Chapter 9: Preparing Preservice Teachers Through Service-Learning: Collaborating With Community for Children and Youth of Immigrant Backgrounds

Service-learning is recognized increasingly as an effective pedagogical tool in teacher education. Service-learning is credited with pushing teacher candidates to rethink their own roles as teachers (Wade, 2000), to undo prejudicial or deficit-model thinking towards students who are different from themselves (Baldwin, Buchanan, & Rudisill, 2007), and to offer opportunities for learning that are starkly different—and more effective than—those offered in either the classroom or through practicum experiences (Sleeter, 2000). At the same time that it is celebrated for its contributions to teacher education, research on service-learning has been critiqued for its inattention to community perspectives and the voices of those who host service learners (Cruz & Giles, 2000; Stoecker & Tryon, 2009).