Overview
You will need to submit an essay ofat least 3 pages (750 words double-spaced)in length
(you may write more if you wish) essay describing your reflections on your community service experience. Your reflection may include your reactions, feelings, observations, and ideas regarding your activity. At a minimum, the critical reflection should include: (1) a brief history/description of the organization that you are working for, its component parts, roles, activities, purposes, goals, the services it provides, etc.(~½ page) ; ( 2) a description of the nature of volunteer experience, the skills you used and/or developed through your activities; and most importantly,(~½ page) (3 - most vital!) what you learned as a result of this process, about yourself, the organization, the political system, the political process, the people you helped/people who live in the US, etc. In essence, you are asked to critically reflect on the experience, and your essay will be evaluated on how well you analyze the experience and how well you integrate what you’ve learned in the class with your community service project. (~2 pages) This last part is the most important part of the essay and should be at least half of your paper length. We will workshop in class how you can make connections to the course with the work you’re doing. But, if your essay does not show enough understanding of the course content and current events (and not paying attention to examples I give in office hours) you will likely see a grade deduction for the essay. How do I make connections to politics especially part 3 of the essay requirements? You can do this two ways, and I suggest you attempt both: 1) focus on yourself as a person, and student, a community member. How do you you see yourself in this work, in the community and your role in it, about yourself as a “political” person within the context of community locally, statewide and nationally? Compare
especially how you were or your perspectives prior to the assignment and at the end of the quarter. 2) Make connections in light of the content and material you are learning in the course and about politics in the US more generally. Are you seeing how politics works now vs before? Are there concepts in the text that came to mind as you were doing them? Which ones and how did they connect in your view? Are there broader more societal or political issues or views that came up for you as it relates to the organization, their mission, who they were helping or what they were trying to better/improve, etc? In either of the latter two cases, please provide citations to the textbook and/or the articles you have found that relate from the web. Some questions in addition that you can ask (and answer) that can help you develop this portion: ? What is the mission of the organization I’m working for? ? What is the purpose of the work I’m doing? ? Who am I trying to help and how? Think community. ? What are things I’m observing about the above as I’m doing this work? ? What am I learning about myself in doing this work, about community or political work? Volunteering? ? How does the above connect to what I’m reading in the text? Concepts? Ex: I’m working for 1500 Stories and we are transcribing interviews from people who are experiencing socioeconomic challenges. One thing that could help them is free community college, and education can be seen as a public good (chapter 1 of textbook).... ? How does the above connect to current political news or recent history? Ex: I’m working for Our City Forest and it connects to recent events, policies, government, proposed legislation in the following ways e.g. the environment, climate change, forest fires, bad air, Paris Climate Accords, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc