Service Learning
Teacher Candidates Travel to Underrepresented Communities in Jamaica Service and leadership are learned over a lifetime, as both CEHS faculty and students demonstrated on a recent service learning trip to Petersfield, Jamaica. The goal of the trip was to support teacher education candidates enriching their training by working with under-represented communities in need, but the experience proved a learning opportunity for everyone involved. “Traveling with the faculty and students of Teacher Education to rural Jamaica was a life transformative experience to engage in servant leadership,” said Shippensburg University Associate Professor Dr. Linwood G. Vereen. “The students and faculty embraced the opportunity to learn from our gracious hosts and other professional teachers in
the community and school settings. The students also displayed a high level of skill and competence when teaching and providing lesson plans in various schools. I was proud to watch them gracefully and professionally represent the Shippensburg University community.” Due to the lack of educational materials and academic manipulatives, math activities are minimal in Jamaican classrooms. Without hands-on math activities, children do not have a
developmentally strong number sense that is aligned with young children’s understanding. This is where Shippensburg University teacher candidates, staff, and faculty were able to showcase their educational talents and expertise. After researching best practices in early math development, teacher education candidates created lessons relating to mathematical content for children in 1st and 2nd grades. Not only did teacher candidates provide the math curriculum, but they brought along the educational supplies for four
“I am so thankful I had the opportunity to travel to
Jamaica on the service learning trip. Being able to travel with a team of future educators enhanced my college career by allowing me to step out of my comfort zone. It allowed me to experience a different way of life in a caring and accepting community.” Madelyn Snyder, Early Childhood Education, Senior
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C OLLEGE O F E D UCATI O N A N D HUMA N S ERVI C ES
