MAKE IT LAST FOREVER: THE ... - National Service Resource Center

academic subjects. Some states
focus on measuring student
performance in service-learning
to ensure that standards of
effective practice are being
maintained by practitioners.
Pre-Service Education: In colleges of education
throughout the country,
service-learning is being taught
to future teachers in traditional
methods classes or, in some
cases, a service-learning
methods class, in order to
provide educators with the
standards and techniques of
effective practice. A practicum
can enable these teachers to
gain hands-on experience in
designing, implementing, and
evaluating a service-learning
experience.
Peer Mentoring: Many teachers have five or
more years experience
facilitating effective servicelearning
experiences, and their
wisdom can be tapped to coach
new or inexperienced educators
in the standards of effective
practice. This makes it easier
for hesitant teachers to
experiment with the approach.
Formal peer mentoring
networks at the regional, state,
and national levels can expand
service-learning practice,
facilitate policy development,
and highlight model initiatives.
31
First-year teachers who have
been trained in how to use the
approach are already oriented
to use it and so are more likely
to do so as they get accustomed
to classroom life. Over time,
assuming that more pre-service
programs get involved, the
entire profession of teaching
will shift to include servicelearning.
The colleges can also
continue to remain a resource
to assist teachers in refining the
practice of service-learning
once they are employed by
school districts.
Novice practitioners often find
it easier to learn from their
peers than from strangers at a
workshop, so the existence of
peer support can be a comfort
to those who are just beginning
to explore service-learning.
Also, it is a good way for
experienced teachers to share
their expertise, get credit for
their success, and cultivate their
skills in training others.
Networks of practitioners can
also address many important
issues across jurisdictions, such
as policy, regional celebrations,
Service-learning instruction is
limited to professional
development workshops for
current teachers, the resources
for which are scarce and
unreliable.
Without support, teachers may
feel isolated and have no
answers to their numerous
questions, which may translate
to giving up on servicelearning.
Information learned at
an in-service workshop may be
lost if it is not reinforced.