Service+and+solidarity

**Service and solidarity: A blueprint for transformative relationships in a** **peer-mentoring service-learning partnership**  Bryan Sokol, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Service and Community Engagement, Saint Louis University [bsokol1@slu.edu] Janet Kuebli, Associate Professor, Saint Louis University [kueblije@slu.edu] Megan McCall, Ph.D. Candidate, Saint Louis University [mmccall@slu.edu] Leah Sweetman, Assistant Director for Service-Learning, Saint Louis University [sweetman@slu.edu] Mary Domahidy, Associate Professor, Saint Louis University [domahimr@slu.edu] Ann Davis, Ph.D., School Principal, St. Gabriel the Archangel Elementary School [adavis@stgabschool.org] Christine Holladay, Assistant Director for Graduate Support, De La Salle Middle School [cholladay@delasallems.org]  **Keywords:** Elementary and middle school,peer-mentoring literacy program**,** relationship patterns**,** power asymmetries**,** charity vs. solidarity **Track:** Community partnerships and reciprocity **Format:** Team presentation  **Date & time:** Thursday 2:00-3:10 <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">**Location:** Salon 1 <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">**Summary:** <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">The transformational potential of service-learning depends on the quality of relationships that emerge between the stakeholders of the service-learning partnership. Service-learning may originate in different priorities and values, be used for different reasons and purposes, and promote very different outcomes. This team-presentation brings together the principle stakeholders in a pilot-study of a peer-mentoring literacy program, where exploring these priorities, purposes, and potential outcomes is a central goal of the program. The program grows out of a conceptual framework that attempts to reverse the power asymmetries that emerge in service relationships. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">The pilot-program is an elementary school, peer-mentoring literacy initiative, called “Readers to Leaders” (R2L), that has emerged from a university-community collaboration. On the surface, R2L is a reading enrichment program involving older, 7th-grade students from one school serving as “reading-buddies” for younger, 3rd-grade students at the other. Although building literacy and civic understanding is an important goal of the program, its real merits come from the transformative relationships that are forged between the student participants, as well as between the institutions involved in the program’s assessment. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">The guiding framework for the R2L project follows from the work of developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget (1965/1932), and recent critiques within the service-learning literature. The framework distinguishes between two general relationship patterns that can be identified in most S-L partnerships: relationships of //charity// versus //solidarity//. We argue that the priorities and values underlying these relationship patterns translate into different service methods and outcomes. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Beyond describing the steps in an intensive community-university research partnership, our team outlines a conceptual framework that stands to advance S-L scholarship. From a theoretical standpoint, in particular, the project offers a novel integration of the S-L literature and developmental psychology. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">**References:** <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Bringle, R. G. (2003). Enhancing theory-based research on service-learning. In S. H. Billig & J. Eyler (Eds.), //Deconstructing service-learning: Research exploring context, participation, and impacts// (pp. 3-21). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Furco, A. (2001). Is service-learning really better than community service? A study of high school service program outcomes. In A. Furco & S. H. Billig (Eds.), //Service-learning: The essence of// //the pedagogy// (pp. 23-50). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Hart, D., Matsuba, M. K., & Atkins, R. (2008). The moral and civic effects of learning to serve. In L. P. Nucci & D. Narvaez (Eds.), //Handbook of moral and character education// (pp. 484-499). New York, NY: Routledge. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Kahne, J., & Westheimer, J. (1999). In the service of what? The politics of service-learning. In J. Clause & C. Ogden (Eds.), //Service learning for youth empowerment and social change// (pp. 25-42). New York, NY: Peter Lang. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Mitchell, T. D. (2008). Traditional vs. critical service-learning: Engaging the literature to differentiate two models. //Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Spring Issue//, 50-65. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Piaget, J. (1965). //The moral judgment of the child//. New York, NY: Free Press. (Original work published in 1932) <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Rosenberger, C. (2000). Beyond empathy: Developing critical consciousness through service learning. In C. R. O'Grady (Ed.), //Integrating service learning and multicultural education in colleges and// //universities// (pp. 23-43). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Ward, K., & Wolf-Wendel, L. (2000). Community-centered service learning: Moving from doing for to doing with. //American Behavioral Scientist, 43//, 767-780. <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;"> **Please click here to access a PDF of this page:** <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;"> [|Sokol_Service and solidarity-A blueprint for transformative relationships in a peer-mentoring service-learning partnership .pdf]

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