This staff development handbook is intended to help teachers and other professionals prepare, design, and lead staff development programs for middle school educators interested in augmenting their curriculums with service. Designed to be used as a comprehensive guide to planning and delivering staff development training, the book suggests a…

"National History Day" is a history education program that promotes the study of civics and citizenship among the nation's students and teachers. Students in grades 6-12 are encouraged to participate in the annual student competition on "Rights and Responsibilities in History," and teachers are challenged to develop lessons to…

Written by 10 middle school students, this booklet provides information needed to become a youth consultant in the service learning field. Section 1 provides a job description of a youth consultant. It lists duties of a youth consultant at school and locally, statewide, or nationally. Section 2 sets forth the selection criteria for youth…

A wave of the future in education is the inclusion of service activities in the school program with the accompanying expansion of school/community relationships. This book considers how to incorporate aspects of service into the ongoing academic program in middle school. The book contends that all middle school educators should become…

Designed for teachers who view service learning as a teaching strategy to improve instruction, this guide assumes that participants in the training are teachers who will use service learning to help their students achieve the objectives of the school curriculum. Some of the training sessions, such as reflection and defining service learning, may…

A teacher of fifth to seventh graders with learning disabilities describes a community-based gardening project which served elderly residents of a rest home while exposing the children to elderly people and encouraging development and application of environmental, writing, mathematics, and communication skills. The project integrated curriculum in…

In this booklet, a group of middle school teachers offer suggestions on how other teachers can similarly enhance their own school's service learning program by initiating and sustaining a service learning task force. The teachers begin by explaining why they developed a service learning task force and list some of the benefits of having a service…

This book provides a powerful and clear picture of some of the outstanding programs designed and implemented in the United States to provide young adolescents with rich, meaningful, and powerful learning activities with community service. The book is comprised of two parts with 18 essays and an introduction. The essays reflect a range of…

Service learning can help students learn specific skills and concepts, particularly in social studies. The article examines characteristics of good middle school service learning projects, explains how to begin a project, discusses the benefits of service learning, presents an example of service learning in Wren Middle School, Piedmont (South…

Profiles Active Citizenship Today (ACT), a social studies service learning program for middle and high school students. In ACT, students explore their community, identify problems, examine public policy, explore their options, and take action. Includes unit excerpts from the ACT teacher's handbook. (MJP)

This book incorporates teaching strategies to enhance middle school science and social studies using service learning. The book was developed by teachers who participated in a series of institutes conducted by the Social Science Education Consortium and the Science Discovery Program at the University of Colorado during the summers of 1993 and…

In this California state curriculum model for grade 8, "United States History and Geography: A More Perfect Union," students study the life, work, and philosophy of Cesar E. Chavez. They learn about historical events and developments in the United States that Chavez encountered. They examine how Chavez worked to bring the promises…

Describes a middle school curriculum that integrates service learning and civic responsibility skills into the core academic program. The "CityYouth" curriculum consists of 32 multidisciplinary lessons divided into four units of eight lessons each. Examines how schools have incorporated the units into community activities. (MJP)

Details a series of service learning projects conducted by a California middle school social studies class. Creative, inexpensive, and substantive, the projects included writing to Manuel Noreiga in prison, creating a feed-the-homeless garden, and translating city documents into other languages. (MJP)

Evaluates three participatory civic education learning programs developed by the Citizenship Education Clearing House: the Election Program, Missouri State Government Program, and the Metropolitan Issues Program. Evaluation consisted of questionnaires, observation, and interviews. Discovers that the programs are both popular and effective. (MJP)