Service Learning and Sketchnoting

Join Georgia and Jessica as they explore service learning with Perla Lujan and Mariana Molina then dive deep on sketchnoting and how it helps improve learning with Stevie Frank and Manuel Herrera. 

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[00:00:00] It's time for The Edge, a podcast brought to you by ISTE Community Leaders. Whether you're a seasoned educator, a visionary administrator, or a passionate education enthusiast, fasten your seatbelts, plug in your earbuds, because this podcast is tailor made for you.

[00:00:14] Get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey as our ISTE community leaders take you behind the scenes and into the dynamic world of education. In the episodes ahead, we'll unveil stories from the front lines, showcasing the relentless dedication and innovation that fuels the transformative field of education.

[00:00:30] Buckle up and brace yourself for an adventure. Coming up today. We're so excited. We are still at it's the live in Denver and getting to talk to people in real life, which makes our hearts so happy. We get to talk to a lot of interesting educators have thought provoking conversations. And so we're just glad to continue with all of the goodness.

[00:00:52] I'm one of your community leader hosts, Georgia Terlahi. I'm a TK 5 instructional coach. I'm an educator of 35 years. And I'm here with my favorite partner in crime, the Burt to my Ernie, Jessica Pack. Oh, thank you, Georgia. I love being the Bert, your Ernie. Thanks so much. You know what? I am really jazzed that we are here at ISTE Live in Denver.

[00:01:14] The fun is continuing and we are thrilled to be able to talk with Perla Lujan today. Perla, would you introduce yourself to our listeners? Hi, sure. Well I am from Mexico City. I work in high school at PREPA NARWAC, and I teach psychology and English. Today, also, my friend Mariana is here with us. Hello.

[00:01:36] Well, my name is Mariana, and I'm in charge of the foreign language department at this preparatory school, and we're very glad to be here. Well, welcome to the edge. We're so glad to have you. We always like to ask guests. First thing is what is your origin story? How did you come to work together? Well, like two years ago, I started working at this school and I would suffer a position for some remedial classes at the English coordination.

[00:02:05] But then I start growing there and I become colleagues with Mariana. However, I'm still teaching with her, so she's my coordinator to What else, Mariana? Well, I actually, I worked at another school for 17 years and then they, they called me and it was great because I'm very happy to be working at this school.

[00:02:27] They give us a lot of opportunities and we also give our kids a lot of opportunities. So it is great. Like, well, like coming here to this great congress, it's just great to be here at the ISTE. That's fantastic. Thank you again for taking time out of your day. Perla, I know that you are presenting here at a playground.

[00:02:50] So, could you kind of explain where we're at and what's going on for the two of you? Sure. We're at the creative playground and we developed two sessions. One is about my psychology class, what my students did during the last semester. Thank you. And how have they been developing the content of this class by sharing their thoughts in a model and how it is being transformed by other substances that people may consume.

[00:03:19] So they start by checking how a perfect brain should look and they change it according to what we are learning. And the second one, it's about a project that we did based on learning, servant, Christian Servant Leadership. Thank you, Mariana. So, can you explain a bit about that, please? Well, we work at a Catholic school, so Christian Servant Leadership is very important for us.

[00:03:45] Many of our kids are privileged, so it is very important for us that they do volunteer jobs in very poor communities, so that they Of course for sensibilization, but also to help these very poor communities. And this project is called Waterless Toilets, Baños Secos in Spanish, which is great to help all of these people.

[00:04:10] We know that we are having a water problem, not only in these poor communities, but all over the world. And we went to the, to this community and our kids, And we just got to see what their needs where we asked the community, and we've been helping them with this great project. It's just a sawdust.

[00:04:31] It is a great creation. So I'm curious, I love this idea of this project. project for kids that maybe have more than the places that you're serving. What are some, have you seen some kids make connections, your students that have gone to and helped with these projects and come back? Have you seen any transformation in the students based on the work that they've done?

[00:04:55] Yes, yes. Lots of, I mean, when they get back, they're different. They're different people, they're different kids. They, it's an eye opener. Totally, because I mean, we, they are, they, they live in very nice houses. We, all of us, we have kids. And they have to go through a lot of toilets, of course, so they go there and they cannot believe their eyes, you know, when they get to these very poor communities, and it's really nice, they feel good that they can, they get to help these people by picking up materials, by constructing, by talking to the people, by sharing a meal with them, alright, so we've seen a lot of change in our kids.

[00:05:36] They want to do more. That's fantastic. Coming back to the psychology class students who are creating brain models, that sounds like a lot of arts integration happening with unconventional materials. Could you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, sure. What we do is basically use the makerspace at our school.

[00:05:54] As Mariana was saying, we have lots of tools and extra things that they can use, but they are also. Suggested to bring things from their houses, like to recycle, to use things that they, they can see that are not just, I mean, for, for the model, that they can also have another, a second life, as we say. So, they tried to use all of this, and we also took two other teachers, the one in charge of the maker space, maybe the arts teacher.

[00:06:25] And everyone has an opinion about this so they can just come around and share what they think and if they can transform what they are seeing. And students also learn from this because they can explain, I cannot put that there because it doesn't make sense on this brain area. So it also helps on their learning.

[00:06:43] So is there, do you have like a method to showcase the students work so that other people can kind of see the great work that they're doing? Yeah, well, how it is established, it came from a lecture I was receiving for my master's. And it's just a model I developed for this. But at the end, we show all of this in our STEAM journey at school.

[00:07:05] Parents visit us middle school, elementary. So they can share everything, not just from my class, of course, that they have been creating throughout all the school year. Regarding the Christian Servant Leadership Project, our students have a magazine and they write about all of these experiences. They gather lots of photographs so that they can take you to the place where they were working, where they were serving, and they describe all of the things, all of the activities that took place in that region.

[00:07:45] So it's very nice. So in terms of, like, impact on how students view themselves as learners, do you find that students are becoming more brave with the ways they're expressing their learning and having more confidence when they're creating? I think they are. I have worked in like three schools before this one, and I can see the difference based on what they are able to use, not just about materials, also.

[00:08:14] content methodologies, teachers, how open they are on sharing experiences with them. This part of the volunteering, which is something not just in this community from Oaxaca, but other places, they have to do a volunteer activity in each semester, so they are really used to. And I think that they take advantage of all of these things.

[00:08:38] Have you had some good experience communication with the parents of these students having done these servant projects? What are some of the feedback that you get from families? They love it. I think it's one of the things that differentiate us from other schools and that's why they look for us. So, at the end they know that they are there because they are going to do this kind of activities and they make them do it.

[00:08:59] They're thankful. There are parents who ask us to do this. with their kids so they can come. Their parents are more involved in this at some point than the students. But once they leave it, they want to go all the time. They want to come back. So, what advice would you have for anyone, anywhere, who would like to be able to replicate some of your ideas in terms of having students Express understanding in unconventional ways, take on servant leadership roles, serve their communities.

[00:09:32] What are some pieces of advice that you might have? I think that they should just go and do it because they if they don't leave it They won't be able to experience what what is it? I was just explaining my presentation A few minutes ago, and one of the attendees was saying, I already know that when you feel something, you are able to understand it.

[00:09:55] That if you see, I don't know, heart rate, that if you feel how it's boom, boom, boom, boom, you will understand it better. And I was telling him, it's exactly the same thing I'm presenting, because if you share with the student the objective of the lesson, I'm asking them to reflect on that. And at the end, it's metacognition, which takes them from the hand since the beginning of the learning.

[00:10:16] to know what they will be doing. So if we don't show students, if as teachers, we are not open to share with them what is going on, they won't be able to be open and understand what is happening.

[00:10:31] Well, and also what in the case of this Christian servant leadership project, parents are very thankful because as I mentioned before, Students are sensibilized. They go there, they see the real needs. They don't only hear about them. They don't only watch them on TV or listen about them on the radio.

[00:10:54] They are there. They're seeing that people don't have things. They don't have water. They don't have these basic things we do, no? So, that we take for granted. So, of course, it is very important. We get that. Great experiences, great learning from this that that's transformative. To step out of your own safe culture bubble and see what other people have and don't have so that you appreciate what you have and see what you can do to help.

[00:11:23] So I'm just curious what, what's on the horizon? So now you've done these really cool things. What are some next plans you have around project? Actually, I think that for next school year we want to continue with this project because it's not just for the waterless toilets. It's a big thing, a really big thing.

[00:11:41] We had also something regarding my class, my psychology class, because it was just for women who are transforming their own view. The only space that they have for them is the kitchen. So we want to have a nice kitchen for them because they deserve it. Short words, but it's It's basically working from the inside to the outside and seeing it represented in the kitchen.

[00:12:06] So we just saw some pictures that they shared with us because they are building the kitchen that we went there to create. I mean, we are also asking for funds so they can build more places for them. Not waterless toilets everything that they may need. So we want to continue growing with them. And we have a second one project on another community in the center of the country, which is Valle de Bravo.

[00:12:31] And there they are also helping people, so we are trying to move around places that we feel we can't do it. Because also security problems and we are working with kids, some of them are underage, so we need to be careful with that. But at the end we want to help as much as we want, so we are not going to stop with this thing.

[00:12:52] And we do take the community into account. We don't just get there and say, Okay, well, we believe you need this or this. No, we do ask them, What do you need? What are your main needs? How can we help you? How can we serve you? So, I think that's very important. That's such a good note for us to wrap up with today.

[00:13:15] We really appreciate your perspective on building empathy within communities and how to sort of unconventionally approach the learning process in a way that is so compelling and meaningful. How can listeners connect with you if they would like to ask a follow up question or learn more? I have a Next account which is teacherberla.

[00:13:34] lz and I post sometimes there.

[00:13:39] And how about you? That's it. Okay. Perfect. Same. Perfect. Well, thank you again. That wraps up this episode of the Edge podcast. We hope you had a great time and learned a lot just like we did. My name is Jessica and you can find me at Packwoman208 on Twitter, threads, and Instagram. And I'm Georgia Turlahi and you can find me at Georgia Turlahi on X and you can find both Jessica and I at StorytellingSavesTheWorld.

[00:14:06] com. On behalf of everyone at ISTE's The Edge podcast, remember to keep exploring your passion, fostering your creativity and continue taking risks. All things that can bring you to the edge.