In the Service of What?

I chose to do extended comments on Jessica Tenerella’s Blog (who did extended comments on Erika Lincoln's blog). Like her and Erika, I also had similar misconceptions and fears going into my school, and also a rewarding outcome.
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I really liked Jessica’s comment that as future educators especially, Service Learning is one of the most important experiences we can gain for our future careers. While I think volunteering can be beneficial to every high school or middle school student, I think that often they are just doing it because they have to, not to gain anything from it. I know this was the case with many students completing the community service hours at my high school. As we take more courses discussing diversity and analyzing the field of education, we begin to see more clearly the value of these experiences, and go into them looking to learn as much as we can. As Kahne and Westheimer state in the article, without a critical thinking and reflective component, students often won’t gain any deeper understanding of the people they are working with. But on the flip side, just learning on paper about those they are working with doesn’t provide them any real experiences to relate it to. One component is ineffective without the other. Often schools don’t have a service learning project that addresses both of these aspects completely however, so the potential is never achieved.

As with Erika and Jessica, I was also worried about the condition of the school, student behavior, and the area the schools are in. Since reading Kozol, you begin to picture all poor communities in the way he so vividly described. I had never been to the area my school was in, so not knowing what to expect, I expected the worst and went in with expectant images painted by Kozol, which did not accurately display my school or its community at all. Also like them, I was pleasantly surprised. The outside of the school doesn’t look rundown, although the inside is a little worn around the edges. It far exceeds my poor expectations of it. The students and faculty are great- warm and welcoming, eager to learn and help. They anticipate the days that I go in as much as I do, and are excited to work with me. Same as every kid they fool around, but that’s the thing- they are like every other kid; not disrespectful or any of the other qualities students in the article, or we for that matter expected. It was a great experience to be out of my comfort zone, and then to have my fears and worries turn out to be unfounded.

I LOVE Jessica’s final point- that teachers are in the most opportune place to follow Delpit’s lead and teach the culture of power.  We are the ones who are going to be responsible for shaping these little people, and giving them the tools they need to be successful, it is important for us to fully understand our own biases and ability to either make a positive or negative impact.