To Address Student Diversity
Christopher often compared his service-learning work with previous volunteer-based
interactions with students. During his interview, Christopher noted that before taking the
service-learning course “I never really considered high school, I never really considered
alternative school.” He found that the purpose of the class, for him, was to expose him to
“a different route in education or environment in education” and that by tutoring at the
alternative school he was coming to “recognize that when we talk about providing quality
education for all students, that includes those who are in the untraditional settings.”
Christopher went on to explain the importance of recognizing the diversity of students
within different school settings. Christopher was primarily concerned with the
ways that teachers differentiate their instruction based on students’ learning styles and
needs. Specifically, Christopher referenced the classroom teacher with whom he
worked at the alternative school. He recognized that by coming in to tutor certain students,
he was freeing the teacher up to “focus in on the rest of the class.”
Ricky shared that through his service-learning work and his readings for class, he
was coming to understand that not all students were like him, and that their experiences
in schools may be very different from the classes he took as a high school student.
Specifically, Ricky shared that tutoring “definitely makes me um, consider
students that were, are different than the, like the mainstream, the usual.” Ricky then
transitioned into what this student diversity could mean for his teaching: “I’m gonna
have students who don’t wanna be there or aren’t um at the grade level and so you
know being at these classes makes me think about what I’ll do in those situations.”
Both Christopher and Ricky realized that teachers must constantly shape their instruction
to fit the diverse needs of students.
Tutoring at the alternative school encouraged all of the participants to more closely
analyze the students with whom they were working. To make sense of their observations
and interactions, participants often drew on their own PreK-12 experiences and
used these reflections, coupled with their service-based student interactions, to consider
the implications for teaching.