Praxeological Learning: Service-Learning in Teacher Education
Presentation Format
Panel Discussion
Intended Audience
All Audiences
Presentation Description
With recent educational reform through the implication of the Common Core Standards, “Praxeological Learning: Service-Learning in Teacher Education” provides a renewed examination of educational transformation through the lens of teacher preparation. Given administrative and curricular constraints that many teachers and schools are facing, this panel presentation seeks to grapple with how teacher education programs are advancing our understanding and knowledge of service-learning with preservice teachers. This session will include five papers that call attention to the transformative potential of service-learning engagements among teachers, students, and community partners across urban and rural contexts. By focusing on community partnerships with K-12 classrooms and pre-service teacher education programs, the papers, collectively, present research evidence that attempts to address the question, “how does service-learning and teacher education become rooted in academia, in communities and community members” in order to first illustrate the way such a concept becomes embedded with the multiple ideologies, values, and beliefs. Therefore, the panelists explore how such engagements might inspire emerging, hybrid definitions of praxeological education rooted in the diverse perspectives and languages of teachers, students, and community partners, as well as the texts of which they make use (i.e., the word and the world-texts and communities). In light of these five different components of service-learning, the panelists also consider the shift within these local contexts from thought to action - from word and theory to praxis. They take up theories of learning that situate people in context with one another and recognize the value of the social interactions afforded through engaged pedagogies.
In Of What Use Is It? Multiple Conceptualizations of Service Learning Within Education, Dan Butin (2003) wrote, “[is service-learning] a voyeuristic exploitation of the cultural other that masquerades as academically sanctioned servant leadership?” (p. 1675). As we continue to reject these notions of service-learning practitioners only serving the community, the panel presenters will discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical ways that “social actors” (i.e., educators, community members, youth, and researchers) have engaged in service-learning initiatives in an effort to think differently about literacy, learning, and participation. In doing so, the panelists are attentive to pushing the conceptual boundaries of service-learning, re-imagining educational spaces, and examining the role of dialogue and agency in ethical educational research. Followed by the panelist presentations, a scholar in service-learning will reflect upon the main themes of the session in order to further help educators, teachers, and students work at co-constructing transformative research agendas that promote epistemological shifts toward a praxeological-learning pedagogy.
Location
Room - 1005
Start Date
4-14-2016 3:15 PM
End Date
4-14-2016 4:30 PM
Recommended Citation
Winterbottom, Christian; Lake, Vickie E.; Nemeth, Emily; Butler, Tamara; and Arrington, Nancy, "Praxeological Learning: Service-Learning in Teacher Education" (2016). Gulf South Summit on Service-Learning 2016. 3.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gss/2016/2016/3
Praxeological Learning: Service-Learning in Teacher Education
Room - 1005
With recent educational reform through the implication of the Common Core Standards, “Praxeological Learning: Service-Learning in Teacher Education” provides a renewed examination of educational transformation through the lens of teacher preparation. Given administrative and curricular constraints that many teachers and schools are facing, this panel presentation seeks to grapple with how teacher education programs are advancing our understanding and knowledge of service-learning with preservice teachers. This session will include five papers that call attention to the transformative potential of service-learning engagements among teachers, students, and community partners across urban and rural contexts. By focusing on community partnerships with K-12 classrooms and pre-service teacher education programs, the papers, collectively, present research evidence that attempts to address the question, “how does service-learning and teacher education become rooted in academia, in communities and community members” in order to first illustrate the way such a concept becomes embedded with the multiple ideologies, values, and beliefs. Therefore, the panelists explore how such engagements might inspire emerging, hybrid definitions of praxeological education rooted in the diverse perspectives and languages of teachers, students, and community partners, as well as the texts of which they make use (i.e., the word and the world-texts and communities). In light of these five different components of service-learning, the panelists also consider the shift within these local contexts from thought to action - from word and theory to praxis. They take up theories of learning that situate people in context with one another and recognize the value of the social interactions afforded through engaged pedagogies.
In Of What Use Is It? Multiple Conceptualizations of Service Learning Within Education, Dan Butin (2003) wrote, “[is service-learning] a voyeuristic exploitation of the cultural other that masquerades as academically sanctioned servant leadership?” (p. 1675). As we continue to reject these notions of service-learning practitioners only serving the community, the panel presenters will discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical ways that “social actors” (i.e., educators, community members, youth, and researchers) have engaged in service-learning initiatives in an effort to think differently about literacy, learning, and participation. In doing so, the panelists are attentive to pushing the conceptual boundaries of service-learning, re-imagining educational spaces, and examining the role of dialogue and agency in ethical educational research. Followed by the panelist presentations, a scholar in service-learning will reflect upon the main themes of the session in order to further help educators, teachers, and students work at co-constructing transformative research agendas that promote epistemological shifts toward a praxeological-learning pedagogy.
Program Abstract
This session will focus on five different, yet interrelated projects that investigate the transformative potential of service-learning engagements among teachers, students, and community partners across urban and rural contexts. Collectively, the panelists ask how these engagements might inspire new, hybrid definitions of praxis rooted in the diverse perspectives of teachers, students, and community partners, as well as the texts of which they make use (i.e., the word and the world texts and communities).