Service-Learning in Teacher Education:
A handbook

Developed by:
National Service Learning in Teacher Education Partnership
(Sue Root, Jeffrey Anderson, Peni Callahan, Marty Duckenfield,
Don Hill, Terry Pickeral, and Rahima Wade).


Edited by:
Gayle Seals

The dissemination of this material is supported by the Corporation for National Service under Learn and Serve America Grant Number 00LHEMI206. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Corporation or the Learn and Serve America Program.

This Handbook is dedicated to:

Bob, with love and gratitude for your continued understanding, patience, and support;

Dr. Alan Stone for your vision and constant support of service-learning at Alma College.

Statement of Purpose

Service-Learning in Teacher Education: A Handbook is intended as a practical guide to empower teacher educators to take the first steps toward integrating high quality service-learning projects into their programs and courses. Service-learning is an authentic form of learning in which students engage in community service to meet real community needs, while at the same time strengthening their knowledge and skills. In the last decade, a growing number of schools and teacher preparation programs have adopted service-learning, in part because of disturbing national declines in civic engagement and efficacy, particularly among youth. Service-learning is based on the view that schools must play a key role in preparing citizens, and that the unique qualities of democracies require citizens with ability and character to share in the political process and work in concert for the public good.

This Handbook is the product of the National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership. This National Learn and Serve Project was developed by Dr. Rahima Wade to make training and technical assistance available to teacher education faculty seeking to incorporate service-learning into their programs. Beginning in 1997, NSLTEP's "directors" began to provide training and technical assistance to faculty at more than 50 institutions, gave workshops and presentations at regional and national conferences, and conducted 3 studies. This Handbook represents a portion of what we have learned about high quality service-learning in teacher education and the questions teacher educators must experience on their journey to creating effective programs.

Acknowledgements

This project would not have been possible without a Learn and Serve Grant from the Corporation for National Service to Dr. Rahima Wade. We would like to thank all of the teacher education programs which served as partner sites for the National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership. In addition, we would like to express our gratitude for the technical support provided by Robert Hertenstein II, Alma College.