Service Learning in English Language Arts Teacher Education: for the Good of Teachers and Students

• In Event: Literacy in the 21st Century: Reenvisioning Teaching and Research

Abstract

Overview/Purpose
Studies show that young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer (Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996), and these losses are greater for low-income youth and youth of color, contributing to a widening of the achievement gap (International Reading Association, 2010). Unfortunately, this significant aspect of schooling cannot often be through traditional preservice secondary literacy education coursework. The proposed paper presents data from a summer reading program created to provide (1) low-income youth of color with authentic, high-quality literacy experiences and (2) preservice English language arts teachers with opportunities to teach, through service learning, in ways unsanctioned in the traditional school environment.

Perspectives
Service learning allows students to go beyond their university classrooms, connecting theory to practice within purposeful, genuine, and reflective experiences (National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2011). Service learning is a way for preservice teachers to become more culturally aware and better understand their local community’s culture and context (Boyle-Baise, 2005; Murrell, 2001), including its assets and needs. More importantly, service learning compels preservice teachers to “critique assumptions they bring . . . and to respect the different virtues and assets” of the students with whom they work (Jay, 2008, p. 257). Hallman and Burdick (2011) claim that incorporating service learning can create a pedagogical third space, disrupt the notion of teacher as authority figure, and promote respect for students’ out-of-school literacies.

Evidence
A case study approach is being used to study two years (2009, 2010) of the program which involved 43 students and 32 teachers. Two questions guide the analysis and presentation:

1. How do the preservice teachers’ beliefs about students change as a result of their service learning experience?
2. How are the preservice teachers’ pedagogical practices changed as a result of their service learning experience?

Using a range of data (e.g., 50+ hours of audio and video taped planning, teaching, and debriefing sessions; written reflections; interviews; artifacts) the paper shows how the format of the program—incorporating one-on-one, small group, and whole class instruction, high-quality young adult literature, and critical discussions —provided differentiated instruction that students needed in order to gain confidence and competence as readers, writers, and speakers. Intricately related to this, by learning how to differentiate instruction, the preservice teachers envisioned new ways to teach language arts. Most importantly, data analysis shows that teachers who participated in the program, now in their first or second year as classroom teachers, feel they are more aware of their students’ needs, are able to see students as individuals, and are more confident, critical literacy teachers.

Significance
With budget shortfalls, fewer and fewer public schools are able to offer summer programs that go beyond basic remedial courses, let alone learning experiences designed to promote literacy enrichment. University-sponsored service learning is an inexpensive alternative that benefits students and has the promise to encourage preservice literacy teachers to not only see students as literacy learners but also understand themselves as future literacy teachers (Hallman & Burdick, 2011).

Author

• Lisa A. Scherff, Florida State University