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Using Service Learning to Integrate Art, Literacy, and Reflection with Infants and Families
The pale blue, cement-block room Is abuzz with activity. Preservice teachers are paired one-on-one with babies ranging In age from 2 to 18 months. All are scattered around the room on the carpeted floor and are engaged In a variety of sensory activities.
Nine-month-old Chelsea sits on the floor with a colorful abstract painting nestled In her lap. She runs her little fingers across the textured surface as Tara, a student volunteer sitting beside her, describes the different colors and textures. "Look at the magenta shape here. Do you like this color?" Tara points to Chelsea's shirt. "You have a little bit of magenta in your shirt." Chelsea looks at her shirt and smiles. "Does the shape feel a little bumpy?" Tara asks as they continue to look for other colors in the painting and then find them in Chelsea's clothing. All the while, Chelsea has a pleasant smile on her face.
When the session ends, families come to pick up their babies. Tara shows Chelsea's mom the painting, then talks about the colors and shapes she and Chelsea explored. She gives Chelsea's mother a postcard of the painting to take home so that mom and baby can enjoy the painting together.
This scenario took place during a service-learning project for education majors at Owens Community College (OCC) in Perrysburg, Ohio. Each Saturday for 10 weeks, OCC preservice teachers traveled to Baby University (https://babyutoledo.com), a nonprofit organization in Toledo, to offer integrated art, language, and literacy experiences to infants and their families in an area experiencing economic insecurity. The average household income in Baby University's geographic area is a little over $25,000 a year, while 40 percent of households report no earnings. About one-third of families (33 percent) have a single guardian. Sixty-two percent of the population has a high school diploma, while 21 percent did not graduate from high school. Sixty-four percent of households report as White, and 22 percent report as Black (USPS, n.d.). Due to numerous challenges, many children in this area do not meet kindergarten readiness standards (Dunphy & Brodsky 2019).
The OCC project was created by Dr. Kathy DankoMcGhee (first author), who was chair of the...