Service Learning Project: National Write a Letter to an Elder Day

Service learning is the process in which teachers and students are able to engage with the

community surrounding them. While many schools already engage in community service

projects, service learning is a little different. “Service-learning is distinct from community

service and volunteering because it focuses on meeting both the needs of the community and that

of the learner through a mutually beneficial partnership.” (Youth.gov, “Service learning.”) The

students benefit from the project just as much as the community does. Service learning also

differs from traditional community service in that it relates directly to the content students have

been learning in class. For example, students learning about the judicial system may write letters

to prisoners, or students learning about the water cycle may spend a day cleaning a local pond.

Service learning shows students the importance of cultivating an environment of mutual care and

respect. It allows students the opportunity for upper-level thinking; they must identify a problem

in their community and then find a feasible solution. Service learning is also an appropriate way

to integrate students with disabilities and allows for social interactions that may not otherwise

have happened. Many states require or suggest service learning as part of their required

curriculum, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska, Maine, Louisiana and many more.

My service learning project was completed in my original placement with my Journalism

1 and 2 students. I struggled to produce an idea for this project for a while. I really wanted to get

my kids out of the classroom and into the community, but that simply was not possible. Through

my own research, I learned that February 26th is National Write a Letter to an Elder Day. The

Journalism students were already working on graphic design, and a suggested practice project

was to design and create their own greeting cards. I asked students how they would like to be

more involved in the community, and many of them surprised me with their answer: they
enjoyed spending time at a local nursing home playing Bingo with the patients! Although I

would have preferred to take my students for an in-person visit, I decided that writing a letter

would be good practice of their skills as well as great involvement for the community. One of my

students works at a local nursing home and offered to take the completed assignments in with her

and distribute them.

This project took about 4-5 days of class time overall. On the first day, I introduced the

idea of National Write a Letter to an Elder day, talked about its history, and gave some ideas as

to what their greeting cards should look like. We ended up having some wonderful conversations

about isolation, loneliness, the importance of communication, and how our society treats our

elderly. Many students shared personal stories about their experience with nursing homes, and a

few fondly remembered getting letters from grandparents or other family members. Needless to

say, they were all on-board for this assignment. On the second day, an older student came in and

gave a “crash course” on InDesign, the design software that the school uses. This software is

how they lay out the newspaper, so the lesson was beneficial overall as well as for this

assignment. The next three days were spent with students designing their own greeting cards.

They collaborated with each other and truly put some thought into what was going to be on their

card. I gave the requirement that it must have an image on the front, a message inside, and a note

on the back saying that the card came from Hopewell High School students. Many students went

above and beyond by writing personalized messages, including notes of encouragement, and a

few even used images of their own pets.

I think that my students and I both learned a lot through this project. I learned what

service learning is and the value of it in a secondary classroom. I assumed that this project was

going to be “silly” or seem useless, but it gave me some innovative ideas on how to integrate
service learning into my curriculum. I learned that students are much more engaged with service

projects if it can be directly tied to what we are doing in the classroom; it gives the project a

sense of purpose rather than a sense of obligation. It also showed me that many of my students

are much more thoughtful and caring than I would have originally assumed. I would most

definitely use this exact service learning project again. One thing that I would improve would

potentially be arranging a time for my students to personally hand out the greeting cards; be it a

field trip or after school, I think they would have enjoyed getting the satisfaction of seeing how

their work directly affected the community. I also felt that my overall process was a little too

vague, and students struggled to come up with ideas of their own. I am proud of how this project

turned out, however, and am looking forward to finding new ways to incorporate service learning

into my classroom.
 References

unknown. (2014). Service-learning. Service-Learning | Youth.gov. Retrieved April 11, 2023,

from https://youth.gov/youth-topics/civic-engagement-and-volunteering/service-learning