SERVICE-LEARNING PROFILES

Sullivan Elementary School
North Adams Regional Hospital
North Adams, Massachusetts

Watch a video about service-learning at Sullivan Elementary School

North Adams may be one of the smallest cities in Massachusetts, but students at Sullivan Elementary School are making some of service-learning's biggest impacts. Debbie Coyne, service-learning coordinator for the North Adams school district, says the rural city has "always embraced an ethic of service and volunteerism."

What has made service-learning take hold so strongly in the district is the community's recognition of the academic and youth development benefits that service-learning delivers for students of all ages-like Roberta Sullivan's kindergarten class. Her students are proving that you are never too young to start thinking about ways to help your community.

Service-Learning In Action

Creating Special Places for Children at the North Adams Regional Hospital

Ms. Sullivan recalls the day five years ago when her students discussed how children visiting the local hospital often had nothing to comfort their fears or occupy their time while awaiting treatment for themselves or family members. They talked about being afraid of the hospital and the nurses and doctors. "I shared with students the time my own son stayed in the hospital to have his appendix removed," she said, "his room didn't have any kids' stuff on the walls and was rather drab."

After reflecting on these experiences, the class decided that this was an important community issue that they were capable of helping to address. Ms. Sullivan contacted staff at the North Adams Regional Hospital who agreed that more could be done to provide children with greater comfort during their stay.

Emergency Treatment Room

With input from the hospital, the kindergarten class decided that they would create a special place for children in one of the hospital's emergency treatment rooms. As a first step, they brainstormed about the types of things that would help make them and other children less afraid, like toys, videos and a chalk board. Students drew self-portraits that were hung on the wall and initiated an annual toy drive. Using the school's science and health curriculum, they determined which toys and items could be safely introduced into a hospital environment. The students completed math lessons to calculate the funds they collected to buy toys.

Emergency Waiting Room

Five years later, Ms. Sullivan's kindergarteners are still making a difference. This past year, the kindergarten class expanded their school's partnership with the hospital by creating a "child-friendly" waiting room in the emergency registration area. Although recognizing that there were increasingly more children and increasingly longer waits for these children in the emergency room, the small community hospital simply lacked sufficient time and resources to address this need. Ms. Sullivan's class decided the best way to ensure a "child friendly" atmosphere was to design and equip the waiting room themselves.

Impacts

How Service-Learning Has Benefited the Community

The service-learning partnership between Sullivan Elementary School and the North Adams Regional Hospital has resulted in multiple benefits for the students, hospital staff and members of the community.

For example, service-learning has helped Ms. Sullivan's kindergarten classes improve the way they feel about themselves and their role in supporting the community. "The families of participating students have given me a lot of direct feedback about how much their children talked about the project, how they wanted to go to the hospital to show others what they did, and that overall it was a powerful self-esteem building exercise for their children," says Billie Ellard, Director of Emergency Nursing at North Adams Regional Hospital. "They really believe that even though they are only five years old, they can make a difference."

The service-learning efforts of the kindergarteners have also had special meaning for other members of the North Adams community - young and old. For example, in the past the hospital has sometimes had to use restraints when a child becomes very upset or is unable to keep still for treatment. Ms. Sullivan recalls when Ellard visited her students in class one day and informed them that, during the first few months after the children's waiting room was completed, the hospital hadn't used the restraints once.

Children who served at North Adams hospital have received letters from the community thanking them for helping to make their hospital wait more comforting. "The feedback we've gotten from parents has been incredibly positive. They feel much more comfortable about having their kids come to the hospital with them now," said Ellard.

In addition to comforting child patients, the room has had special meaning for other members of the community. "Sometimes we need to use the room for elderly patients," observes Ellard, "I remember once when we were having trouble controlling an older woman's pain. I told her the story of the children who put this room together and why. She smiled and said, 'they did it for me too.'"

The waiting room project has also changed community perceptions about students.
Debbie Coyne said, "If you build student relationships with adults in the community, it makes a difference in the way they perceive students and the way students perceive adults." Sullivan added, "That's what makes this project so compelling, people don't expect five-year olds to be actively engaged in real work, but they are really amazing in the work they do, what they say and the way the project changes them."

Service-Learning in the North Adams School District

Growing the Practice

The kindergarten project is one of nearly 200 quality service-learning opportunities afforded to students of all grade levels in North Adams. This school year alone (2001-2002), 2,617 students and 161 teachers will engage in service-learning projects. These numbers represent an enormous increase from the three teachers and 40 students who helped initiate service-learning in North Adams nearly nine years ago.

Moreover, the 11 area schools implementing service-learning also include five "mentor" schools outside the North Adams district. Their involvement is a direct result of the district's mission to support the growth of service-learning. Outlined below are other factors that have contributed to the overall growth and quality of service-learning in North Adams.

Using a Strategic Approach

Debbie Coyne points to careful project selection as one key to growing the district's practice of service-learning, "There have been opportunities to do one shot projects, but that's not what we do here. These projects present no opportunity for growth, reflection or academic ties."

Long-term projects with curricular ties have always been the focus of service-learning in North Adams. Anne French, a school social worker in North Adams emphasizes that "we come from the point of view that the curriculum has to be the main thrust of the service-learning project - it's school-based service-learning."

This is a far cry from what one parent of a North Adams student who participated in service-learning recalls when she was younger. "When I was a kid, community service meant bringing in some canned goods or old clothes to school, which someone then donated to someone else - out of sight and out of mind." Service-learning combines service with curriculum. "In the North Adams school system," observes Coyne, "service and learning are equal."

The district also encourages teachers to incorporate opportunities for student reflection into their service-learning activities. "Much of the learning takes place in reflection," said Coyne. "'What did you do? What did you hear? What did you smell? What did you feel? So what and now what? We try to incorporate all of these things into any project that we do.'"

Using this approach to service-learning has helped teachers and other stakeholders understand the value of this powerful teaching method and way of learning. "I think service-learning is a process that you may not get right away, it makes sense at a certain level, but you really have to keep chipping away to fully understand the value and curricular ties," said Coyne."

Professional Development and Training

The district also has made professional development and training available to teachers interested in service-learning. "We provide a lot of coaching and support to help teachers implement service-learning in the most effective way," said French. This includes a graduate level course for teachers on how to use service-learning as a pedagogy. Through this course, French observes, teachers come to realize that "service-learning is not volunteering, but a connection between service and the curriculum."

For more information, contact:

North Adams School District
Debbie Coyne, Service-Learning Coordinator
1130 South Church Street
North Adams, MA 01247
Phone: (413) 662-3240
Fax: (413) 662-3239
Email: coyneds@hotmail.com

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