Something exciting is happening in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, something that has implications for teacher education and for local school systems all across the country. College of Education faculty and students are in the middle of a project that is redefining the educational experience for them and for 500+ students, teachers and administrators at Oglethorpe County Middle School. The collaboration and dialogue between students and the community are resulting in a new appreciation for the strengths that exist in the rural county and a rejuvenation of their sense of community and history. For College faculty and students it is an exercise in the application of the concept of Service Learning--a growing trend to help students connect community service with academic learning, personal growth and civic responsibility.

The Beginnings
The project had its beginnings with collaboration between Oglethorpe County Middle School and Dr. Elizabeth Pate (associate professor of elementary education, former head of the College's Middle School Program, and 1998 recipient of the Richard Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award). The school and Pate had pursued active interests in identifying resources and strengths of rural communities and capitalizing on those aspects. Pate says, "I had adopted Oglethorpe County Middle School. I did anything and everything I could to work with them, to help them, to strengthen the program. They are a wonderful bunch of people."

Her efforts took on a slightly more formal aspect when the school applied for and won funding from an Annenberg Rural Challenge Grant through the League of Professional Schools headquartered in the UGA College of Education.

Three Themes
Work under the Annenberg grant focuses on three themes:

County Resources - Under the leadership of eighth grade teacher Bill Pass, an interdisciplinary committee of students, teachers and administrators undertook an inventory of community resources of all types: physical, business, government and social. The Chamber of Commerce became involved, all middle school students in the county were surveyed, field trip excursions were conducted, digital and print photographs were made. From these activities, a Directory of Oglethorpe County Resources will be developed in printed form and displayed on the school's web site. The directory will be updated each year.

Folklore Project - Anne Gillis, 6^th grade teacher, has led students and community residents in what is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the project--the collection and documentation of county folklore. Middle school students have interviewed elderly residents from the Senior Citizens Center, visited sites throughout the county and dug through county courthouse records. There have been storytelling events, dancing, performances by traditional musicians, and sharing of talents by several hundred middle school students, community elders and other citizens, teachers, university students and faculty. These activities have involved the full spectrum of educational, public and private groups and individual citizens in the county to create an ongoing dialogue across four and five generations of citizens. The county newspaper, the library, the Rotary Club, local artists and musicians, business, service, governmental and religious organizations all have become involved and supportive.

UGA faculty members Mary Ruth Moore and Arthur Rosenbaum and a number of their students from the Lamar Dodd School of Art, have entered into the folklore project. They are painting oil portraits of Oglethorpe County residents, preparing interpretive paintings of the county environment, and developing figure paintings of church choir members.
 

Outside Learning Habitat - Joe Conti, 7^th grade teacher, led development of The Haven, an outside learning habitat. Interested students, teachers, and community members developed plans, wrote curriculum, enlisted support, and began development of the site on school grounds, which was expanded by the school from one acre to three acres because of high interest. The Forestry Service and members of the forestry industry in the county are working with students on the project. One of the truly remarkable results of this phase of the project has been the development by the students of a 5x8 foot ceramic mural of the county, to be placed on a specially made granite slab donated by a county-based quarry.

Interdisciplinary Participation
An integral part of the Oglethorpe project is the high level of interdisciplinary activity. Aspects of the project involve the UGA College of Education Department of Elementary Education middle school program, where Elizabeth Pate is leading the overall project; faculty and students from the Lamar Dodd School of Art in the UGA College of Arts and Sciences; middle school teachers and students from all areas; middle school principal Steve Lennon; and county officials, a spectrum of private citizens, civic, business and religious organizations.

Related Awards, Funding and Presentations
Oglethorpe County Middle School students, teachers, and community members have presented at local, state, national and international meetings and conferences; written five funded grant proposals totaling over $100,000; and co-authored publications at the local, regional and national levels.

Service Learning Defined
The Oglethorpe project is an exemplary model of what is sometimes called Service Learning. Another term for it is Academic Community Learning. As described by the College of Education Academic Community Learning Task Force, Service Learning is an educational experience characterized by:

• Active participation in an extended, thoughtfully organized learning experience that meets actual community and student needs;
• Collaboration among student, school, and community;
• Integration of community learning experiences into the student's academic curriculum;
• Provision of structured time for reflection and evaluation; and
• Enhancement of what is taught by extending student learning beyond the classroom and into the community.

Outcomes and Implications
The implications of the Oglethorpe Folklore project may be widespread. This ongoing project has:

• Provided the opportunity for meaningful connections across departments and colleges of the University;
• Allowed genuine application of the concept of Service Learning;
• Met actual community and student needs through the democratic process;
• Facilitated collaboration among students, schools and the community;
• Extended student learning beyond the classroom and into the community; and
• Engaged professors in professional development.

©1998