It started out as a simple idea: create a class where students, professors and the community work and learn together. After hearing about the struggles of Spanish-speaking school children in English-speaking classrooms, Eva Rodriguez-Gonzalez, a Miami University Spanish professor, knew she needed to get involved.
"I thought maybe I can help develop critical thinking into a real-life community-based need," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said.
According to Hailee Gibbons, service-learning Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA, Miami's Office of Community Engagement and Service facilitated Rodriguez-Gonzalez's Spanish 312 class in becoming Miami's first officially approved and designated service-learning course.
The Miami White Paper, which defines the conditions for service-learning classes, said service-learning is "an experimental pedagogical practice that uses action and reflection to meet needs and enhance learning through mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationships."
The Miami senate unanimously passed the service-learning resolution Feb. 23, according to the White Paper, which was prepared by members of the Miami Faculty Learning Committee on Service-Learning.
For the class to be listed as service-learning, professors must send a syllabus to the Office of Community Engagement and Service. The class also must meet certain requirements of student reflection and service for the community, Gibbons said.
"The service-learning designation is a value added to a course," Gibbons said. "It will show up on both student transcripts and faculty annual reports that the students and professors took part in a service-learning class."
The Office of Community Engagement and Service will share resources and assist faculty in receiving a service-learning designation, Gibbons said.
According to Rodriguez-Gonzalez, the students in the Spanish 312 class tutor Spanish-speaking children at the Talawanda schools once a week for an hour. They focus on English reading and writing skills.
"This class incorporates diversity and exposure to another culture," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said. "The Miami students learn to create lesson plans, concept development and citizenship engagement."
After tutoring, Rodriguez-Gonzalez said the Miami students blog about their experiences in Spanish.
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"The students blogged much longer in Spanish than expected because they were interested," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said.
Junior Leah Deppert took Spanish 312 in spring 2009. This semester, Deppert is taking Rodriguez-Gonzalez's service-learning Spanish 484 class, which focuses on the Hispanic children in the Young Author's program at Living Water Ministries in Hamilton. Spanish 484 helps children write books in English and translate them into Spanish, Deppert said.
"I think these are a great idea and they're some of my favorite classes," Deppert said. "It's nice to teach others and learning something at the same time."
Rodriguez-Gonzalez said service-learning classes are classes are not primarily for community service. They are mutual learning experiences for the Spanish-speaking schoolchildren and Miami students.
"They (the Miami students) gain real-life and career experiences," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said. "They learn that the ideal scenario is never possible. They also build relationships with the kids. Several students wanted to do out-of-school activities with their children, like take them to the library."
In the future, Rodriguez-Gonzalez wants to help the Talawanda community realize the benefits of being bilingual. To do this, she hopes to collaborate with Miami's engineering department to create a podcast of a child's homework translated from English to Spanish. Miami students would translate, and the digital recording of the translation would be sent to the phone of the Hispanic parents. Collaboration with other Miami departments will be needed to make this project work, Rodriguez-Gonzalez said.
"The parent would know how to help his or her child," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said. "Often they have to rely on others to translate the English homework into Spanish, or if this doesn't happen, the kids don't get their homework done."
For Rodriguez-Gonzalez, the service-learning classes give new meaning to her role as professor.
"It's like opening Pandora's box, and everything is happening," Rodriguez-Gonzalez said. "My career and doctorate make sense, and it also makes sense for the students. It will go on as long as I'm teaching the class."
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