SSLC 1000 Integrating SeminarFall 18

Instructor Section

Student Facilitators

Time Place

Seminars begins the week of August 29

“In critical learning, critical analysis, critical reflection, or critical pedagogy-individuals must examine power relations inherent in the situation or context; question the underlying assumptions on race, gender and class; and understand its connection to the dominant ideology. Stephen Brookfield “Transformative learning as ideological critique” Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. San Francisco; Josey Bass, 2000.

Fourth Hour" Seminar is atwo-semester(onecredit per semester)graded course fulfilling the requirement for members of the Sophomore Service Learning Community. It isthe integrating component to your academic course, your service.Topics include inequities in education, racism, segregation, incarceration, gender, poverty and illiteracy. Through course content (readings, class discussions, written assignments and yearlong service placement), youwill be making connections between theory and praxis-- between what can be read and learned in the classroom and your experience at your service site. You learn for the sake of others.

Student Learning Objectives: We are a communitythat seeks to serve the common good through acquisition of knowledge, action and reflection.

1.Integrate the service experience and classroom learning through written reflection and dialogue

2.Engage in dialogue about the issues that affect the people we serve that takes seriously the perspective of others.

3.Acknowledge and be critically aware of social narrative, policies and practices that hurt or harm the people we serve.

4.Discover and challenge normative assumptions about social reality that each of us has acquired.The learner will raise questions and unlearn assumptions. (a thing that is accepted as true without proof)

5.Develop awareness of identity markers (race, class, gender…) and historical and sociological factors that have established and contributed to poverty, racism, ableism

6.Participate in advocacy, research and/or action that positively contributes to the community in which we serve.

7.Enter into a reciprocal relationship with the community in which each of them becomes teachers and learners, served and servant.

Requirements

  • Participation in three components of SLC is a condition for membership in SLC and residency in Alumni Hall (SSLC approved course,weekly service and 4thhour seminar)
  • Consistent and active participation in fourth hour seminar includes preparation and discussion based on readings assigned for seminar, course content and service.
  • One Community Action Project due April 2019
  • Attendance at SLC events: One social justice lecture each semester, Community Partnership Dinner, Martin Luther King Jr. lecture (January 2018), Community Meeting January and Celebration dinner. There are other community events which are optional.
  • For information regarding SLC events and announcements you are responsible for information in the weekly newsletter “SCOOP.” If you are not receiving the SCOOP please let us know.

Required Text

Readings for each week will be on the Sophomore Service Learning Community Website--fourth hour readings see

Guidelines for Dialogue.

  • Listen and participate
  • Lean into discomfort: ask questions, challenge ideas and not the person Be Honest even if stand alone.
  • Raise Questions: The questions you raise may be more important than the answers
  • Understand the difference between, opinions, assumptions and ideas based on acquired knowledge
  • Each group will make up their own additional guidelines for their group including these principles
  • Respect Encompasses all other guidelines

Some ground rules for class:

  • Attendance. Since this course is primarily experiential in nature, you need to attend all classes and service. Students who have more than TWO unexcused absences either in fourth hour or service may NOT PASS the class. Your instructor will determine whether an absence is excused or unexcused.
  • Cell Phones are Off during Fourth Hour
  • Assignmentsare in the syllabus, Links to the readings are on the Office of Service Learning Website. See
  • Written Assignments: All written assignments are turned into your instructor and student facilitators in the format that your instructor approves 24 hours prior to fourth hour.
  • Comfort zone. Some of the material may be new and different, and will touch on sensitive subjects such as religion, politics, poverty andrace. If you are in any way uncomfortable with anything that comes up, please let a member of the leadership team know.
  • Copies of work. Please keep copies of all the work that you submit for the entire course.
  • Disabilities. Villanova seeks to make reasonable academic accommodations for students with disabilities. If you are a person with a disability, please contact me outside of class, and make arrangements to register with the Learning Support Office (610-519-5636; ).
  • Academic Integrity. There will be a number of short reaction papers or other assignments for this class. These will be based on your experience and the materials covered in the course. In producing these works, you are expected to follow the normal rules of academic integrity regarding plagiarism and collaboration. If you for some reason do consult any other sources in preparing any of these papers, you must include footnotes and a formal bibliography, following the principles laid out in Easy Writer by Andrea Lunsford, which is required for your ACS Seminar. You are free to share your thoughts and journal and reflections with others at any time regarding the reading for this course. Discussion outside the classroom is highly encouraged provided your written assignments are your own work.
  • Final Grade. You will receive a grade for fall semester in December and in May for Spring Semester.

Calendar of Events for SLC ***Mandatory Events are in place of fourth hour****

Saturday 8/25 / 9-5pm / Move in / Your residence hall
Sunday 8/26 / 9:30-6 / Orientation / Garey Hall rooms TBA
Monday August 27 / classes start
Friday, September 14 / 4PM / Bryan Stevenson one book event / Villanova Room
Monday November 5 / 6pm / * Community Partnership Dinner / Villanova Room
Sunday, December 9 / Christmas Celebration
Open House for Freshman / Alumni Gym
Friday December 7 / Last day of Service
Wednesday, Jan 16 / 7-9pm / ***Community Meeting
Week of January 21 or 22nd / ?? / ***MLK Jr. Memorial lecture / Time and Day TBA
January 24 / All day / ***Freedom School / Villanova Room
Monday, January 28 / TBA / Fourth hour begins 2nd semester
Wed. April 25, 2018 / 6-8:30 / ****Celebration dinner CAP project presentations / Villanova Room
Sunday, April 26th / Last day of service

*Community Partnership Dinner Teachers, agencydirectors, partner liaisons to join us for dinner and a panel, we learn about their needs, a little about why things are the way they are as well as the impact of Villanova SLC service for them and their students or constituents.

**Community Meeting: SLC and Caritas gather to hear the perspective of others with an open mind and open heart.

***Spring SLC lecture: You can attend the MLK Jr. Memorial lecture or Freedom school in place of 4th hour.

****Celebration Dinner-CAP Project Presentation: SSLC and Caritas come together to share thoughts, give thanks and share community action projects chosen as nominee for SLC award.

Events you might be interested in attending

  • Service Break experience Applications–See Campus Ministry Web site for Application deadlines.
  • September 22Villanova’s Day of Service We Strongly encouragesyou to participate in the day of service. Your regularly scheduled service has not been cancelled.
  • November 12 Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week-Campus Ministry
  • Monday, January 20 MLK Day of Service-

Graded activityPercent of final grade

Participation in Fourth Hour:60 points

Written Work40 points

Attendance at Service2 unexcused absences may lower your grade by one letter

Criteria for grading written work: Written Work: Written work will be evaluated by content, ideas, conceptualization, and synthesis.Mechanics and grammar, clarity and content, and conciseness will also be considered. Grades will be reduced for poor quality including sloppy workmanship, incomplete sentences, unintelligible answers, inattention to details, and not following instructions

  • “A” 80-100 The essay responds to the prompt and is thoughtful, well written, and insightful. Student has achieved a balance of description and reflection. Students have described their experience at service and reflected on those events through the lens of their own history and opinions, SLC course reading and discussion and fourth hour readings.
  • “B” 60-80 Work completed with competence. Student has described their service experience and reflected on those events in meaningful ways but may not demonstrate the ability to include outside resources such as SLC course, fourth hour readings and previous discussion in 4h hour.
  • “C” 40-60 Work completed in a cursory but passable fashion. Work is descriptive and perfunctory with little evidence of reflection.
  • “D-F” 0-40 pts: Work not completed with any degree of competence or concern for service and must be re-done to gain passing grade. The journal is dishonest and completely ignores the basis of the course, or incomprehensible due to errors in language or structure of the essay.

Service: Attendance at your service site is integral to your participation in 4th hour. Instructors and facilitators will ask if you attended service each week. Two unexcused absences may result in loss of once letter grade.

How is class participation evaluated?

Strong work
4-5 points / Needs development
2-3 points / Unsatisfactory
0-1 points
Listening / Actively and respectfully
listens to peers leadership and instructor. Connects personal comments to the comments of others in the group. / Sometimes displays lack of interest in comments of peers. / Projects lack of interest or disrespect for peers
Preparation / Arrives fully prepared at every session with notes on readings observations and questions. Comments refer to SLC course, reading and assignments. / Sometimes arrives unprepared or with only superficial preparation. / Exhibits little evidence of having read assigned material or completed l essays.
Frequency of participation / Frequent and meaningful contribution to seminar. / Sometimes participates but at other times seems “tuned out” / Seldom participates
Quality of contributions / Comments reflect a complex application, understanding and of knowledge connected to service experience. Raises relevant questions for the group and for themselves. / Comments sometimes betray lack of preparation or lack of perspective. Shows some empathy and/or deeper observation but lacks context or knowledge. / Comments reflect little understanding of either the assignment or connection to service or SLC course. Inability to consider the perspective of others.
Impact on seminar / Comments frequently advance the seminar through challenge, questions or making connections between course work, service and content of seminar. / Comments sometimes advance the conversation, but sometimes are tangential. / Comments do not advance the conversation or are actively harmful to the process.

Week of (WK #) Topic—reading and written assignments

Written assignments are 1 or 2 page reflective essays.

8/271Reviewing syllabus—Becoming 4th hour

Reading: Why Serve: Dialectic of Service and Learning

Written: Life Line(see end of syllabus)andrespond to the question, Why Serve?

9/32Dialogue—Agree/Disagree

Reading: Pedagogy of the Oppressed Chapter 3 pages 1-4

Written: How do you think dialogue can or has transformed you or social policy or practice? Name 5 to 10 ways you want the world to change.

9/103Who is Bryan Stevenson? Service Learning in chapter 1.

Reading: Chapter 1 “Higher Ground” Just Mercy

Written: Write about an experience that propelled you to want to serve others or changed the way you think about what is right or wrong or just. Develop 3 questions for 4th hour.

9/14 SLC Fall Lecture Bryan Stevenson 9/14 @ 4pm Villanova Room

Poverty

9/174Reading: Theories of Poverty, Who or What is to Blame? pp. 13-23

Written: Respond to the questions: What is Poverty? Who is responsible to find a solution? Develop 3 questions for fourth hour about justice?

9/24 5Poverty Camden Video

Reading: Find an article/ essay about poverty or the issue at your service site. Do your own search or see resources: or

No written assignment this week. Divide into groups for group project presentations by service site or social issue at your site. i.e.; Homelessness, literacy

10/16Reflection on Camden Video

Reading: Shoshana Guy , 2015

Written: Write a response to the Camden Video.

You did this exercise in preparation for your interview for SLC. Try it again and see if your response is different after the video and service experience.

10/8Optional 4th hour midterm week

10/15Fall Break

10/227Service Reflection

Reading: Eby, John. “Why is Service Learning Bad”

WrittenWrite about your fist few week(s) at your service site. Respond to Eby’s reflection by examining how you can make service learning good.

10/298Group Project presentations

Student or small group will report on the comparison data of 2 zip codes, the one in which you serve to the zip code of the home of someone in your small group.

Compare your neighborhood with the neighborhood where you serve. Include demographics about race and income, average state tests scores, college degrees and any information that will help you understand what you see and experience. What do you need to know to understand what you see at your service site?

Resources for data on Schools

  • Great Schools: (this is what you should look at when you are buying a house)
  • Government Data: National stats
  • The Notebook:

Neighborhood data collected from all over the country, interactive map.

11/5No fourth hour Partnership Dinner 6pm Villanova Room

11/129Post Partnership Dinner Reflection

Reading: Choose an article/video that addresses the issues at your service site it could be problem based or solution based.

Written: Make the connection between what you experience at your service site and what you learned at the partnership dinner. What did you learn from talking with your partners at dinner or from the panel? What question do you wish the panel addressed.

11/19No fourth hour Thanksgiving

11/26 10Reflection

Written: Write about a specific incident/revelation or moment atservice important to you.

Add to your lifeline one incident related to SLC and if so desired life in general.

12/311Celebration/Evaluation

Written Assignment: Respond to these questions about your first semester in SLC.

  1. Describe what you have learned this semester? What you have unlearned?
  2. What have you learned about the community in which you served?
  3. What questions do you have?
  4. What do you want learn about next semester? Topics?
  5. What is one thing you would change about fourth hour?
  6. Suggestions for community building next semester?

Resources:

  • Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary Ed.). New York: Continuum.
  • Stevenson, B. (2015) Just Mercy. New York; Spiegel and Grau.
  • Eitzen, S. and Smith, K. (2009) Experiencing Poverty Voices from the Bottom. New York; Pearson Inc.

Life Line

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot

Purpose
Tools / Graph Paper or Worksheet, pencils

Building Your Lifeline:Your life line will look “something” like this. The image will reflect the ups and downs of your life as well as the uneventful times. Make a note of the events, the people, places and ideas that shapeon your life. You will be asked to share this with a partner who will reflect with you about your life line.

__________

  • Record the meaningful, formative events of your life. Be sure to include any significant people involved, your specific age, and a brief description of what took place.
  • You will share your life line with one other person who will help you clarify and reflect.
  • Each participant shares their greatest insight with the group (story)
  • Questions to Ask After Completing the Exercise:
  • How did you feel about yourself at these high points? What did you learn? Why?
  • How did you feel about yourself at the low points? What did you learn? Why?
  • What influence did the people and events you included on your lifeline have on you?
  • How does experience form your view of the world? How does experience change your view?
  • Name one **social identity and what and how you learned about “being that identity” in the world.
  • How has your race, class, gender, ability or sexuality affected the trajectory of your life line?
  • I statements

**Social Identity: (gender, ethnicity, skin color, first language, age, ability, status, religion, sexual orientation or economic class)

From the syllabus

1