This lesson introduces the concept of community service. It explains the way in which service learning can be integrated into your community and encourages insightful discussion around leadership, community engagement and real issues that exist in your school, community, city/town, region and the world. As an introduction, this lesson is intended to initially present the concept of meaningful contribution and the best ways to work together to achieve things in a community and outside of the classroom.

The lesson includes a ‘Prezi’ Presentation that guides students through thoughtful discussions regarding the following concepts:

• Their own capacities to create change
• Leadership and what it means to them and their community
• What Community, Service and Learning each mean and how Community Service Learning fits into their world
• What types of changes they can make in their community and how they can drive this change

They will then participate in an experiential lesson; an activity that will reveal the qualities of a leader, a functioning team and how to gauge success. This activity is then carefully debriefed to ensure the greatest possible impact and understanding of the ways in which our own behaviours can improve teamwork, facilitate change and improve leadership.

Upon Completion of this lesson students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

• What Community Service Learning is and how it can be integrated into our daily lives and extra curricular efforts
• What it is to be a leader
• Different topics or themes that exist in a community that need to be addressed
• Specific issues that need to be addressed in their own communities
• How they can make a difference
• The way that leadership fits into community service
• The way that team work and collaboration can positively impact community service projects