Capstone Faculty/Partner Resource Library

The University Studies Senior Capstone Program offers Capstone instructors, students, and Community Partners a library of resources on service learning instruction and other topics.  Items may be checked out through the front desk at University Studies in 117 Cramer Hall.

Below is a partial list of resources available in the lending library.  A complete list of items in the lending library may be found at this link:  Senior Capstone Lending Library 

Culturally Responsive Standards-Based Teaching:  Classroom to Community and Back
by:  Saifer, Edwards, Eillis, Ko, Stuczynski
Close the achievement gap by closing the culture gap. Teaching children from diverse backgrounds begins with simple questions: What is my culture? What are my students’ cultures? How does culture affect how I teach and how my students learn? Can I learn to value and honor the unique experiences and cultures of my students? These are essential questions for educators with a sincere desire to help all students succeed. This comprehensive guide provides detailed examples that show why and how to create culturally responsive, standards-based (CRSB) instruction in the classroom, schoolwide, and at the district level. Results of effective programs include:

  • Increased academic success for all learners
  • Engaged and motivated students
  • Development of critical thinking skills necessary for higher learning
  • Strengthened partnerships between students, families, and communities

This new edition is enhanced with nationwide examples, up-to-date resources, and tools that can be implemented immediately. Principals, administrators, K–12 teachers, curriculum and staff developers, and college instructors will find this handbook a valuable and powerful tool for promoting student engagement and improving struggling schools.

Learning Through Service: a Student Guidebook for Service-Learning Across the Discipline
by:  Christine Cress, Peter Collier, and Vicki Reitenauer
A student-friendly, self-directed guide to service-learning Develops the skills needed to succeed Clearly links service-learning to the learning goals of the course Combines self-study and peer-study workbook formats with activities that can be incorporated in class, to give teachers maximum flexibility in structuring their service-learning courses Promotes independent and collaborative learning Equally suitable for courses of a few weeks " or a few months " duration Shows students how to assess progress and communicate end-results Low priced “the ideal companion to disciplinary course readings Methodology and activities extensively tested at Portland State University Written for students participating in service-learning as a class, but also suitable for students working individually on a project This book is intended as a self-directed guide for college-level students who are engaged in service-learning. Though addressed principally to students participating in service-learning as a class, it is also suitable for students working individually. The authors " goals are to enable the reader to derive the greatest benefit from the experience “ in terms of providing meaningful service to the community partner, developing his or her skills and knowledge, and connecting back what she or he learns to course objectives and the framework of their discipline.

The Courage to Teach: Guide for Reflection and Renewal
by:  Parker Palmer and Megan Scribner
"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad — and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life." — Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction]

For many years, Parker Palmer has worked on behalf of teachers and others who choose their vocations for reasons of the heart but may lose heart because of the troubled, sometimes toxic systems in which they work. Hundreds of thousands of readers have benefited from his approach in THE COURAGE TO TEACH, which takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with themselves, their students, their colleagues, and their vocations, and reclaiming their passion for one of the most challenging and important of human endeavors.

This book builds on a simple premise: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique but is rooted in the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teaching takes myriad forms but good teachers share one trait: they are authentically present in the classroom, in community with their students and their subject. They possess "a capacity for connectedness" and are able to weave a complex web of connections between themselves, their subjects, and their students, helping their students weave a world for themselves. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts — the place where intellect, emotion, spirit, and will converge in the human self — supported by the community that emerges among us when we choose to live authentic lives.

Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses
by:  L. Dee Fink
Dee Fink poses a fundamental question for all teachers: "How can I create courses that will provide significant learning experiences for my students?" In the process of addressing this question, he urges teachers to shift from a content-centered approach to a learning-centered approach that asks "What kinds of learning will be significant for students, and how can I create a course that will result in that kind of learning?"

Fink provides several conceptual and procedural tools that will be invaluable for all teachers when designing instruction. He takes important existing ideas in the literature on college teaching (active learning, educative assessment), adds some new ideas (a taxonomy of significant learning, the concept of a teaching strategy), and shows how to systematically combine these in a way that results in powerful learning experiences for students. Acquiring a deeper understanding of the design process will empower teachers to creatively design courses for significant learning in a variety of situations.

Better Together:  A Model University-Community Partnership for Urban Youth
by:  Barbara Jentleson
''Barbara Jentleson led the development of a model university-community program, and in this book she shows how afterschool programs that enrich children's learning experiences can be replicated in communities across the nation. Better Together is a must-read for educators and policymakers who care about improving student performance.'' John Burness, interim President, Franklin & Marshall College
This is the dramatic story behind the transformation of Duke University from an isolated, exclusive institution to the dynamic, civically engaged campus that exists today. Better Together examines the first decade of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership (DDNP) and its involvement with Project HOPE, six quality community-based afterschool programs. The author uses case studies and extensive interviews with university and community leaders to describe the development of this successful partnership. The text answers many frequently asked questions about how to create partnerships and includes a range of programming activities that educators and community organizers can use to improve their work with all children, especially low income minority youth.

Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time
by:  Paul Rogat Loeb
Soul of a Citizen awakens within us the desire and the ability to make our voices heard and our actions count. We can lead lives worthy of our convictions.  A book of inspiration and integrity, Soul of a Citizen is an antidote to the twin scourges of modern life-powerlessness and cynicism. In his evocative style. Paul Loeb tells moving tells moving stories of ordinary Americans who have found unexpected fulfillment in social involvement. Through their example and Loeb's own wise and powerful lessons, we are compelled to move from passivity to participation. The reward of our action, we learn, is nothing less than a sense of connection and purpose not found in a purely personal life.

The Unheard Voices: Community Organizations and Service Learning
by:  Randy Stoecker and Elizabeth A Tryon
Service learning has become an institutionalized practice in higher education. Students are sent out to disadvantaged communities to paint, tutor, feed, and help organize communities. But while the students gain from their experiences, the contributors to The Unheard Voices ask, "Does the community?"

This volume explores the impact of service learning on a community, and considers the unequal relationship between the community and the academy. Using eye-opening interviews with community-organization staff members, The Unheard Voices challenges assumptions about the effectiveness of service learning. Chapters offer strong critiques of service learning practices from the lack of adequate training and supervision, to problems of communication and issues of diversity. The book's conclusion offers ways to improve service learning so that future endeavors can be better at meeting the needs of the communities and the students who work in them.

Turning to One Another:  Simple Conversations to restore hope to the future
by:  Margaret J Wheatley
"I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again."  With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes that people band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for real social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations, she argues, but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation.

"Turning to One Another" encourages this process. Part I explores the power of conversation and the conditions-simplicity, personal courage, real listening, and diversity-that support it. Part II contains quotes and images to encourage the reader to pause and reflect, and to prepare for the work ahead-convening truly meaningful conversations. Part III provides twelve "conversation starters"-questions that in Wheatley's experience have led people to share their deepest beliefs, fears, and hopes.

A Village in Versailles - DVD
by:  S. Leo Chiang (New Day Films)
After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many people, despite their own best efforts, threw their hands in the air out of desperation and fled New Orleans.  But the close-knit Vietnamese-American community in the Crescent City hung together and hung tough, despite the city's effort to erect a trash-mountain landfill next to their neighborhood.