Abstract
The literacy tutoring program described in this chapter provided a service-learning opportunity for preservice teachers. Through service learning, the preservice teachers had an authentic teaching experience in which they applied the knowledge and skills they gained in the college classroom. The tutoring program was a form of community outreach that provided children with additional support in literacy. In their tutoring role, the preservice teachers served children and families by providing individualized instruction. This chapter begins with a review of the literature on literacy centers and the role that literacy centers play as a resource for service learning in teacher education. It will then describe how a university’s literacy center was revitalized to serve as an optimal environment for a tutoring program; share how the tutoring program was organized; describe the service-learning component of the courses in which the tutors were enrolled; and give examples of how the tutoring program supported the needs of preservice teachers and the children whom they tutored. The chapter concludes by sharing some of the challenges encountered in the service-learning tutoring program and making recommendations for how others may implement a similar program.
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Laverick, D.M., Paquette, K.R. (2017). Service Learning Through a Literacy Tutoring Program. In: Heider, K. (eds) Service Learning as Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education. Educating the Young Child, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42430-9_10
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