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• most fourth-grade students spend less than three hours a week writing, which is approximately 15 percent of the time they spend watching television; nearly 66 percent of high school seniors do not write a three-page paper as often as once a month for their English teachers; 75 percent of seniors never receive a writing assignment in history or social studies; and
• the senior research project has become an educational curiosity, something rarely assigned because teachers do not have time to correct such projects (www.writingcommission.org/pr.html).

Service-learning activities can help students develop writing skills and explore a variety of writing styles. Each phase of service-learning can involve writing activites. Here's how:

Preparation: During the preparation phase of a service-learning project, students prepare to serve. They identify community needs and issues that should be addressed and arrange the service-learning activities that will take place in the community. A plan of action for the project is often developed during the preparation phase and any activities where community or school participation is needed are advertised. Here are a few ways you can incorporate writing activities into the preparation phase:

Flyers/Posters: Students can learn about and practice persuasive writing skills as they design posters or flyers to advertise the project and/or garner the participation of other students, teachers and community members.

Press Releases: In order to receive media attention for their project, students can learn about and write a press release.

Research: As students learn about community needs and issues, they can develop research papers on related issues, such as hunger, homelessness, tolerance and diversity, or more specific community information, such as unemployment, literacy or poverty rates.

Letters: Sometimes in order to make a service-learning project successful, donations of materials and items from local businesses and community members are needed. Students can learn about different letter-writing styles and then write letters asking for donated items.

Service: The service phase of service-learning is where students actively address or meet a need in the community. Writing can be explored in any number of ways during the service phase, including:

Taking Notes: As students become involved in the project and service activities are implemented, students can take notes about their experiences so that they can reflect upon what they did, what it felt like and what was accomplished at a later date.

Thank-You Letters and Emails: For some service-learning projects, students serve in more than one community with multiple community partners. After students work with each community and community partner, they can write thank-you letters to show their appreciation for the help provided.

Reflection: Students should reflect before, during and after the service-learning experience. Writing has long been used as a reflective activity, but the journal has seen better days. Jazz up your reflection activities with these wrtiting projects:

Poetry: Students can create reflective poems about things they felt or experienced during the service-learning project. Compile the students' poems and create a chap book for the class! Give copies of the chap book to community partners as a way of showing appreciation for their contributions and efforts in helping make the project a success.

Letters to the Editor: The local paper can be a great way for students to educate the community about the issue or need they have met or are meeting with their service-learning project. Students can write letters to the editor and take a stand about an issue or social policy that relates to their project.

Newsletter: Students can create a service-learning newsletter for their class. Each time a service-learning project is implemented, students can highlight news about the project in their newsletter. Interviews with community members, citizens, politicians, fellow students and parents can be a great way for students to learn about and develop journalism skills.

Evaluation/Assessment: To help evaluate the impact of a service-learning project and measure whether the need or issue identified has been addressed, students can become involved in the evaluation and assessment aspect of service-learning. Writing can be incorporated into evaluation and assessment activities in any of these ways:

Reports: If students work in small groups or in committees during the service-learning project, students can prepare a final report for the project that emphasizes the work done by the small group or committee, what aspects of the project were successful and what areas need improvement if the project is done again.

Surveys: To determine how the community, class or agency feels about a project after it is completed, students can create a survey with pertinent questions that can gauge the reaction of the affected people to their project.

Interviews: In addition to developing a survey, students can prepare a list of questions and interview those who are impacted by or were involved in the service-learning project. Students can use the information gathered from the interviews to create reports that can be used to help determine the success of the project.

Celebration: In order to assure that the celebration activities have a foundation in academics, these writing activities can be incorporated:

Invitations: If an event is being planned that involves the participation of community members, agencies, parents, teachers and/or administration, students can create invitations that articulate details about the service-learning project and the celebration event.

Scrap Book: Students can compile photos and reflections from the project and create a scrap book. Students can write details about all project activities and descriptions for the photos taken during the project.

Website: There is more to creating a website than posting photos and clip art. Students can create a website for their service-learning activities and the content needed to make the website informative.

Next time your class creates and executes a service-learning project, think ahead about the ways writing can be used in each phase of the project. Become a part of the writing revolution and help make your students better writers while they are creating better communities!

For the full text of The Neglected "R", visit http://www.writingcommission.org/prod_downloads/writingcom/neglectedr.pdf.