Learn and Serve, Education

Youth service and leadership organizations from across Tennessee partnered together with Volunteer Tennessee and the YMCA Center for Asset Development (CAD) to produce an asset-based, service-learning and leadership development curriculum for middle and high school youth. The result: a field-tested, successful, comprehensive and FREE downloadable resource called the Seasons of Service (SOS) curriculum: Engaging Youth in Service-Learning throughout the Year.

The Pilot Sites: Knoxville, Chattanooga & Nashville YMCA Y-CAP programs, BRIDGES, Inc. in Memphis, and the Tennessee 4-H (UT Extension): all working with youth in school and after-school settings; rural, urban and suburban settings; a broad spectrum of 3,000 youth from zero experience with service-learning to high level service-learning practitioners.

CAD researched best practices in service-learning, youth leadership and developmental assets to develop this experiential, social media savvy, AND user-friendly curriculum that youth workers and youth can use to teach service-learning.

CAD trained grant partners in asset-based service-learning and each pilot site used the curriculum to train their youth in service-learning, preparing youth to lead service experiences with peers and/or younger children. Sites shared curriculum feedback, so CAD could revise the curriculum, making it effective within a variety of settings for ALL youth.

The result is a 5-part resource divided into five core sections, including an "About Service-Learning and Assets" chapter that covers all the basics of these best practices and offers tips, tools and ideas; a reflection journal, "Looking Deeper: My Service Journey", that lets youth record their own journey and learning; and the following three distinct curricular pieces to engage youth in service-learning throughout the year:

"Change Your World": This 12-session curriculum engages youth in service-learning, helps them learn its principles, and intentionally builds their leadership skills so they can solve social problems and change their world. It’s an experiential look at individual strengths, community needs, and community projects that guides youth through the service-learning cycle.

"Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: A Day On, Not A Day Off": Outlines for three half-day MLK Day events to help youth engage in activism in one of three levels (novice, intermediate, experienced) as they explore the meaning of serving, equity, leadership, and justice through advocacy.

"Service Sampler: Finding Your Place to Serve": Detailed plans for eleven 3-4 hour service-learning experiences offer a broad exploration of community issues (ranging from caring for animals to promoting peace) and prompts youth to find their service passion. Each outline provides thorough instructions to give youth confidence in leading service-learning experiences with others, as well as inspiration for using these models to initiate their own service-learning experiences.

Evaluation findings, for students and youth participating in service-learning programs that utilized the Seasons of Service curriculum, include increases in decision-making and resistance abilities, as well as a desire to try harder in school.

This free curriculum is now available to youth workers, educators and youth around the world; giving them a powerful tool to engage more and more youth in service-learning in a relevant, practical and enjoyable manner.