Cross Cultural Field Placements: Student Teachers Learning From Schools and Communities

Indiana University - Bloomington provides two opportunities for student teachers to perform cross-cultural, service-learning projects. Some students work on Indian reservations, some in overseas programs. All students are expected to work in a school in a more traditional student teaching situation, they are also required to perform service in the community, away from the schools. Students in both programs credited community members and children with having a strong impact on their own learning. Students learned more about the impact and affect of a community on a child than students in traditional placement settings do. (Contains 17 references.)