Quick Hits for Service-Learning: Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers

1. The Education of Children and Youth

Introduction Jeffrey B. Anderson Professor, Teacher Education Director Academic Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program Seattle University Anational study that included all institutional members of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) in the U.S. found that 59% of responding campuses integrated servicelearning experiences into the preparation of their teacher candidates, and 39% prepared teacher candidates to use service-learning as a pedagogy with their future K-12 students. Numerous rationales for the use of service-learning were offered, with the most frequent being the belief that engagement in servicelearningwouldbeoneofthemosteffectivemethodstopreparenewteacherstosuccessfullyteachstudentsfrom ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds. Evenwiththisfairlywidespreadadoptionofservice-learning,therestillremains, however,confusionregarding distinctions between service-learning and the traditional student teaching internship, with many teacher educators believing that the two are the same. In order to advance service-learning in pre-service teacher education,keydecisionmakersneedtounderstandhowservice-learningandstudentteachinginternshipsare distinct.Thedifferenceisseenintheintentionsbehindtheeachofthepractices.Studentteachingisprovided, primarily, to benefit teacher candidates by giving them an opportunity to develop professionally as they apply methods and theories they have learned in their university classrooms. Service-learning can allow for the same professional development, but also places equal emphasis on addressing genuine community-identified needs. Additionally, service-learning places explicit emphasis on strengthening the civic responsibility of the teacher candidates involved. With these benefits in mind, it is easy to see that well implemented servicelearning experiences early in the pre-service teacher’s education, can provide a foundation that will expose candidates to many of the issues that they will later encounter as student teachers and in-service teachers, as well as help candidates determine if the K-12 classroom is the right professional destination for them. A second issue also creates confusion regarding the use of service-learning with teacher candidates. Servicelearning can be used to assist teacher candidates to meet the goals of their professional courses, ranging from understanding theories of educational psychology to appreciating the diverse cultural backgrounds of their future students. While an appreciation of student diversity is the most frequent use of service-learning in teacher education, some teacher educators argue that preparing future teachers to use service-learning as a pedagogy with their future K-12 students is an even more important outcome. These service-learning advocates note that each new teacher can enhance the education of from 25 to over 100 K-12 students in just one year by facilitating service-learning activities for them, thereby educating these students about diversity in their own communities and helping them explore and meet pressing community needs. Teacher education programs are well placed to facilitate the inclusion of service-learning into both the K-12 and higher education curricula. For example, if a program annually prepares 200 new teachers to use serviceThe Education of Children and Youth 1 learning and 30% of them actually implement this approach, the result would be 60 K-12 classrooms in which students experience service-learning. In addition, many teacher education programs have formed equitable, collaborative relationships with K-12 schools, and as a result, have the potential to establish K-higher education service-learning partnerships that effectively address the needs of K-12 schools and their wider communities, along with the needs of teacher education programs. The examples of service-learning projects in this chapter demonstrate that implementing service-learning in pre-service teacher education is not that different from service-learning in K-12 schools and in other disciplines at the university level. As the following examples demonstrate, through service-learning, preservice teachers can learn about: ■ ■ Pressing community needs, cultural compentency, and the changing demographics of America’s classrooms (Faux; Colby, Bercaw, Clark, and Galiardi; Hasslen and Mitchell-Agbemadi; Malaby and Clausen; Donovan) ■ ■ Developing partnerships (Smith, Robinson, and Barber; Malaby and Clausen; Bleicher, Buchanan, and Correia) ■ ■ Teacher preparation and dispositions (Smith, Robinson, and Barber; Malaby and Clausen; Bleicher, Buchanan and Correia; Dowell; Donovan; Watson, Barber and Smith; King and Reder; Carson) ■ ■ College access (Hasslen and Mitchell-Agbermadi) ■ ■ Teaching techniques (Ironsmith and Eppler) ■ ■ Literacy (Ironsmith and Eppler; King) ■ ■ Child development (Cemore) ■ ■ Philanthropy and service (Rogers) However, teacher educators face unique challenges as they seek to enhance the teacher education curriculum through the integration of service-learning. In order to prepare graduates to implement service-learning, programs must go beyond using service-learning as a teaching method. They must provide students with explicit instruction in the use of service-learning pedagogy, and field experiences in which teacher candidates engage in service-learning design, implementation, reflection, and assessment working closely with experienced K-12 teachers, their students, and other community members. Reference...