U of U SOC 3200 - DIVERSITY SERVICE LEARNING Syllabus

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SOC 3200-001 DIVERSITY SERVICE LEARNING SPRING SEMESTER 2010 – T/TH 10:45-12:05pm Prof. Theresa Martinez Office: 304 BEH S Office Phone: 581-5712 Office Hours: after class or by appointment Dept. Phone: 581-6153 E-mail: [email protected] Course Description: True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. ~ Arthur Ashe One thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. ~ Albert Schweitzer You really can change the world if you care enough. ~ Marion Wright Edelman One of things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people. ~ Dick Gregory You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson It seems fitting to introduce the task of the course with quotes from Americans whose words focus on the act of giving and whose context in the class will become apparent as the course progresses. This course is primarily an opportunity for U students to engage in community service work in the Salt Lake Valley working with diverse populations in various venues. The course will be focused on hands-on service work in the community. In addition, the course will explore issues of race/ethnicity, class, and gender through scholarly/empirical work, as well as provide the opportunity for students to develop leadership and presentation skills. Specifically, students will choose a service commitment location such as a detention center, a school, or an agency. They will make contact with and receive permission from the community site location to engage in service activities on-site or field work. Tuesday class meetings will be focused on discussion of course readings, visits from community guest speakers, and discussions of field work experiences. On Thursdays students will be on-site at their community service location or they can arrange to be on-site at a different time that is convenient in terms of resources and transportation. Either way, the class will meet only rarely on Thursdays with the expectation that students will be spending at least one to two hours per week at their assigned service site. I would like you to leave this course with: 1) hands-on experience with service work in the Salt Lake valley at an agreed on service site; 2) an expanded knowledge of concrete issues facing diverse populations in the community based on the site experience; 3) an expanded knowledge of the empirical literature on issues of race, class, and gender in the U.S.; and 4) a basis for critical thinking about issues facing diverse populations in the community. Grading: Your grade will be based on a sociobiography, field work and regular check-in, a reflection journal, and a final paper.Sociobiography (3-5 pages, TYPED Double-spaced) Writing a sociobiography entails writing about your life from a specific perspective. In this assignment you will write a brief biography focused on how your race/ethnicity, class, and gender have affected your life. Remember that each of us has a race/ethnicity, class, and gender even though we might not consciously realize their effects. For example, African Americans may be more conscious of their racial status than a white person. A white woman may be more conscious of her gender than a white man. A working class white man may be more conscious of his class status than a middle class Latino. If you focus, you will be able to see their effects whether positive or negative. Writing a sociobiography is a way for individuals to start thinking about themselves as a part of a large and complex society that both influences and is influenced by their actions. It is also a way to start thinking about how we are situated within a matrix of race/ethnicity, class, and gender in U.S. society and what that really means in concrete terms. More importantly, writing a sociobiography is a way to start thinking about how we are or are not privileged in this society with regard to race/ethnicity, class, and gender. Tuesday Class Meetings During the course of the semester, students will meet on Tuesdays during regular class hours to visit with community guest speakers, discuss class readings, and share thoughts, issues, and/or concerns. Thursday Field Work (1-2 hrs/week) Students are required to spend at least 1-2 hours each week at assigned service sites, engaging in a variety of service work. Reflection Journal (1-3 pages per week, TYPED Double-spaced) Each student will keep a reflection journal which will be emailed in each week. It is required that students write 1-3 pages per week, typed and double-spaced. The journal will be a way for students to reflect on their service learning experience over time, sharing anecdotes, fears, triumphs, or whatever the student believes is relevant to the service learning experience. Students should, whenever possible, relate their service learning experience to required reading. This should assist students in preparing for their final paper. By the second week of class, students should be email reflection journal pages by Thursdays. Final Paper (5-7 pages, TYPED Double-spaced) The final paper is equivalent to the final exam for the course. It will consist of an analysis of your service learning experience in relationship to required reading, particularly Patricia Hill Collins’ matrix of domination theory which will be discussed in the first week of class. The paper should cover three things: 1. A site summary section [no more than a page]—introducing the reader to your service site by describing what activities you engaged in on-site (this could be mentoring, sitting in on group sessions at a group home, etc…); 2. an analysis section [three to six pages]—this entails an analysis of your service learning experience with support from required reading with regard to issues facing diverse populations in the community. Quotations to support your analysis are acceptable, but make them very brief, indented, and single-spaced; and 3. a critique or evaluation section [no more than a page]--this section can be as dramatic as you choose to make it and must entail a personal opinion of the service learning experience, the task, or both--it is not meant to be a summary of what you have already written. Please DO NOT use


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