reflection on Service Learning 5/6/08

I am a ninth grader that attends Constitution High School at the age of fourteen. At my school we have service learning, which is basically community service. For our independent hours we had to have fifteen hours of community service. For my community service I assisted at a home daycare, tutored children at a younger age, helped senior citizens clean house, and more. For my group project I worked on Darfar(Africa).


This was a great experience that taught me about myself ands others around me. One thing I have learned about myself through this experience is I am a very kind, caring, and generous person most of the time. Another thing is I have to work on my patients especially when working with children because when I was tutoring I began to grow inpatient after the boy couldn’t get the problem right after I just had explained to him what to do but then I realized that I once was a youngster and my mom, dad, and brother and sister were all patient with me and took time out of their day to work with me with things I needed help with. I also had to baby-sit little babies which was bitter- sweet. They all were so cute but bad also. They look so innocent, not! They were throwing crayons on the ground, fighting over toys, hitting each other, and screaming and crying. By the end of the day I was the one who needed a nap. Although I had to deal with all the noise and commotion all day and gained a slight headache, it was exciting.


Lastly, I learned that I am a very attentive person because I waited on this old lady hand and foot and I cleaned her house from top to bottom from wall to wall. It was spotless and sparkling. She couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear, when my service was done. She made me feel appreciated. Three moments when I felt like a failure, success, and sadness, was when I did not raise much money for Africa even though I tried, after I was finish cleaning the old lady’s house and when I was finish cleaning the old lady’s house. I felt sad once I was finish the old lady’s house because she had no one that lived with her to help her clean periodically, like grand kids or her own children.


In the end I think I did great. There were some things that didn’t go my way or that I could’ve done better but at least I tried and did my best. But their will always be next year because this year was just preparation for next year. Service learning will change my future behaviors, attitudes, and career because I will be more caring and considerate of others especially to the elderly also more respectful. I also will be patient with others giving them a second chance to achieve their goals. Thanks to service learning I can be a better me.