Community Service Project
by Jack Pillemer
[Public Oral Presentation, supported by PowerPoint Presentation of pupils' volunteer/ community work "Mehuyavut Ishit" followed by Formal Written Report and Reflection.]
Contents:
A.   Getting a general idea of what its all about -a  brief description of the Project B.   Getting down to the nitty gritty - A detailed description of the procedure.
C.   Satisfying the requirements of the New Curriculum  -
(1) - Identifying targeted benchmarks and/or goals, 
(2)- Defining Criteria for Assessment
(3)- Mapping out pre-requisite skills and knowledge
D.   Appendix I - Project Instructions for Pupils  
E.   Appendix II - Checklist/Assessment Criteria for PowerPoint
F.   Appendix III - Checklist/Assessment Criteria for Oral Presentation
G.   Appendix IV - Shortened version of Checklist/Assessment Criteria
H.   Appendix V - Form for Formal Written Report
I.   Appendix VI - Sample Reflection page
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A. Brief description
            Don't be put off by the rather daunting-sounding title and number of pages. This is a great project. It's been tried and tested and is ready for re-use. 
Below is a simple description of what happens. Once the basic idea is clear, the more technical instructions and rationale are easier to follow: 
          Your grade X pupils have been volunteering doing different forms of community service מחויבות אישית"". They report on their experience in a number of ways:
        First in groups or individually pupils create simple PowerPoint slide shows of 4-5 slides. (A poster could easily replace this if your class does not have access to computers.) 
        Then, fleshing out the points made in the PowerPoint slides, they report orally to an audience.
        Prior to actually starting, you and the pupils together set up the criteria for good PowerPoint slide shows and good oral presentations. These points provide the basis for a checklist used while the pupils prepare, and later they are used in an assessment form.
         After everyone has presented orally using the PowerPoint slides as a focus, the pupils write up a formal written report. 
         Finally, the pupils write their personal reflections regarding the project. 
        
All the work is done in class and the project takes approximately 12 lessons.
Feel free to adopt and adapt this project to suit your needs. 
Let me know how it works out
Jack Pillemer
jackpil@barak-online.net

B. Detailed Procedure
1.	Teacher opens brief discussion on volunteer/community work. 
2.	Teacher describes the set of performance tasks (the project) that pupils will be expected to carry out. (See Appendix I)
3.	Teacher and pupils establish the criteria together for the PowerPoint presentation and the oral presentation separately. (See Appendix I)
4.	Pupils and teacher establish together the method of assessment.  
5.	Teacher writes up the newly jointly-agreed-upon criteria, and creates a checklist for the two tasks. (See Appendix II and III)
6.	Teacher gives a model demonstration of an oral presentation using PowerPoint which pupils assess using checklist. This post-demo-presentation- discussion is used to focus on  interpersonal elements such as eye contact, posture, voice quality, clarity as well as PowerPoint presentation elements such as brevity of slide, contrasting colors etc. 
7.	Pupils decide on a specific topic and prepare the slide texts for PowerPoint (Outline view) or using Word. This can be done on paper just as effectively. They must prepare their draft texts in advance. This is when teacher can ensure that the pupils have the enabling skills necessary for the written part of the task such as gerund and participle usage, short phrases, logical organization, connection between heading and content etc.)
8.	Pupils must be told what each slide should deal with. Here are some suggestions:
Slide I. Description of the activity
Slide II. The benefits - for the recipients (or community) and/or for the volunteer 
Slide III. The difficulties
Slide IV. The kind of person best suited for this type of activity
Slide V.  Other (Pupil has free choice)
9.	Teacher teaches the basics of PowerPoint use in English or gets a pupil to instruct those that do not have the required skills.
10.	Pupils prepare presentations using the criteria checklist decided upon together as a guide. (See Appendix II)
11.	Pupils divide up the oral presentation between themselves according to the slides and practice the presentation on their own.
12.	Teacher explains the joint assessment procedure (agreed upon in the first session) and creates a trusting and pleasantly constructive atmosphere. (Joint teacher-pupil assessment is not essential.  I did it and it worked but it is not easy to organize.) (See Appendix IV) Teacher invites a small external audience such as the principal and anyone else that may be interested in the pupils' volunteer activities. (This may be a group of pupils from a younger class who may have to choose different areas of volunteer work for the following year.) The inclusion of an audience that does not only consist of the class members, should give the task a more authentic and more demanding tone. 
13.	Groups present their presentations.
14.	Teachers and pupils assess using checklists containing a grading scale.  (See Appendix IV)  (Optional)
15.	Pupils and teachers discuss the criteria that were initially established and rank them in the order of difficulty to achieve, order of importance in carrying out the task successfully and decide on other criteria that should have been included but were not. This process constitutes reflection in a large forum. More personal reflection takes place at the end. At this stage the class goes back to a normal routine with the 3rd phase of the project - the formal written report - still to be done. 
16.	The material they have been working on is defined as material on which they will be tested in a more traditional testing format. The pupils are told that they will have to write a formal written report to the coordinator of the community service project in their school. 
17.	The teacher designs a report form (See Appendix V) that's included as part of their regular test.  Its aim is to assess writing skills. 
18.	Finally, the pupils receive a letter from their teacher outlining the elements of the project they have completed, congratulating them on their achievements in English and especially on their contribution to the community.  (See Appendix VI)
19.	In response to this, the pupils are required to write back their reflection regarding the project. 
20.	And that is it! It sounds complicated. It's not. It's easy to mark and the pupils enjoyed their work and were proud of the results.
  
NOTE: this procedure has not provided for assessment of the process. All the assessment is summative in nature. This "flaw" could be remedied by having the pupils hand in their draft notes when preparing the PowerPoint slide show and inviting the teacher to view part of the oral presentation practice. These two intermediate stages could be considered a part of the final grade.
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C. Satisfying the requirements of the New Curriculum -
(1) - Identifying targeted benchmarks and/or goals
(2)- Defining Criteria for Assessment and deciding upon tools for Assessment.

Targeted Benchmarks and/or Goals
(Presentation: foundation / intermediate level)	Criteria for Assessment	
Produce coherent speech that conveys personal experiences
	Accuracy, content, fluency, delivery, 	
Present information on limited content, supported by visual aids
	Accuracy, content, register, usefulness, aesthetics	
Use given criteria such as a checklist to prepare and improve presentations
	Ability to follow instructions and relate to set criteria	
Express ideas and opinions about general topics in writing using main and supporting ideas 	Accuracy, content, register, Vocabulary, organization	

Choosing tools for assessment 	

Type of Assessment	Who Assesses	
  Checklist - PP and Oral	  Peer      50%
  Teacher 50%	
  Rubric - Written Report	  Teacher 100%	

(3) - Mapping out pre-requisite skills and knowledge

Targeted Benchmark and/or Goal	Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge	
1. Produce coherent speech that conveys personal experiences

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2. Present information on limited content, supported by visual aids

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3. Use given criteria such as a checklist to prepare and improve presentations

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Express ideas and opinions about general topics in writing using main and supporting ideas.

	EFL skills - pronunciation and voice projection.
Vocabulary - esp. appropriate participle adjectives (eg satisfying, demanding, rewarding, exhausted)
Social skills - confidence-building and public speaking skills (speaking with the use of notes in point form, body language etc.)
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EFL skills - organization of text into subtopics - skeleton structures.
Listing points rather than full sentences.
Use of gerund and infinitive 
Social skills - maintaining audience interest.
Integration of media support (PP) and oral presentation.
Computer skills - PowerPoint slide presentation in English on basic level.
Saving, opening, and showing PP presentations.
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Organizational skills - understanding of what a checklist is and how to use it.
Being able to read and apply a checklist for peer assessment.
Social skills - being able to give and receive constructive criticism. 
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EFL skills - Differentiating between the register of brief-point presentation and full-sentence formal text.
Division in to paragraphs.
Main idea versus illustration
Use of connectors	

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D. Appendix I - Project Instruction page for pupils

TALKING ABOUT VOLUNTEERING (מחויבות אישית)
Dear Pupil,
You have been volunteering (מחויבות אישית) for half a year now. It is time to tell others about your experience.  We will invite some people who want to know what you have been doing to listen to your reports. When you have done your oral presentations with the support pf PowerPoint you will write a formal report.

You will do this in 4 stages by:
 A.  Preparing 4-6 PowerPoint slides in pairs or groups.
 B.  Preparing and practicing talking to an audience using the PowerPoint presentation to help make the talk easier for everyone to understand. 
C. Reporting to an audience by speaking and using PowerPoint to help you.
D. Writing a formal report as part of your next test.  

You must be ready for Stage C in __________ lessons time.  

Stage 1. Preparing PowerPoint Slides.

Your PowerPoint presentation must have 4 - 6 slides. Each slide must deal with a different side of your volunteer work. 

•	Slide I.    Description of what you do
•	Slide II.  The benefits 
•	Slide III. The difficulties
•	Slide IV.  What kind of person is best suited for this type of activity?
•	Slide V.   You choose the subject!

Before we start, we have to decide what a good PowerPoint presentation is. 
Add 4-6 ideas to the ones below.
A good PowerPoint presentation has …(i) short sentences or points
                                                    …(ii) pictures

If you don't know how to use PowerPoint, ask me or your friends for help.

Stage 2. Practicing speaking to an audience (Using PowerPoint to help you)
Each person in your group must speak for a minute or two. Decide together what you want to say about each slide. Make notes for yourselves and practice talking. 

Before we start, we have to decide what is important when speaking to an audience.
Add 4-6 ideas to the ones below.
A good speaker …(i) looks at the audience and does not read from his/her notes.
                   …(ii) prepares well and practices

I will prepare a list of the points that we discussed that are important for a good PowerPoint Presentation and a good talk to an audience. You must use these points to make sure that your presentations are good. This list is called a checklist because you can check yourself to make sure you are doing the right thing. 

 Next lesson I will give a talk to the class using PowerPoint to help me, and you will decide what was good and what was bad by looking the checklist.
Stage 3 is when you actually talk to an audience. You must be ready in ______ lessons time.
Stage 4 is the formal report. I'll give you details about this when we finish everything else.

Enjoy these tasks. 

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To make things simple,here are the stages from beginning to end:

•	Get instructions and decide on what should be considered good work(checklist)
•	Form groups
•	See a model PP and oral presentation (given by me). Assess me with checklist.
•	Prepare text for PP based on checklist
•	Prepare PP based on checklist
•	Practice Oral Presentation based on checklist
•	Give Oral presentation and assess others based on checklist
•	Group Reflection on Oral presentation
•	Prepare for Formal written report (part of test)
•	Write the report as part of the test
•	Get feedback from Teacher
•	Write your personal reflection

E. Appendix II. Checklist for PowerPoint
Checklist for PowerPoint (used when creating the slides) together with peer/teacher assessment criteria (when assessing the actual presentations.)

The slides in this PowerPoint presentation:
                                                                                           Assessment*
•	Have no spelling mistakes	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Have no grammatical mistakes	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Are organized in logical order according   to the subject	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Have short sentences or phrases	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Have the bullets on the correct side	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Have colors and font size that make the 
slides easy to read from a distance	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Are illustrated according to the subject	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Present each subtopic clearly	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Do not distract the audience	1  2   3 4  5	
•	Generally give a good impression	1 2 3 4 5	
                                                       Grade out of 50 points = __________
* 5 = excellent 4 = good 3= satisfactory 2= weak 1= very weak

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F. Appendix III Check list for Oral Presentation
Check list for oral presentation (used when preparing for the oral presentation) together with peer assessment criteria (when assessing the actual oral presentation.) 
 
The speaker, when giving his/her oral presentation: 
                                                                                     Assessment*  
•	Spoke loudly and confidently	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Pronounced the words clearly	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Was fluent and did not hesitate a lot	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Made sense (I could understand the topic)	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Gave the impression that he/she was prepared 	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Did not make lots of grammatical mistakes	1 2  3  4  5	
•	Spoke without reading from notes	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Kept my interest	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Used the PowerPoint slides to help him/her	1  2  3  4  5	
•	Generally made a good impression 	1  2  3  4  5	
                                                      Grade out of 50 points = __________
* 5 = excellent 4 = good  3= satisfactory 2= weak 1= very weak
Final grade out of 100: PowerPoint + Oral  = __________
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G. Appendix IV Shortened version of Checklist/Assessment Criteria
(I printed these smaller versions so that the pupils could assess each other and for that purpose I needed hundreds!)

PowerPoint                                                                     Oral presentation
Spelling 	1 2 3 4 5	
Grammar	1 2 3 4 5	
Logical order	1 2 3 4 5	
Short sentences 	1 2 3 4 5	
English direction	1 2 3 4 5	
Colour and size of text	1 2 3 4 5	
Illustrations	1 2 3 4 5	
Effects	1 2 3 4 5	
Does not distract 	1 2 3 4 5	
General impression	1 2 3 4 5	

Loud confident	1 2 3 4 5	
Pronunciation	1 2 3 4 5	
Fluency 	1 2 3 4 5	
Made sense 	1 2 3 4 5	
Well practiced 	1 2 3 4 5	
Grammar	1 2 3 4 5	
Spoken - not read	1 2 3 4 5	
Interesting	1 2 3 4 5	
PowerPoint is useful	1 2 3 4 5	
General impression 	1 2 3 4 5	

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H. Appendix V Form for formal written report
Volunteer work - Written report
You are expected to volunteer to help the community. Half a year has passed since you started this work. The time has come to write to the coordinator of the project (מרכזת מחויבות אישית) _________________ and report back. 

Write 120-150 words. The points below will help you to organize your report

•	Describe the community service you have chosen to do and the work that you have done until now.
•	Describe the benefits (for you or for others).
•	Mention the problems/ thoughts you have.
•	Make suggestions for the rest of the year (or for those who will do the work next year). 

To:       ____________________
From: ______________________                  Date: _______________
Subject: Community service Mid year report
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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I. Appendix VI - Sample Reflection page
Dear pupils,
Now we have finally come to the end of an English project that focused on your community service. The project involved three main parts: 
•	Creating a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the main aspects of your volunteer work. 
•	Giving an oral presentation using the PowerPoint as support. You decided on the criteria for good presentations and assessed each other. This self-assessment process might have been chaotic and ineffective, BUT it wasn't due to your cooperation a mature attitude. 
•	Writing a detailed formal report on what you have done so far.

Without exception, you have all managed to successfully communicate the most important aspects of your Community Service and you can be proud of yourselves on two counts: 
1. The level of your English; overall the high grades reflect this.
2. The involvement in the community from basketball training to being on the National Youth Council, from running Scouts activities and the "Madatzim" meetings to creating a school website, from visiting in the homes of the elderly or teaching them English and computers, from spending time in hospitals aiding the sick or interviewing survivors at Yad Vashem, from teaching young children at school and kindergartens to being big brothers or sisters to children who need that relationship, from decorating the school to going out on ambulances with M.D.A. 
In short, you are doing good work and I felt like telling you so. 

Any comments you would like to make about the Reporting Community Service English Project would be appreciated.
Jack
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