''My Social Action Project''

Consider the effectiveness of the project, considering each component and reflecting on your learning experience as well as the impact on the school or community.

How has service learning changed you personally?

Service learning has taught me more about my students, how my students learn and it has taught me more about my community while fulfilling a need in my community and meeting the classroom requirements. Service learning has changed me personally because it has taught me how to connect my students learning in the classroom with real-world experiences in the community. My students who participated in it are now more deeply engaged in their local communities, they are now able to gain more practical skills, develop their personal interests, and become more engaged citizens.

I believe that at this level, it is important for individuals to be involved and aware of their communities so that they can assist each other and be more conscientious individuals. Creating opportunities for young people increases their involvement. Finally, I believe that it instills the habit of performing a service for others. Students who engage early on often continue service work for the rest of their lives.

Service learning has taught me to: learn more about my students relationships with the communities they engage with; learn more about their capacity for serving others; refine their decision-making abilities and acquire other career-related skills and better understand the meaning of responsible citizenship.

How has service learning developed you professionally? What new knowledge, skills and or attitudes have you gained?

I felt that service learning has developed me professionally in numerous ways. I was able to develop various new knowledge, skills and attitudes such as:

• Hands-on use of skills and knowledge that increased my relevance of my academic skills.

• I was able to accommodate my learners different learning styles.

• I was able to interact with individuals of diverse cultures and lifestyles and get their perspective on recycling.

• It gave me an increased sense of self-efficacy, analytical skills, and social development.

• I learnt valuable and competitive career guidance and experience.

• It gave me opportunities for meaningful involvement with my local community.

• It increased my civic responsibility.

• It had a major impact on my personal and interpersonal development as a person.

• It improved my leadership and communication skills.

• It gave me a sense of social responsibility and citizenship skills.

• It gave me a purpose to be committed to service.

• It enhanced my academic learning on recycling, on why one should recycle and the benefits of recycling.

• It gave me the ability to apply what my students have learned in “the real world”.

Describe the benefit of this initiative to the school and comment on its sustainability?

Recycling has inspired the students at Alpha Primary School to care more about the planet, to examine the resources that they use to make the world sustainable, to look at the consequences of using the resources and generating pollution and waste. Recycling has benefitted Alpha Primary School as it has helped to shape the habits that the students will continue to do as adults. The students who participate in recycling now will have more of an incentive to carry on this "habit" as adults.

We learn as children the benefits of recycling, how easy it is to recycle with the right system in place, and the concrete actions we can take to protect our planet. The recycling "habit" developed in the school can serve to transform the community, ones jobs and our nation as we recycle more and more of the products we consume and the resources used to manufacture them.

Alpha Primary School has an obligation to look at the waste as an expenditure that can be reduced. Waste reduction and reuse can save schools money. Adding recycling into the mix, along with "right-sizing" school dumpsters and collection frequency, can result in substantial cost savings for schools.

When Alpha Primary recycles, they help to reduce fossil fuel usage, conserve resources, and help to create local jobs. Alpha Primary has helped to set an example, a legacy, which children learn to admire, and to emulate.