Analysis!  Action!

Course week 12:  Course evaluations, final presentations, and thank yous to community partners.

Course week 13:  CLASSES END.  Whew.