Becoming a Reflective Community Service-Learning Professional

This chapter introduces some of the fundamentals, opportunities, tensions, and challenges frequently encountered in this work and offers a framework for reflecting on the many questions that will arise during your development as a community service-learning professional (CSLP). This framework is based on the concept of the reflective practitioner, as articulated by Donald A. Schon (1983). By being a reflective practitioner, you can access your own compass - as well as recognize the compasses from which others draw - which can guide you through this often uncharted path you have chosen. You will find questions and exercises throughout this chapter to guide your reflection and assist you in building your knowledge base, your toolkit of strategies, and, most important, your own capacity to ask, sit with, struggle with, and over time, work through the inevitable questions as a reflective practitioner. Rilke's (1954) call to "love the questions" rather than rush to create premature solutions is a powerful tool for the reflective CSLP. The questions you will raise and encounter in this field cannot be answered quickly. Instead, with reflection over time, clarity can emerge on how to institutionalize the values of community service-learning in ways that contribute toward the missions of communities, students, and higher education. [author]