...And Justice for All : Community Service-Learning for Social Justice

Community service-learning, the integration of school or community-based service activities with aca­demic skills and structured reflection, is a growing movement in the field of education nationally. With funding and initiatives at the federal, state and private organizational levels, service-learning programs have proliferated in the nation\u27s K-12 classrooms, as well as in colleges and universities

Community Service-Learning Commitment through Active Citizenship

Anita, Marlene, Liza, and David are committed to empowering their students to work for community improvement and social justice through projects that focus on environmental protection, the isolation of senior citizens, the needs of the homeless, and animal rights, Each Friday, David\u27s fourth-grade class cares for the animals at the local animal shelter and publicizes animal rights issues in the community. Liza\u27s third graders bake and deliver bread every month to the local soup kitchen. Marlene\u27s fifth-graders are creating a Vaudeville Show using songs they are learning from the residents of a local retirement residence. Anita\u27s sixth-graders are working to reestablish a prairie in a nearby park. They, like many other teachers from suburbs and cities nationwide, believe that the social studies\u27 professed goal of active citizenship is best developed not just through reading a textbook but also through practical, hands-on experiences in which students identify community needs, develop action plans, and put their ideas into practice. Their students are developing firsthand knowledge about what it means to make a difference; at the same time they are learning valuable personal, social, and academic skills

Educator\u27s Guide

In the fall of 2003, the National Council for the Social I Studies (NCSS) was awarded a teacher training grant I from the federal Corporation for National and Community Service to fund CiviConnections: Constructing the past, creating the future. The NCSS proposal was one of just 8 chosen for funding in the new 2003 grant competition on Linking History, Civics, and Service. From 2003 to 2007, CiviConnections will involve more than 297 teachers and 7,425 3rd - 12th grade students nationwide in linking local history inquiry with community service-learning activities. Teams of three teachers apply for $7,500 grants to cover their costs for attending a summer workshop, implementing the program during the fall, and attending the NCSS Annual Conference. Dr. Rahirna Wade, Professor at The University of lowa, serves as project director. Dr. Wade and Dr. Linda Levstik, professor at The University of Kentucky, are co-facilitating the summer workshops

Developing Active Citizens: Community Service Learning in Social Studies Teacher Education

How are social studies teacher educators to prepare teachers for working in a society fraught with social, environmental, and economic problems? If the true mission of our profession is active citizenship, we must help our students learn the value of engaging in long-term efforts to revitalize our democratic society and the skills to respond compassionately to those whose daily needs cannot wait for societal transformation. This article is based on the premise that social studies teacher educators are in a unique position to develop future teachers\u27 commitment to giving their students opportunities for active involvement in the community and the world

Empowerment in Student Teaching Through Community Service Learning

The student teaching experience is probably the most influential phase of preservice teachers\u27 development within a teacher education program (Burstein, 1992; Griffin, 1989). In particular, the relationship between the cooperating teacher and student teacher plays a critical role in student teachers\u27 success. Preservice teachers are generally instructed to do as I do by their cooperating teachers. Thus, student teachers often find little opportunity to try out strategies they have learned in their university methods courses unless the practices are already in place in cooperating teachers\u27 classrooms. In addition, few researchers have attempted to discern how to enhance preservice teachers\u27 abilities to set their own goals and develop their own ways of teaching during the student teaching experience

Destination Democracy: An Educator\u27s Guide to the Activities

Destination Democracy is the high school service-learning curriculum produced by Kids Voting USA. Through the lessons and activities in Destination Democracy, high school students practice the skills of democratic living as they learn important civic lessons in the classroom and participate in activities in their communities. The service-learning activities in the curriculum focus on meaningful civic involvement through voting, voter registration, working for political candidates, educating young children about the political process, and addressing community issues of interest to high school youth. Destination Democracy can be used by high school teachers, club advisors, youth group leaders and others interested in engaging high school youth in service to their schools and communities. Why a service-learning high school curriculum? High schools are increasingly recognizing the need to involve young people in active experiences to help them acquire civic skills in their schools and communities. Combining service activities with academic skills and content in the high school curriculum creates opportunities for both meaningful community impact and important student learning. It is our hope that this curriculum will contribute to a revitalized democracy that includes American youth as informed and active participants

Service-Learning for Multicultural Teaching Competency: Insights from the Literature for Teacher Educators

The growing disparity between the largely White teacher population and the increasingly diverse student body in the United States (Hodgkinson, 1991;Jordan, 1995) has led to greater interest in how to en­hance pre-service teachers\u27 multicultural competencies (e.g., knowledge of diverse cultures, ability to teach children of color successfully, positive attitudes toward chil­dren and families of color). Given the low expectations for achievement held by White teachers for children of color and White teachers\u27 lack of interest in working with stu­dents (from cultures other than their own (Zeichner, 1993; Zeichner & Melnick, 1996a), it is imperative that teacher educators seek out successful strategies for educating pre-service teachers to teach effectively in diverse settings. The literature on multicultural education has clearly shown the shortcomings of using course work and didac­tic methods alone to achieve this goal (Grant & Secada, 1990; McDiarmid, 1992; Zeichner & Melnick, 1996a)

Service Learning: Meeting Student and Community Needs

This article describes a program through which students with learning disabilities and culturally diverse backgrounds, and their peers in the general education program, demonstrated their abilities to be service providers to many people within their community

Issues Involved in Faculty Implementation of Community Service-Learning in Teacher Education

This study examined how teacher education faculty from 21 institutions attempted to implement the curricular innovation of community service-learning. Faculty\u27s biggest successes were implementation of program/course changes, increased collaborations on campus or in the community, and perceived positive impact on pre-service teachers. Barriers to implementation included time, resistance, or inertia on the part of colleagues, limited finances, and other reform efforts and commitments that demanded immediate attention. The study highlights several key factors that contributed to faculty success: faculty ownership and involvement in decision making, site-specific professional development opportunities, resources to support faculty \u27s efforts, and written plans for implementation

Issues Involved in Faculty Implementation of Community Service-Learning in Teacher Education

This study examined how teacher education faculty from 21 institutions attempted to implement the curricular innovation of community service-learning. Faculty\u27s biggest successes were implementation of program/course changes, increased collaborations on campus or in the community, and perceived positive impact on pre-service teachers. Barriers to implementation included time, resistance, or inertia on the part of colleagues, limited finances, and other reform efforts and commitments that demanded immediate attention. The study highlights several key factors that contributed to faculty success: faculty ownership and involvement in decision making, site-specific professional development opportunities, resources to support faculty \u27s efforts, and written plans for implementation