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Service-learning, the process of completing a volunteer project based on skills learned in the classroom, allows students to understand how the lessons learned in the classroom can be applied to real situations. As a culminating project each year, I create a service-learning project which we complete as a class.
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Our Neighborhoods. Our Stories. Our Truth. (2009)
Friday, 06 February 2009 23:21
Sophomores spent the school year reading and learning about other cultures and examining how people develop stereotypes. Students then refocused on their own cultures and recognized the stereotypes Chicagoans might hold about their cultures and neighborhoods. Using skills learned throughout the year, students conducted interviews, wrote poems, and took photographs to tell “their stories”. Students compiled the work into a “gallery exhibit” which they volunteered to present at a local café to educate Chicagoans on the “real story” of their neighborhoods. Students greeting visitors 
Visitors viewing the exhibit 
Passionate conversation 
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Our Culture, Our Neighborhoods Old Town School of Folk
Friday, 06 February 2009 19:08
"Our Communities, Our Neighborhoods": The Real Humboldt Park and Austin Communities (2008)Students spent the school year learning about a variety of cultures, and examining the stereotypes people develop about the unknown. Students then examined their own cultures and realized the stereotypes Chicagoans might hold about their cultures and their neighborhoods. Using a variety of sources, including: narratives, interviews, photography, and poetry, students created a gallery project to educate Chicagoans on the "real story" of their neighborhoods. I coordinated an opportunity for the students to present the project at an event at the Old Town School of Folk Music, and we were invited back to present the project during the Folk and Roots festival in the Nuestra Musica booth.
Our Culture, Our Neighborhoods Nuestra Musica
Friday, 06 February 2009 19:49
"Our Culture, Our Neighborhoods": The Real Humboldt Park & Nuestra Musica (Summer 2008) After completing the Service Learning project at the Old Town School of Folk, students were invited back to present the project during the summer Folk & Root Festival. The project was part of the Nuestra Musica booth which celebrates Chicago's Latino culture.
Heroes Children's Book Project
Friday, 06 February 2009 22:04
Heroes Children's Book Project (2007)Freshmen in a Reading in Language Arts class learned the elements of storytelling, including: character, plot development, perspective, and writing style. After completing a unit on heroes, students colloborated in groups to write, illustrate, and create children's books about heroes. Book topics ranged among a variety of heroes, including: Gandhi, The Little Rock Nine, The Firefighters of 911, and Maya Angelou. Students volunteered their time to read the books to children in an afterschool program. 
 
Student Testimonials
Sunday, 08 March 2009 17:57
Hello my name is Christian I was once a student of Ms. Schwartzbach in my sophomore year. I am currently a Jr.. While being in Ms. Schwartzbach class, we were giving a project for both a class grade, and to gain service learning hours outside of school. The project was titled “Our Neighborhood Project”. The class had to take picture of their neighborhood, and describe what they took a picture of. We also had to do several interviews of people in the neighborhood young, old, white, black to get all types of different perspectives of the neighborhood. In doing this we had to put together an exhibit that would be put on display and presented by us at the “Old Town School Of Folk Music”. We were also briefly given a tour of Ms Schwartzbach’s neighborhood, to explore the scenery and, to compare and contrast with our own neighborhood . This experience has shown me how to present information that I’ve prepared in a way that others can understand, and answer questions with no hesitation. I have also learned to be a more respectable young man, and carry myself with dignity and pride, no matter where I am.
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