For this reflective paper (minimum word count = 1,200) you will synthesize and analyze what you have learned and experienced in 157SL this semester.
Papers should be double spaced, carefully proofread and free of spelling, punctuation and syntax errors.
The paper must contain the following four sections:
I. Social issue/SOCIETY
- Select one of the social issues that we have discussed in class (income inequality, education, homelessness, food insecurity, digital divide, age and the elderly, climate change and social justice, etc). The social issue that you select must be relevant to your service site.
- Conduct some research on this topic, using additional (i.e. non-157SL) 5 sources. Sources must include at least two academic journal articles. Other sources may include an interview, newspaper and magazine articles, government reports, etc.
- Identify and describe the state of your chosen issue here in San Jose/Santa Clara county today.
- What is our local government and/or our local organizations doing about this issue? What is/is not working? What are the main challenges being faced here? What successes have been achieved?
- In this section you should Include facts, figures, statistics, etc. from your sources using in-text citations.
II. Your service SITE
- Describe how your specific service site is addressing the social problem that you selected. What specific measures, projects, and/or initiatives does your site undertake to address this issue?
- What are the main challenges that your site is facing in dealing with this issue?
- What successes has your site achieved in dealing with this issue? How has it successfully mitigated this social issue?
III. Your SELF
- Describe your involvement at this site. What did yourself do to address this social issue through your service hours?
- What impact were you able to make? How were you able to help your site address this social issue? How did your impact evolve over the course of the semester?
- What challenges did you face? How did you overcome them?
- What insights have you gained on this social issue through the entire 157SL experience?
- What skills did you gain through your 157SL experience?
- What are the next steps that you plan to take on this issue now that you are finished with our class?
IV. References
- Use APA or MLA to properly list all the references that you used in writing this paper, including your 5 additional sources and any course materials that you drew from.
in class on Dec 4, you will speak for about 10 minutes on the content of your
I recommend reading the final paper assignment description as it will be a good roadmap for your in class presentation. That presentation should include:
- The issue that you chose to research
- Your 157SL site, your activities there over the semester and how your site was impacted by and/or addressed your chosen issue of inequality. Help your audience see your chosen issue through the lens of your service site. Be specific.
- Your personal growth/learning outcomes from this experience. How has your perception of this issue changed as a result of all of the components of 157SL?
- Your next steps
Bring your choice of 1 visual aid of any type (photo, video, object, brochure, slide, handout, poster) to complement your presentation.
Group members will be encouraged to ask questions about the experience
