Running Head: SERVICE LEARNING

Service Learning Reflective Summary

Aaliyah McGraw-Jones
Ivy Tech Community College

SERVICE LEARNING

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Service Learning Reflective Summary

Name of Artifact: Service Learning Reflective Summary

Date: April 14, 2016
Course: EDUC 101: Introduction to Teaching

Brief Description:
This was a 12 week assignment given to us where we had to volunteer 16 hours of our
time in a K-12 classroom setting of our choice. During this assignment we had the honor of
shadowing a teacher and working with them and their students one day a week for at least two
hours during our visit. We got to see and understand what its like to be in a school teachers
shoes.
Rationale:
To document my understanding of InTASC Standard #1 Learner Development, Ive
selected to share my experience reading with the kids I worked with. I chose this because when I
walked into the classroom, reading was a struggle for them. The teacher had so many task at
hand that she never had time to do one-on-one reading with all 18 of the kindergarten students.
When I arrived, that was the first thing she had me do. I would take one student at a time, and we
would start off at beginners reading and work our way up. If the students couldnt grasp on, I
would have them sound out the letters to me, and we would work together putting together the
word(s). Or I would have them look at the picture since most of the time the picture was related
to the word we were reading. However, I always reminded them not to always depend on
pictures because as they move forward in their reading, the pictures will disappear. They caught
on quickly and began using their fingers more under the words to sound these things out. This

SERVICE LEARNING

helped the students and the teacher dramatically. The students are moving higher on their reading
scale, and the teacher isnt stressing so much because she has someone to help her get reading
and other things out the way. I chose this standard because it shows that most students sometimes
do need one-on-one time in order to focus and learn better.

I had the pleasure of doing my service learning with Mrs. Dinns kindergarten class at
IPS George Washington Carver Montessori #87. Mrs. Dinn has been a teacher for 44 years, and
throughout her career she has taught all grade levels K-12. Her class has 18 students mixed with
all ethnicities. I worked with something a little different. I worked in a school that was on a
Montessori program. The Montessori program was created by Dr. Maria Montessori (18701952). She believed that early education shouldnt fill the child with facts from a pre-selected
course of studies, but rather cultivate the childs very own desire to learn.