Research suggests that reflection is an important component of service-learning. The goal of reflection is to help students derive meaning from the service experience, and it can be accomplished in a number of different ways. Students in experiential modules use both journaling and discussion sessions to facilitate reflection.
Sample reflection questions
The following questions are intended to be thought-provoking and to be used as a tool that will help you journal:
- Describe the best thing that happened today: a project successfully completed, a friend made, a goal realized.
- What are some of the challenges faced by the person you worked with today?
- What is something you learned today that really surprises you?
- Why is the work you're doing needed? How does your effort fit into the mission of your organization?
- Describe a person you met today. What about this person do you find most interesting?
- How does what you’re learning at the service-learning site relate to what you’ve learned in college classes?
- Think back to a moment when you felt especially happy or satisfied. What does that tell you about yourself?
- How have you changed as a result of this experience?
- Comment on this quote by Lilla Watson, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time; but if you’ve come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”