Teachers in Action

TIP: Before you submit, please review and follow the PowerPoint Template at the end of this module.

Teachers in Action: GAIN INSTRUCTOR APPROVAL PRIOR TO STARTING THIS PROJECT. Because of our new challenge of Covid-19, you may do this project remotely and help a family or organization remotely. All of your 15 community service hours can be done remotely. The video explanation was created pre-Covid-19, but all remote ideas will be considered. When you submit your idea for approval, also include your Plan of Action. In the Plan of Action explain the steps you are going to take to be able to accomplish your project. Please read this all material in this module carefully. You will be completing a 15 hour service-learning project that involves persons with disabilities in your community.

You will submit pictures from your community service project with at least one of you at the location of your project (or with you working remotely on your projects).

Teachers in Action with Persons with Disabilities through High-Tech High-Touch Service-Learning is a partnership of the University of Central Florida and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Central Florida that engages undergraduate education majors and other future teachers in meaningful service-learning activities with persons with disabilities. Launched in August 2009, Teachers in Action meets important needs of both populations, offering essential field experience for aspiring teachers while providing much-needed programming for local children and adults with special needs. The partnership creates an infrastructure that helps UCF's College of Education better prepare its students for work with persons with disabilities. Although our main partnership is with UCP, your 15 of service can be completed anywhere.

Teachers in Action participants create or choose a 15-hour service-learning project involving persons with disabilities in their community. After completing these 15 hours, students create a narrated PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the project — including early perceptions, actual experiences, and on-going reflections.

Participation in Teachers in Action is a requirement of 4070 and must have a narrated PowerPoint included to be graded.

TIA Questions

Am I allowed to work in a group for my 15 hour Teachers in Action (TIA) community service project? Yes, and it is encouraged. Working together can help make the project better and you may have a larger positive impact on the community.
How many can work together as a team for the TIA project? It depends on the project. There is not a set maximum, but generally speaking, teams usually do not exceed five or six, but I am willing to consider larger teams, if the project warrants it.
If I work with a group for my TIA project, do I submit my own narrated PowerPoint or can we submit one PowerPoint as a group? Yes, you can submit one narrated PowerPoint as long as everyone in the group is part of the narration. You can also work on one PowerPoint together and then narrate on your own.
Where do I find places that will allow me to volunteer my community service TIA project? This is hard question to answer. Your job is to go out into the community and find places to serve. The TIA module is not to be used to find community service placements. It is designed to teach you about the assignment. Use your own contacts and the contacts of your family and friends. You can start with an internet search for organizations in your community. Search for organizations or agencies that serve individuals with disabilities. I did a search for Brevard County and on the first page was Harmony Farms, which is a non-profit that uses horses as therapy for individuals with disabilities. Also Bridges, Brevard Achievement Center and Space Coast Early Intervention were also on the first page. Start early as some organizations will require security checks prior to being allowed to volunteer. Because of Covid-19, you may do this remotely.
Am I required to use the narrated PowerPoint software AuthorStream and SlideBoom or may I use another program? Whatever program you use, START EARLY and try it out prior to the due date. No, you are not required to use AuthorStream and SlideBoom. As long as it is narrated with your voice and the content is there, I don’t care what program you use, but you must provide me a link to your project so that I can click, watch and listen to your presentation.
Am I required to upload my narrated PowerPoint online and provide you with a link? Absolutely, 100% YES!!!!!!! As stated above, I am not picky about the program you use, but you must upload your presentation and provide me the link. You may not be able to upload the narrated PowerPoint directly to the submission box on Webcourses. The files may be too big and even if it uploads, the sound may not work. The best option is to use software to upload and provide me a link. Start early and figure out this process. Previous students have even uploaded on YouTube. You can use an “unlisted” option that will not be searchable. Of course after the semester you can remove your presentation.
Why can’t I simply upload my PowerPoint directly to drop box on our course? By uploading directly, the sound may be lost, but more importantly, you are missing some of the objectives of this project. If you upload your PowerPoint directly to the drop box instead of providing a link, you are missing the learning objective of knowing how to create narrated content and providing a link. This skill may be needed for remote learning with your future students. I need to simply click on a link and it directly take me to your narrated PowerPoint with your voice narrating your project. I don’t need to download any special software or use a certain browser. I would like to address that this project has several objectives outside of the actual community service objective. Obviously, the community service aspect and the lessons learned from your community service are the main objectives. As the instructor of the class, I could have chosen any sharing method for you to use, such as a reflective essay/paper, but I chose a narrated PowerPoint to reach other particularly important objectives. One objective is for you to learn how to create a narrated PowerPoint. This may be an extremely useful skill as a teacher for teaching certain lessons for children with disabilities. A child with a disability in your classroom may need to repeat content previously presented, while you work with other students on other needs. This could be done at a computer in your classroom with headphones. Another objective is for you to be able to share a narrated PowerPoint with others who may not be using your classroom computers. This may be where you are sharing content with a child with disabilities who is temporarily in a hospital setting or homebound for a certain period of time. Knowing how to create content for remote learning has become even more important since Covid-19. It could also be used for an added homework learning experience for a child who is struggling with a lesson. I want you to know how to create and share a narrated PowerPoint. When you do this, you need to be able to share a simple link without requiring special software. It needs to be as simple as possible. There are 100s of ways to do this and a quick google search gives you many options on how to do this. Several students used YouTube because they felt it was easier. You can save your PowerPoint as a video and then simply upload it to YouTube. I am very flexible as to the program you use to upload, but on the user end, it needs to be merely a link that only requires the user to click.

LET’S GET STARTED

Teachers in Action is a project that engages undergraduate education majors in meaningful service-learning activities with persons with disabilities.

Originally funded by a federal grant from Learn & Serve America, TIA meets important needs of aspiring teachers while creating a dedicated volunteer force assisting children, youth and adults with disabilities in Central Florida. Dr. Rebecca A. Hines, University of Central Florida started the Teachers in Action and much of the information below is from her original grant.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Teachers in Action

https://youtu.be/fCXQ4uuZSqw

Cheryl Hines for Teachers in Action

https://youtu.be/JZw60JmADbE

Helpful Tool: If you choose to organize a service activity of your own that involves many volunteers, you may want to manage your event using a free organizing tool like VolunteerSpot.com. This free site allows you to schedule activities, invite volunteers, create a sign-up sheet, and send out reminders and confirmations. It can be used to help you manage almost any event involving volunteers. It's an easy way to organize your event, track volunteers, and communicate with everyone involved.

https://signup.com/

Whatever you can dream up! If you are looking for a way to get started, consider contacting a local agency that serves persons with disabilities such as Easter Seals, UCP, Down Syndrome Association, etc. Ask what types of needs they have that you and a team of classmates or friends can help address.

This is not a complete list, but here are some organizations who have worked with TIA projects;

Altamonte Springs- Recreation

Conductive Education Center of Orlando -- Winter Park, Orange County
Daytona or Deland- Easter Seals Volusia & Flagler Counties
Daytona- UCP WORC
Deltona- Discovery Elementary Puppets, Performance, or Arts & Literacy
Gainesville- ARC of Alachua County
Melbourne/Palm Bay- Space Coast Early Intervention Center
Orlando- UCP Bailes Elementary Art & Music Integration
Orlando- UCP of Central Florida: East Orange/Bailes Campus
Rockledge/Cocoa- Bridges "Adult Day Training"
St. Cloud, Osceola County- Bishop Grady Villas, Assisted Living Facility
UCP of Central Florida: other campuses -- multiple locations
Winter Park- Easter Seals Florida: "Day Break" Adult Day Services
Cocoa-Harmony Farms

Conduct a Google search using the titles above to access current contact information.

PLAN OF ACTION

Please check syllabus for due date for the Plan of Action.

Students should provide the following information in a Project Plan of Action:

1) With what organization/agency/school will you be volunteering to fulfill your required hours with persons with disabilities? If you plan to divide your service hours across multiple sites, please list them all. If you will be designing and implementing your own project (independent of an organization), simply indicate "I will be designing my own community project."

2) In what city/town/community will your service-learning hours/project take place?

3) What are the goals of your service-learning hours/project? What real need in the community are you

addressing? How did you identify this need?

4) What are the specific service activities that you will be doing? Please include any preparation, design,

advertising, or recruitment activities that will be necessary.

5) Who are the intended partners and beneficiaries of your service-learning hours/project? (May include staff, clients, other volunteers, community members, peers, specific persons with disabilities, families, etc.) In what way(s) are some of them considered persons with disabilities? Please refer to the categories of disabilities that are addressed in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

6) What are the target dates of your service-learning hours/project? How will you fulfill the required 15 hours?

(All in one week? Spread across a month or more?) Please be mindful of the due date for the Narrated PowerPoint Presentation that you must create following the completion of your service-learning hours!

7) Are you working alone or in a team? (Generally, teams should include no more than five or six members.) If working with others, please provide their name(s). Have each of you defined your role yet? Provide details.

8) What are the next steps in carrying out your plan?

9) Checklist: (Yes / No)

Do you understand the requirements for your service-learning hours/project?
Do you understand how you will submit your Narrated PowerPoint Presentation? Please complete a practice Narrated PowerPoint EARLY in the semester and test it out with a family member or friend. This way you will be ready when it is time to complete the final stage of the assignment.

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT.....

....... be sure to view and follow the PowerPoint Template below.

This project will be submitted in the drop box for the week in which it is due. Please you the following PowerPoint Template as your guide when creating your Narrated PowerPoint.

TIA PowerPoint_Template_.ppt