Opportunities in Service Learning.

Service learning—“service and learning blended in a way that both occur and are enriched by the other”—is a part of teacher education that, when coordinated with either a school or community program, can serve mutual goals.¹ Through service and the experience of helping others, high school students may choose music education as their vocation. Service learning can also reaffirm the choice of talented college students to become and remain teachers, which is essential to help alleviate the shortages in the profession.

According to the Alliance for Service Learning in Education Reform, service learning is a method by which young people learn and develop through participation in organized experiences that

• meet community needs
• involve collaboration with the school and community
• relate to each young person's academic curriculum
• provide structured time for a young person to think, talk, and write about his or her service activity
• provide opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real-life situations
• are a practical application of what is taught in the school
• help foster a sense of caring for others.²

Service learning is different from pure volunteerism because it involves a mixture of learning objectives and service. In addition, service learning provides structured time for students and other participants to reflect on the experience, and it gives them an opportunity to apply their acquired musical knowledge immediately. Service can provide a structured opportunity for students to derive their own meaning from the course to which it is connected. It becomes another component of the course in addition to assigned course content. The service experience and course objectives should enhance one another, and academic rigor should not be sacrificed at the expense of the service-learning project.

During service learning, high school students may, for example, have the opportunity to assist their school director in working with students at a feeder elementary or middle school. University students can be placed in school music classrooms to work with students individually or in small groups. These experiences can augment the theoretical knowledge that they are gaining in their courses. Another benefit to university students is that service learning gives them a practicum experience prior to student teaching that may lead to greater comfort and success during the student-teaching semester.

The study of music may be perceived by some as an elite activity, similar to perceptions of tennis and golf in sports. Service-learning candidates coming from suburban schools who receive placements in urban or rural settings may learn that students from other backgrounds also want to learn and excel in music. Several factors, such as the lack of access to private instruction or not owning a quality instrument, can place students from urban or rural programs at a disadvantage in state and district competitions. They can benefit from instruction provided by service-learning students as a by-product of a service-learning partnership. Working in urban or rural music programs may enlarge service-learning interns' view of these programs. They may see the students' potential and begin envisioning themselves as teachers in such programs.

After a few visits to the school setting, students can pick one specific, realistic objective that they believe they can achieve. For example, a high school or university student working with orchestra students may select correct instrument posture as his or her teaching objective. In a band classroom, a trumpet player may work with trumpet students to improve their embouchures. A choral-education major may decide to work with selected students on their breath support. Cooperating teachers can organize sectional rehearsals, and students can spend some time on specific issues. Formulating objectives like these is very important. In terms established by Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Elective People, it is crucial to begin with the end in mind.[3]

Along with formulating objectives, it is essential to state the desired outcomes, both formal and informal, before the service-learning project begins. An example of a formal outcome may be that service-learning interns will have an effect on one mutually determined aspect of student learning. From the viewpoint of the cooperating teacher, one desired outcome may be to provide small-group instruction for his or her students. Some outcomes are hard to measure, such as university students' gaining an increased sensitivity to students from a background different from their own or perhaps learning how to relate better to younger students. An informal outcome for a cooperating teacher may be the realization that the university or high school organization reached out to help meet a need.

Some of the practical requirements for setting up a service-learning project include clearly articulating the needs and resources of both partners in the project, establishing the program's activities and schedule, and determining the capabilities and limitations of interns working in the project. The schedule and activities will be unique to each situation. Typically, a university methods course will incorporate service learning over a quarter or semester. If their schedules allow, high school students may be able to work on service projects for an entire academic year, but more frequently they may spend an academic semester.

The needs of one party become the resources of the other; the high school or university service-learning program needs access to learners, and service recipients (the school or the community) provide that access. The community or school program needs individual or small-group instruction for its students, and service-learning interns can provide that instruction. Because teachers in host programs are generally not compensated, it is essential that both partners feel that they are benefiting from the program.

Even if university or high school students bring some teaching experience to the project, they need guidance in selecting objectives for the partner program. At a program in Lexington, South Carolina, fifty students enrolled in the service-learning program each semester meet with the service-learning coordinator one day a week to discuss their experiences in their respective programs. In a parallel program in Lexington, Ann Price teaches twenty-eight high school students enrolled in the Teacher Cadet program. These students attend class for several weeks before going into the elementary, middle, and high schools to work with other students. During the in-class sessions, the seniors discuss the concept of self-image, learn about teaching methods, discuss the structure of specific schools, and learn about the process of certification. In another program at a nearby university, college students first visit their service-learning partner as observers and then formulate their own program objectives with the guidance of the cooperating teacher and the university supervisor.

Those who participate in service-learning projects are encouraged to keep their objectives specific and measurable. Objectives, of course, can vary with the amount of time allocated to the experience. For example, service-learning students limited to four or five visits to a secondary school orchestra classroom may choose to work on shifting or bowing skills. In a band classroom, an appropriate objective may be to assist one section or a few individuals to develop instrument-specific skills. High school students can assist with clerical tasks or with tuning and warm-up procedures at the beginning of class. One high school teacher cadet worked closely with orthopedically challenged children to help make music more accessible to them.

The classroom management experience and skills of the students providing the service also need to be kept in mind. University students can generally cope with students in small groups, but may need supervision with a larger ensemble. To minimize liability issues, both service-learning students and those in the host program should always be within visual or calling distance of the cooperating teacher. The legal consultant for any educational institution will be able to provide guidelines for situations that may require a more formal mechanism to be in place. Many universities have a very specific liability waiver for practicum experiences. As service learning is used by more high school programs, it is likely that a specific waiver for those situations will also be developed similar to that shown in the Sample Waiver Form in figure 1.

Close physical proximity of the university or high school to the service-learning partner helps to minimize expenses. In an ideal situation, a high school may be within walking distance to a middle or elementary school. University students, who are generally legal adults by the time they are eligible to provide service learning, may be able to carpool to assignments. Since service learning is currently a key topic in several disciplines of education, there may be mini-grants available (contact Learn and Serve America at the National Service Learning Clearinghouse at 800-808-7378).[4] A small grant can help with transportation or allow students to choose supplies or materials, another activity that could contribute to their learning experiences.

One of the primary goals of service learning is to encourage reflection. Projects that integrate course material and the service-learning experience should be designed to encourage students to contemplate their experience. Students in service-learning programs are often required to keep a daily journal and use it as the basis for sharing their experiences in class. Here are some reactions to a service-learning experience that were taken from students' descriptions of working in their host school:

“I now feel as if I could teach in an urban setting.”—Beth R.

“I explained position and how it relates to sound production. I also told them that position could demonstrate their pride in their music program.” —Wendy H.

“Students were more open and talkative this time. I was able to ask them questions and actually get answers instead of silence. Students were more comfortable with me, and I was more comfortable with them. They thanked me for helping them.”—Becca D.

“I enjoyed interacting with this group. It dispelled some stereotypes that had seeped into my head from somewhere. I will not eliminate a job opportunity now that is at a school with students from a different ethnic background from my own.”—Melissa A.

Other typical assignments include writing newspaper articles or essays related to issues in teaching, keeping portfolios of work, and doing oral presentations. One project might be to assess the original instructional goal and evaluate how much progress was achieved. A service-learning student working to improve students' rhythmic understanding, for example, might develop an assessment tool to measure the necessary components (see figure 2 for an example of an assessment form for rhythmic understanding).

For a final project, service-learning interns could consider and explore additional goals and objectives, such as finding access to music instruction for inner-city students or introducing chamber music to an instrumental program. These topics might require more time and experience than were available to them during their service-learning semester, but working on final projects like these could help interns formulate goals for their future teaching. Students could be evaluated on the depth of resources, their presentations, and their ability to field questions. See figure 3 for an example of an assessment form for final presentations by service-learning interns.

The benefits to students who participate in service-learning projects include opportunities for personal, social, and intellectual growth. Service learning can also prepare students for the world of work and can foster a sense of responsibility to contribute to society. The recipients of service learning benefit by receiving extra instruction and having a role model who is fairly close to their age. Service learning and music teacher education are a winning combination. Eve Barker, the service-learning coordinator for Lexington High School, believes that the details of organizing placements and keeping track of the students are minimal after the first year. By that time, the placements that were the most successful become apparent, and the students are more aware of the expectations. Having witnessed the transformation that some students undergo, Barker wholeheartedly recommends the service-learning experience. “When you see the students in action, lighting up what they're doing, discovering their worth to the organization,” she says, “you have to believe it is worthwhile.”

1. Jeffrey B. Anderson, Kevin J. Swich, and Joost Yff, Service-Learning in Teacher Education (Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education), xi.

• 2. Alliance for Service Learning in Education Reform, Standards of Quality for School-Based and Community-Based Service Learning. Cited at www.closeup.org/servlern/sl_asler. htm.
• 3. Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989).
• 4. Service Learning Quarterly,

Service learning is different from pure volunteerism because it involves a mixture of learning objectives and service.

Figure 1. Sample waiver form

Note: This form is reprinted with permission of Lexington High School, Lexington, South Carolina. Those wishing to implement service learning into their programs are encouraged to develop a similar form in conjunction with whatever legal resources their school system can provide.

Figure 2. Sample assessment form

Figure 3. Sample assessment form

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): In a service-learning project, a university student might help middle school students in a band rehearsal.