Running head: SERVICE LEARNING
Service Learning Centerton Elementary
Lindsay S. Toothman
Ivy Tech Community College
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INTASC Model Teaching Standards
Standard #9 Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually
evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others
(learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the
needs of each learner.
Description: I completed 8 weeks of service learning at Centerton Elementary School.
During that time I was able to interact with multiple grades and teachers. I assisted by making
copies, grading assignments, and reading to the class and spent a lot of time observing. In this
report I will summarize my experience and what I have learned.
Rationale: To record my experience while in the classrooms. As well as farther develop
my teaching skills by evaluating my observations.
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Service Learning Centerton Elementary
I had the wonderful opportunity to complete my service learning at a 4 star school,
Centerton Elementary School. During the eight weeks I spent at Centerton, I was fortunate
enough to be able to observe and assist in multiple classrooms. When I began my service
learning I told the students that I was excited to learn from both them and their teachers. That’s
just what I did during this time. I spent time in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades with 9 different
teachers.
Relate Service Learning Experience to the Classroom
During my service learning I recognized many qualities that make up a good teacher. As
our textbook mentions the 5 c’s, committed, caring, courageous, conscious, and centered (page
11). I witnessed many examples of these qualities in the teachers at Centerton. I saw commitment
in the teachers as they worked with students to ensure they understood. Their caring
characteristic’s showed through in the way they interact with their students, they seemed to
genuinely care and validate each child.
“To teach is to learn something twice” Joseph Joubert (page 70) I heard almost those
exact words from one of the 4th grade teachers. She said that she literally eteaches herself the
information the night before in order to feel confident teaching it to the students. As a teacher
you need to be as informed as possible on the subjects you teach while at the same time be
willing to admit you don’t know it all. I witnesses multiple teachers tell the students they didn’t
know the answer to that but offer to look it up. One of the first grade teachers regularly uses
Google to explore topics and to increase her student’s interest.
“Pedagogy is more than an art. It is also a science because it relies on careful
observations of students’ dispositions, students’ prior knowledge, and students’ responses to the
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activities and questions in which they are engaged" (page 70). I watched as the teachers work to
ensure the students were engaged and understanding the material. All of the teachers told me
they adjust their lesson plans based on how their students are grasping the concepts.
Personal Reflections
The teachers gave me valuable guidance from lessons they’ve learned throughout their
teaching careers. Some of the advice included simple things for classroom organization such as
assigning the students numbers and labeling things with their numbers rather than names so the
items can be used from year to year. The use of numbers also can streamline inputting grades by
having the students include their number as well as their names on the papers. They also offered
input on different technologies they used such as Plickers, Doceri and IXL.
I took time to explore each classroom. During my exploration I found creative ways to
encourage good behavior such as play money that can be used to purchase items donated by
parents, different versions of charts to track behavior, and a paper students mark if they
misbehave. One of the things I liked most when checking out classrooms was board tilted “What
you know, before you go”. I found this board in a 4th grade classroom, the teacher told me that at
the end of each day the students write down something they learned from class that day or they
could write a concern and place it in their folder on the board. This is a way of anonymously
notifying the teacher of bullying or other inappropriate behavior.
Future Teacher
During my time in each classroom, I was able to witness different interactions between
teachers and students which will help shape interactions with my students. I will take into
account the different strategies I saw put into use and their effectiveness. Every week, I was
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excited to go spent time in the classroom. I feel this experience confirmed that teaching is the
right place for me.
I also gained insight to teaching different grades. I began my service learning experience
thinking that I would prefer to teach k-2. After observing the 4th and 5th grades I am now able to
see the pros of the older grades as well. While I still see myself teaching the younger grades, I
am now more open to the idea of teaching older children as well. I hope to gain farther
experience teaching with multiple grades throughout my education.
Summary and Recommendations
My Service Learning experience was different than most. I would recommend all
students have the opportunity that I did. However, I would love to have more time for each class.
I spent my first 5 weeks switching between the 1st grades classrooms from week to week. Then, I
observed each class in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades for one hour each. It was interesting to see the
differences in teaching styles. In some cases I was able to observe the same lesson being taught
by two teachers. The only negative to this approach is a lack of hands on experience. When I was
with the 1st grade, I was able to work with the children more and help the teacher to organize and
other tasks rather than only observing in the other grades. Overall I feel I had an incredible
experience and learned a lot during my Service Learning. I look forward to future experiences in
the classroom.
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References
Koch, Janice (2014). Teach Student Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning