Each journal entry must contain three sections:
1) A brief description of the service learning activities you completed the week before.
2) A section describing course concepts that you observed or were able to apply during those service learning activities.
3) A guided topic, as directed for each entry.
Hint: There are several questions involved in this journal prompt. Although I grade the first entry leniently, just to give you some time to get used to the assignment, your grade this week will be determined in part by the completeness of your response. You might wish to print this page out and highlight each individual instruction to ensure that you have thoroughly addressed the prompt.
Guided topic for journal entry # 2: Think back to your impressions of the population your organization serves that you discussed in last week’s entry. In considering those impressions, do you become aware of any attitudes that you hold toward that population, your organization, or yourself? Explain.
Most community service organizations have a mission statement. What is yours? Usually you can find the mission statement on the organization’s website and/or printed material. If you are unsure, ask your site supervisor.
What (and whose) attitudes might need to change in order for your organization to accomplish its mission? In what ways does your organization go about changing those attitudes? Do they use the central route of persuasion, the peripheral route, or both? Do you think your organization is/will be effective in changing those attitudes? Why or why not? What advice could you, as a student of social psychology, offer to your organization to help them become more effective in changing attitudes?
For example, part of Montgomery College’s mission statement is to enrich the community. One way in which I strive to achieve that mission is to involve students in community service. In order to do that, I often need to persuade students that it is in their best interest to serve the community. In my developmental psychology courses, I use the central route to do this, pointing out to students the ways in which the development of today’s children will impact students’ own well-being in the future. (Note: This is just a quick example to get you started. Your answer should be more detailed and reflective than this paragraph alone.)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Journal #1
Each journal entry must contain three sections:
1) A brief description of the service learning activities you completed the week before.
2) A section describing course concepts that you observed or were able to apply during those service learning activities.
3) A guided topic, as directed for each entry.
Guided topic for journal entry # 1:
First, briefly describe your service learning organization, the population served by your organization, the type(s) of work you will do there. Why did you choose the service learning option? What are your goals for this project, and how will you know when you have met those goals?
Next, describe your initial impression of the population served by your service organization. To what factors did you attribute their needs for those services? To what factors do they attribute their own needs for those services? Have your impressions changed since then? Why or why not?
Have you seen examples of the fundamental attribution error during your service learning activities? Explain.
In what ways do the clientele of your service learning organization engage in impression management? Are these behaviors beneficial or harmful? Explain. Describe the ways in which you have engaged in impression management during your service learning activities.
How might your first day of service have been different if you’d known what you now know about social perception?
1) A brief description of the service learning activities you completed the week before.
2) A section describing course concepts that you observed or were able to apply during those service learning activities.
3) A guided topic, as directed for each entry.
Guided topic for journal entry # 1:
First, briefly describe your service learning organization, the population served by your organization, the type(s) of work you will do there. Why did you choose the service learning option? What are your goals for this project, and how will you know when you have met those goals?
Next, describe your initial impression of the population served by your service organization. To what factors did you attribute their needs for those services? To what factors do they attribute their own needs for those services? Have your impressions changed since then? Why or why not?
Have you seen examples of the fundamental attribution error during your service learning activities? Explain.
In what ways do the clientele of your service learning organization engage in impression management? Are these behaviors beneficial or harmful? Explain. Describe the ways in which you have engaged in impression management during your service learning activities.
How might your first day of service have been different if you’d known what you now know about social perception?
Introduction
The service learning project in this class will consist of the following:
1. Fifteen hours of community service with an approved organization to be completed throughout the semester.
2. Weekly journal entries. These will be reflective guided essays, roughly equivalent to 1-2 typewritten, double-spaced pages
3. A reflective essay (3-5 pages) at the conclusion of the project
4. A portfolio (optional)
Please understand that, while community service is itself a laudable activity, your actual volunteer hours will not be graded. They must be completed in order to earn a grade for the project, but all points will be earned through reflection and analysis, as described above. If you have selected the service learning option for your final project, your next step is to find an organization for which you can volunteer.
First, congratulate yourself on selecting a great project. This is my fifth semester to offer a service learning option, and I have been very, very pleased with the experience. Students have unanimously voiced similar sentiments. You’re going to learn a lot, and I suspect you’ll find the work very rewarding.
Second, visit MC’s service learning webpage here for a brief overview of the service learning experience.
Third, contact our service learning coordinator, Kris Borcherding, to sign up with an organization. Given the broad scope of social psychology, just about any volunteer work involving other people should suffice. It is best to work with an organization that already has an agreement with our office of student life.
Finally, once you arrange to work with an organization, submit the name of the organization and your point of contact using the assignment drop box. You must begin your volunteer hours by February 12 (at the latest).
1. Fifteen hours of community service with an approved organization to be completed throughout the semester.
2. Weekly journal entries. These will be reflective guided essays, roughly equivalent to 1-2 typewritten, double-spaced pages
3. A reflective essay (3-5 pages) at the conclusion of the project
4. A portfolio (optional)
Please understand that, while community service is itself a laudable activity, your actual volunteer hours will not be graded. They must be completed in order to earn a grade for the project, but all points will be earned through reflection and analysis, as described above. If you have selected the service learning option for your final project, your next step is to find an organization for which you can volunteer.
First, congratulate yourself on selecting a great project. This is my fifth semester to offer a service learning option, and I have been very, very pleased with the experience. Students have unanimously voiced similar sentiments. You’re going to learn a lot, and I suspect you’ll find the work very rewarding.
Second, visit MC’s service learning webpage here for a brief overview of the service learning experience.
Third, contact our service learning coordinator, Kris Borcherding, to sign up with an organization. Given the broad scope of social psychology, just about any volunteer work involving other people should suffice. It is best to work with an organization that already has an agreement with our office of student life.
Finally, once you arrange to work with an organization, submit the name of the organization and your point of contact using the assignment drop box. You must begin your volunteer hours by February 12 (at the latest).
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