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WHAT IS THE SERVICE-LEARNING WRITING PROJECT?
The Service-Learning Writing Project (SLWP) is a joint endeavor of Michigan State University's College of Arts and Letters, the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, The Service-Learning Center, and The Writing Center. The Project sponsors an interdisciplinary Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures course (WRA 135)--"Writing: Public Life in America"--which fulfills the Tier I writing requirement for first year students at Michigan State University. The course unites challenging intellectual content, writing instruction, and community-based service-learning writing projects into an innovative educational experience in active learning. Class assignments and discussions focus on diverse historical and literary readings that give students a solid overview of civic culture in America. Writing assignments include major projects conducted in association with community service placements. Working through the SLWP, students become more effective writers at the university and more thoughtful citizens better equipped to meet the challenges and requirements of civic life.


WHAT ARE WRA 135 COURSES LIKE?
WRA 135--"Writing: Public Life in America"--tackles difficult questions, such as. . . Why have so many of us lost faith in our common life?

Readings, writing assignments, discussions, student-organized public forums, and actual public service placements confront students with basic questions about the struggle for a revitalized public sphere. For example . . . What does it mean to be a member of the communities in which we live and work—school and classroom, workplace, place of worship, neighborhood, or nation? What does it mean to be a citizen in a democracy? How well do traditions of American citizenship serve the complex demands and increased diversity of civic life in America today?

In WRA 135, students discuss, debate, evaluate, and write about such questions with the help of diverse readings, assignments, and research resources.

Some WRA 135 students benefit from hands-on experiences in various Lansing-area nonprofit and community service agencies. Options for student placements include working with a team of students on a community writing project published by a public agency, or, in some cases, writing an essay based on volunteer work with a local public service organization of the student’s choosing. Students' service experiences are carefully monitored by WRAC faculty and the staff of MSU's Service-Learning Center.

Other WRA 135 classes stress the importance of public deliberation as the essential ingredient of democracy. For democracy to work, ordinary citizens must take part in the process of identifying social problems and finding solutions together. Unfortunately, too many citizens today--especially young people—are not joining in the ongoing public work of democracy. Students consider, then . . . Why have ordinary Americans withdrawn from public associations? Why does our democratic system--the envy of the rest of the world--seem to be failing us?

In addition to studying ways to revive techniques of deliberation, some WRA 135 sections actually practice forms of public literacy and become directly involved in public problem solving. Students analyze, evaluate, and present arguments on topics of current concern to local audiences. Students also learn to moderate differing points of view on an issue and to find strategies that build toward consensus, including non-partisan public forums and neighborhood study circles.

The goals of WRA 135 are to deepen student awareness of important public issues and concerns, to build problem-solving capabilities, to refine students’ public literacy skills, and to strengthen and improve public life in our community.


EXAMPLE PROJECTS AND SERVICE-LEARNING RESOURCES

Sample Student Projects

Generation Y Speaks Out: Public Policy Perspectives Through Service-Learning
GenY/index.html

"Violent Kids: Can We Change The Trend?"
http://www.msu.edu/course/atl/135/

“Alcohol: Controlling the Toxic Spill”
http://www.msu.edu/~cooperd/nif/forum.htm

SLWP Faculty Scholarship

Writing in the Public Interest Edited by David Cooper and Laura Julier
http://writing.msu.edu/content/wipi/c&j.html

SLWP in the News

"MSU Professor and Students Explore Boundaries of Free Speech in Upcoming Forum"
http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/1999/03/nif.html

"American Thought and Language Professor Recipient of 1999 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award"
http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/1999/03/ehrlich.html

"MSU Students Give Back to Communities by Taking Service 'Into the Streets'"
http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/2002/10/intothestreets.html

"MSU Students Invite Community to Explore Youth Violence in Upcoming Forum"
http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/2002/03/nif.html

"MSU Students Give Voice to Social Issues"
http://newsroom.msu.edu/news/archives/2001/04/voice.html

"Students Invite Community to Explore Youth Violence"
http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/index.php3?article=26Mar2002-2

"Generation Y Speaks Out on Social Issues"


"Class to Help Save Retired Greyhounds"
http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=14838#

Local Partners

The Service-Learning Center
http://www.csp.msu.edu/slc/

University Outreach
http://ntweb4.ais.msu.edu/default.asp

Michigan Campus Compact
http://www.micampuscompact.org/home.html

The Morrill Scholars Program
http://www.msu.edu/~msp/

Michigan Nonprofit Association
http://www.mppi.mna.msu.edu

Michigan’s Children
http://www.michiganschildren.org

Service-Learning: Community Service and Civic Engagement by MSU Students and Faculty
http://www.msustatewide.msu.edu/resource.asp?ResourceID=548

Service-Learning: Young Spartan Program
http://www.msustatewide.msu.edu/resource.asp?ResourceID=3&ListTitle=&TopicID=278

National Links

Campus Compact
http://www.compact.org

National Issues Forum
http://www.nifi.org/

Study Circles Resource Center
http://www.studycircles.org/index.html

Public Conversations Project
http://www.publicconversations.org/

Innovations in Democracy Institute
http://www.democracyinnovations.org/

Service-Learning and Composition Resources

Service Learning Bibliography
http://students.washington.edu/jmens/serlearn/homepage/biblio.html

Service Learning in Composition
http://www.ncte.org/cccc/Service-Learning/index.shtml



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