MYP Service & Action at LMBMS
All students in grades 6 through 8 engage in service and action in the greater community. Action is defined as learning by doing and experiencing. Service is a form of action. Serving others is an expression of being a caring participant in our community. For middle schoolers there are lots of ways to serve at school. Activities include wearing blue for anti-bullying awareness, wearing pink for cancer awareness, participating with canned food drives, or kindness weeks.
On the first Friday of every month, students participate in IB Lab. This forty-minute activity period allows students to gain awareness about a topic and then to respond in a school-wide service activity based upon one of the learning outcomes. Students complete a brief reflection. Each grade level also participates with a grade level service project throughout the course of the year.
2022-2023 School Year: MYP Students Participate in Students Rebuild Service Project
Postcards from Welcoming Refugees Challenge, February 2023.
What is Service?
Service is described as one or a combination of these four types:
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Direct Service - The student directly interacts in a face-to-face manner with the recipient of the service.
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Indirect Service - The student does not come into direct contact with recipients, but instead participates in collecting goods or fundraising activities.
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Advocacy - The student raises awareness or promotes action on behalf of a need or issue.
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Research - The student participates in gathering information or compiling data.
MYP students at Brown take meaningful action on seven outcomes for service including:
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Become more aware of their own strengths and areas for growth;
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Undertake challenges that develop new skills;
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Discuss, evaluate, and plan student-initiated activities;
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Persevere in action (extended duration of activity for at least one month);
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Work collaboratively with others;
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Develop international-mindedness through global engagement, multilingualism, and intercultural understanding;
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Consider the ethical implications of their actions.
Middle School students often have difficulty volunteering in the community because of their young age. Most organizations require a parent or guardian to be present during opportunities that allow students 13 and younger to participate. This kind of individual service is not required by the school, but if families are participating, students may document those service experiences on a log sheet and submit the activity to the Coordinator. So if a family is already participating in service, please keep contributing time and energy. Our community will benefit, and families are freed from the pressure of a school hours requirement.
Bilingual Signage created during IB Lab, October 2023.
What does not count as service?
Brown has a few general rules about what does not count as service:
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An activity that a student is paid monetarily or in trade does not count as service.
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Any activity that involves proselytizing or worship in any religion does not count as service.
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Any practice time (sports or music, etc.) does not count.
How do students document service?
Students record their service and reflections on a log sheet for any community events in which they may participate. Individual log sheets may be turned in to Mrs. Cady by email or dropped off in the IB Office. Reflections are built into IB Lab lessons and used as the student's documentation.