Because of its symbiotic nature, service learning is a powerful mechanism for urban teacher education. A service learning pedagogy supports academic and civic engagement among pre-service teachers and increases their openness to take risks, accept challenges and question the status quo. Yet less than 25 percent of all teacher education programs provide their candidates with service learning opportunities.
This past weekend I participated in the Annual Meeting of the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) in Hartford, CT. The mission of the NNER is to facilitate (among its members) the simultaneous renewal of schools and the institutions that prepare teachers. Representing the Montclair State University Network for Educational Renewal, I had the pleasure of co-presenting with my colleague Dan Wolf, a six-year teacher from First Avenue School in Newark, NJ. For the past 4 years, we have collaborated on the undergraduate field-based course (Public Purposes of Education). The course is prerequisite for all candidates applying for admission into MSU’s nationally-acclaimed teacher education program.
In our presentation (“Service Learning an the Law of Reciprocity: Catalyzing Educational Renewal and High Quality Teacher Preparation”) Dan and I discuss the community service component of the course. Each student must complete at least 10 hours of service and support (the other hours are spent shadowing a teacher and participating in meetings). We use an online calendar for school teachers to post or “advertise” their service needs and MSU students monitor the calendar for opportunities that fit into their busy schedules. They contact the teachers directly and gain experience in navigating collegial relationships while engaging in professional communication.
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| Table 1. Service Activities at FAS 2010 |
Reciprocity is the rule as teacher education candidates gain privileged access to an urban school setting that is complex, dynamic and ever changing; simultaneously, MSU provides more than 3,000 hours of service every semester to Newark Public Schools. This service support is tailored to meet the authentic, felt needs of each of the 9 school sites that participate in this course partnership.The types of service activities vary across schools during any given semester (see Table 1).
If you’re interested in hearing more about using technology to facilitate service learning in teacher education [contact us].