A manuscript written by three recent University of Wisconsin-Platteville School of Education graduates was published in the Spring 2019 issue of New Teacher Advocate, a quarterly professional journal that Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education, designed to support new teachers.
The UW-Platteville alumni who wrote the article, all former KDP members, include Kaila Buchholz (May ’18), Peter Wilkinson (Dec. ’18) and Daniel Halterman (Dec. ’17).
In the article, “Service Learning at Any Grade Level,” Buchholz, Wilkinson and Halterman define service learning, outline eight steps to implement service learning and explain how to engage students in service learning at all levels. The article was the culmination of two semesters of work.
“We hope the article will help new teachers feel empowered to implement service learning within their own classrooms,” said Buchholz.
The process of developing the manuscript involved writing, re-writing, editing and accepting constructive criticism from Michelle Melani, managing editor of New Teacher Advocate, about how they could strengthen the article.
“We rarely publish articles written by undergraduate students,” said Melani. “I was really impressed with their willingness to work through several drafts of the manuscript to craft a document that skillfully explains to new teachers the benefits of service learning and how to implement it in their classrooms.”
“This writing experience was so eye-opening to me,” said Buchholz. “It was a true demonstration of perseverance. We were rejected so many times and every time we revisited the article and made the necessary changes.”
“When the students started this project, they had not read professional journals, had not conducted research and were not accustomed to writing draft after draft after draft,” said Dr. Rea Kirk, education professor at UW-Platteville and KDP faculty co-advisor. “Despite frustrations, hurdles and many new challenges, all three persevered with smiles and great attitudes. I am so proud of them, that they were willing to try something that was not even in their dreams before, and to achieve far beyond what they thought they could.”
All three UW-Platteville graduates secured teaching positions not long after they graduated. Buchholz is a kindergarten teacher at Pleasant Hill Elementary School in Winfield, Illinois; Wilkinson is a special education teacher at Platteville High School; and Halterman is a fourth-grade teacher at Stanley-Boyd School District in Stanley, Wisconsin.
In addition to her work on the published article, Buchholz presented a workshop on service learning to professors, graduate students and teachers at KDP’s International Convocation in Pittsburgh in October 2017. She also co-presented at the same conference on how to get published.
To read “Service Learning at Any Grade Level,” visit https://bit.ly/2Tgg5WI.