Storybook County Lessons · Lesson 13
The Lieutenant Governor's Service Focus
Service Learning in Storybook County
Storybook County Lessons · Lesson 13
The Lieutenant Governor's Service Focus
Service Learning in Storybook County
Grades 9 to 12, adaptable for younger students · Four 30-minute sessions, plus an optional out-of-class service hour
Teacher note. Handouts: 1. Service-Learning Planning Grid; 2. Need Cards; 3. Roundtable Guide; 4. Hours Log. You also need chart paper and markers. Decide in advance whether a real one-hour service action is possible (a school clean-up, a letter-writing hour, a supply drive, a reading hour with younger students). If not, Session 4 uses the planning product only.
The story
The story problem
The Lieutenant Governor of Storybook County has announced the year's service focus: "Rebuilding After the Wolf." Every delegation must plan one project that helps a story community recover, and connect it to something delegates will learn.
Teacher note. In Youth and Government the Lieutenant Governor leads a year-long service focus and each delegation names a Service-Learning Liaison. The reflection format here is the roundtable used at the program's national conferences and on its Y-Corps service trips.
You will be able to
- Identify a community need from a story: who is affected and why.
- Plan a project using Learning Objectives, Action, Reflection, Evaluation.
- Translate a fictional project into a real one the class could do.
- Lead and take part in a roundtable reflection.
- Track service hours and learning hours separately.
Who does what
- Lieutenant Governor
- One student: announces the focus, visits each team, leads the final roundtable
- Service-Learning Liaison
- One per team: keeps the planning grid and the hours log
- Teams
- 4 to 5 students; each draws a Need Card
Session 1 · 30 min
Finding the Need
- Hook5 min
- Service vs. service learning10 min
- Need Cards10 min
- Liaison check5 min
Hook
The wolf is gone. Two pigs have no houses. Who helps?
Teacher note. Draw out that service is what a community does for itself when the law is not enough.
Service vs. service learning
Service
- Doing the work
Service learning
- Doing the work
- While learning something you set out to learn
- Then reflecting on it
Teacher note. 10 minutes with the next slide.
The four-part model
- Learning Objective
- Example: public speaking
- Action
- Example: voter registration drive
- Reflection
- Example: what did we say that worked?
- Evaluation
- Example: how many registered?
Teacher note. This is the program's own example. Walk through the planning grid with it.
Need Cards
Who is affected? What exactly do they need? What do they not need?
Teacher note. "What they do not need" means help that would not help.
Need Cards
- Rebuilding After the Wolf
- Two of the Three Little Pigs have no homes. Brick is expensive.
- The Cratchit Table
- The Cratchits could not afford a proper dinner, and Tiny Tim needed care.
- Lost Sheep
- Little Bo Peep's flock is scattered and she cannot search alone.
- The Twenty-Year Nap
- Rip Van Winkle woke to a village that had forgotten him. Who checks on people no one checks on?
- Hamelin's Children
- The town needs a way to keep children safe and the piper paid.
- Grandmother's Cottage
- An elder living alone in the Deep Woods needs safer doors and regular visits.
- Mother Hubbard's Cupboard
- A household and its dog have nothing to eat.
- After the Beanstalk
- A fallen giant, a damaged field, and a boy with a harp he cannot explain.
Liaison check
Liaisons: tell the Lieutenant Governor your need in one sentence.
Session 2 · 30 min
Planning the Project
- Fill the grid20 min
- The translation10 min
Fill the grid
- Learning Objectives: two things you will learn
- Action: what, when, who, what supplies
- Reflection: two questions you will answer afterward
- Evaluation: one number and one quality to measure
Teacher note. Learning objectives should be real skills, such as planning a budget or speaking to adults.
Supporting Document 1
Service-Learning Planning Grid
Team: __ Liaison: __ Need Card: ____
Who is affected and what do they need:
Learning Objectives (two skills team members will build): 1. __ 2. __
Action (what, when, who, supplies):
Reflection (two questions we will answer afterward): 1. __ 2. __
Evaluation (one number, one quality):
Real-world translation (one hour, this class):
The translation
What could this class actually do in one hour that serves the same kind of need?
- Rebuilding after the wolf: a supply drive for a local shelter
- Feeding the Cratchits: a food pantry hour
- The Twenty-Year Nap Registry: letters to a senior center
Session 3 · 30 min
Pitch and Choose
- Pitches15 min
- Choose10 min
- Hours log5 min
Pitches
Liaisons: present your grid and real-world version in two minutes.
Teacher note. The Lieutenant Governor asks each team one question (next slide).
Say it
What will you learn that you could not learn in class?
The Lieutenant Governor
Choose
Which real-world project will we carry out?
Teacher note. Vote by ranked choice (from the Trial Proposals lesson), or decide that each team will do its own.
The hours log: two columns
Service hours
- The doing
Learning hours
- The planning
- The training
- The reflection
Teacher note. 5 minutes. The program recognizes both kinds of hours, and the planning sessions already count as learning hours. The log has columns for date, activity, service hours, learning hours, and verified by, with totals at the bottom.
Session 4 · 30 min
Act (Optional) and Roundtable
- Roundtable20 min
- Evaluation10 min
The action (optional)
Carry out the chosen one-hour project. Liaisons log hours.
Teacher note. This happens outside class, only if the school allows it.
Roundtable
Everyone speaks at least once.
Teacher note. The Lieutenant Governor leads from the Roundtable Guide (next slide).
Roundtable guide
- Sit in a circle. Phones away. The leader speaks last on each question.
- Rose and bud: one thing that went well, one thing still growing.
- Reflection questions: the two from the planning grid.
- Shout-outs: a specific person and a specific thing they did.
- Next: what happens tomorrow, and who is responsible.
- The leader closes by connecting the project to the service focus.
Evaluation
Fill in your Evaluation line with the real numbers. Were your Learning Objectives met? Answer in one sentence.
How projects are scored
- Need analysis: 15
- Planning grid: 35
- Translation: 20
- Roundtable: 20
- Hours log: 10
Teacher note. Support: provide a half-completed grid for "Rebuilding After the Wolf" and allow teams to present the story version only. Challenge: require a one-paragraph budget and supply list, or have a team recruit another class as partners and plan how to train them.
Service is what a community does for itself
Rebuilding After the Wolf
Eyes up here
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