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:
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
- 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.
