For teachers looking for service-based projects, Youth Service America is a real treasure. Their Service-Learning Experience Toolkit offers options for week-long, month-long, and semester-long projects.
Each project type has an outstanding set of downloadable blueprints divided into Before, During and After. Most of the documents are editable and can be customized for your students.
The Before section includes project ideas and planning tools. The During Section provides tools for a work plan, budget, task assignments, and reflections questions for before, during and after the project. The After section includes guidelines for students to present their project to the community and rubrics for assessment.
Each toolkit has many more resources than what I’ve described. They all easily align with the project-based learning model.
Taking a broader view of the YSA website, you’ll also find opportunities to apply for grants at the district and state level. The News section has inspiring stories of students who’ve put youth service into action.
