Final Paper - Step 3 of Community Service Project

Sociology

Final Paper – Community Service Reflection

DUE: Thursday May 18 , 2017

After completing your service hours, you must reflect on your community service experiences.   Please write an authentic paper using details of your own experiences and relate your community service experiences to sociology.

Similar to each blog post, the paper should meet the standards of the class:

Literacy – Please relate your experiences to a variety of different sources (readings, videos, websites, images) from the semester.  Thoroughly explain the connection between the source and your service experience.  Try to be specific about what aspect of the service related to the source.  Your grade will be based on the following scale:

4- Student thoroughly connects a variety of sources from personal research or experience to community service experiences in a detailed and specific way.

3- Student thoroughly connects a variety of sources from throughout the semester to community service experiences in a detailed and specific way.

2- Student connects source from throughout the semester either lacking in variety, thoroughness or detail.

1- Student fails to connect sources from throughout the semester and is lacking in variety, thoroughness or detail.

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- Look back over my blog for the various sources we looked at this semester.

- Use your textbook as a source if necessary.

- Use Socimages (link on my blog sidebar)

Sociological Content – Please connect your service experience(s) to the sociological concepts and terms we have used this year.  Please see the attached appendix for some suggestions of how to connect service experiences to sociology.

4- Student is able to connect multiple sociological concepts from different units in a meaningful and accurate way.  The connection is explained with irrefutable conviction.

3- Students is able to connect either multiple sociological concepts in a meaningful and accurate way with irrefutable conviction.  Or, the student is able to connect multiple concepts from various units but might lack some conviction, or leaving some meaning unclear.

2-  Student is able to connect a concept in a way that is either accurate or meaningful.

1- Student is unable to make connections that are accurate, meaningful.

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- Use the appendix on the back of this handout.

- The intro unit can be applied to every service opportunity.

- Research the organization that you worked with.  Find out who they help and why – this will give you ideas about how to connect to sociology.

Academic Expectations – Please write the reflection with proper prose, grammar, spelling and format.  Use .5-1.5 inch margins, 10-12 font, and double spacing.  Turn it in on time.

4- Student is able to do all of these.

3- Student misses one of these.

2- Student has 2 or 3 mistakes or is late.

1- Student has more than 3 mistakes or is late and has other mistakes.

TIPS:
- Be authentic.
- Spell check

Appendix A – Connecting to Sociology

Introduction:

            Sociological Imagination – how are the individuals who you served shaped by circumstances larger than their own personal choices.  How are they shaped by when and where they live? Sociological Mindfulness – consider how this experience makes you aware that you are a part of society and you have an impact on it. Social construction of reality – explain how individuals’ feelings and experiences are shaped by society.  Ingroups-outgroups – explain how belonging to a group affects your feelings and stereotypes toward outgroups.

Culture:

Identify unique elements in your service experience, such as: material culture, norms, values and sanctions. Consider how these cultural elements aid in the functioning of the organization and how they contrast with mainstream elements of culture.  How do American values play a role in the plight of those being served or in your service work?

Socialization:

Analyze the modes of interaction that you engaged in during your service. Where there differences in the way that you acted towards the clients versus other volunteers versus members of the organization?  Did you see any processes of socialization occurring with yourself or with the clients that you were working with? 

Deviance:

Reflect on the whether the organization or clientele of the organization where you were volunteering bears any stigma from the larger community.  Often times, community-service organizations have the primary goal of aiding individuals who carry a deviant identity.  Whether it is poverty, substance abuse, illness, age, disability, etc. Observe how the clients manage their stigmatized identities. How do the workers at the organization treat the clients?  Do the clients manage or reject the label of deviant?  How does the work of the organization help change societal perceptions of the stigmatized?

Social Class:

What role does class inequality play in their organization?  How is the organization funded?  How do community service organizations in general generate enough interest for people to volunteer their time and donate their money to help others?  How does charity fit into the American Dream ideology?  Do you believe that most Americans are willing to sacrifice some of their own wealth to help those in need? Why? Why not?

Race/Ethnicity:

Reflect on the racial and ethnic dynamic of their organization.  Is there a difference between the racial or ethnic composition of the staff, the volunteers, and the clientele?  Did your experiences of the racial or ethnic composition at the organization parallel your everyday experiences?  Have you gained any insight into a particular group? Explain.