SAILS
Principle 5: Service

It represents a willingness to give of oneself and a commitment to personal standards and values that foster the development of a sense of caring for others.
- National and Community Service Act of 1990

Theme: Demonstrating community connections and commitment
Meeting the diverse needs of students involves not only meeting their academic needs but also understanding the social and cultural context in which these students live. Service involves active participation within the community. Being aware of the needs of the community within which the school is located helps create a more informed curriculum within that school. In addition, the events that occur within the community can not only enrich a child’s life but can also be critical ingredients to school success. Initial and advanced teacher candidates must know the communities in which they work and must contribute to those communities in ways that lead to the continuous improvement of the educational systems in which they work. Initial candidates must be prepared
There is an old truism in education that says that the effective educator is able to meet the child where s/he is and takes the child as far as s/he can go. In order to do this, educators must understand the whole child in context, not just what is seen in school but how the child is affected by his/her culture, his/her home, and his/her neighborhood.
Service in the community involves recognizing that there are important contextual variables, and this understanding comes from involvement in community service. In all our programs, we seek to prepare educators who not only know how to become involved community service, but more importantly, who choose to do it. This includes involving our students in fieldwork experiences, internships, mentoring programs, and other service opportunities that will enable them to become a part of the communities in which they teach and to truly understand the whole child. The result will be schools that truly meet the needs of their students.

Learning Outcome
The candidate:

• Seeks opportunities to contribute time and/or expertise to the community in which s/he works, lives or learns

Knowledge Base
Service demonstrates the integration of scholarship, attitude/dispositions, integrity and the leadership skills developed through the Unit. The Unit expects all candidates to engage in service to their communities during the course of their program. The purpose of this expectation is to cultivate the desire in our candidates to serve others by involvement in non-curriculum-based community activities (U.S. Department of Education, 1999). We believe that service represents the articulation of an ethical framework that values individuals and community. It denotes involvement in communities that may or may not reflect the candidate's attitudes and dispositions, but that allows the candidate to demonstrate his/her own values and dispositions toward others. It explicitly recognizes that teaching goes beyond the walls of the classroom to provide meaningful contexts for learning in the community. Giles, Honnet, & Magliore (1991) describe such service activities “as a philosophy of education…(that) reflects the belief that education must be linked to social responsibility and that the most effective learning is active and connected to experience in some meaningful way” (p. 7). Long ago, John Dewey (1916) advocated the belief that students learn more effectively and become better citizens if they engage in service to their community. Whether it is in a school, recreational center, house of worship, civic group, or a soup kitchen, a focus on service offers the teacher candidate the opportunity to connect to a community, to be in that community, and to be part of that community.