E ducate and inform yourself before the service. Educating yourself about your community and how it responds to the needs of its citizens will lead to a better understanding of the people you serve and the problems they face. R espond to the need. This is the action step of service-learning. Responding to the need is what most people call volunteering, which is doing a job for free that you could be paid to do.
V alue the significance and reflect.
This step of the service-learning process is taking an introspective look at the service you just completed. Reflection can take place in a journal entry, talking with friends about your service project, or discussing your experiences in a class. Taking the time to really think about the people you saw, the lessons you learned, and the reasons behind the difficulties in the community enhances your education and makes the service meaningful. It is a part of the learning process to feel uncomfortable about the answers to these questions, but it is this uncomfortable feeling that will create a desire to find positive answers for the future. E valuate and celebrate.