The goal of this project is to utilize what you learn in class in your community service and, conversely, to allow your experience in the community to inform what you learn in class. The project is pretty straightforward: volunteer at one of the community service organizations listed below. Write a 8-10-page paper that reflects on your experiences and relates them to the readings and lectures from the course.
The formal requirements for the project are laid out below.
1. Service: You must spend at least 3 hours per week working at one of the community service organizations listed below:
Real Media Leadership Literacy Training
University of Michigan School of Education
Nicole Tysvaer, Research Assistant
734-615-1392
ntysvaer@umich.edu
The Real Media Leadership Literacy Training is a weekly afterschool program for youth at Western International High School in southwest Detroit. The purpose of Real Media is to engage young people in identifying resources in their community, using multimedia technology (photography, video, and digital media) to map these resources, and organizing youth-led service projects to build community connections. Student volunteers will assist with weekly afterschool sessions as Literacy Tutors, Artist Assistants, and Survey/Research Assistants. The program will meet every Thursday (3:30-5pm) beginning in October 2006, with 2-3 Saturday activities planned throughout the year. Transportation to/from University of Michigan will be provided. This program is funded in part by a grant from the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning.
Proyecto Avance: Latino Mentoring Association
(PALMA)
University of Michigan
Christhian Espinoza, faculty advisor
ccespino@umich.edu
PALMA (Proyecto Avance, Latino Mentoring Association) is a weekly tutoring group that helps Latino students in the Ann Arbor area with their schoolwork. Their primary goal is to help foster academic excellence by encouraging the students to learn and monitoring their progress. We also hope working in a university environment will promote the importance of a post-secondary education. PALMA draws its tutors mainly from University students who can communicate in Spanish and works with Latino children of all ages as well as adults. PALMA works from 6:00-7:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Ann Arbor District Library (located at 343 S 5th Ave). If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please consult the PALMA website for more information: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/palma/about_palma
Washtenaw County Workers' Center
Professor Ian Robinson
contactwcwc@gmail.com
The Washtenaw County Workers' Center (WCWC) is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that works primarily in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. The WCWC is committed to empowering low-wage and immigrant workers to improve their working and living conditions. The WCWC holds worker rights trainings which teach workers and community members about basic labor rights, ESL classes with a focus on labor and immigration rights, and acts as an advocate on an individual basis for members facing workplace problems. Additionally, the WCWC works to document and fight discriminatory practices as part of its mission to create unity among low-wage workers.The WCWC is currently sponsoring two special projects that have agreed to work with student volunteers from AC213:
Adult ESL Project: In conjunction with the First United Methodist Church in Ypsilanti, the WCWC is sponsoring three levels of English as a Second Language classes, (basic 1, basic 2, and intermediate). ESL Program orientation session for new volunteers is on Wednesday, September 17. The new term will begin on Monday, September 22, with all ESL students registering that evening. Our classes are Mondays and Wednesdays 7-9pm every week, except holidays. You can choose to volunteer one evening or both evenings each week, it's up to you. If you decide to volunteer once a week, you can choose which evening -- either Mondays or Wednesdays. There's some coordination with other instructors that will happen outside the classroom usually via email or by phone or both. This coordination is important because it involves lesson planning to respond to the ESL students' interests. Our program's curriculum and themes are student-driven. We attempt to respond to the needs of the learner. This volunteer opportunity would be ideal for groups of two students who are interested in coordinating Monday and Wednesday night lesson plans. There is no limt on the number of student volunteers for this project.
Contact:
Danilo Gutierrez, ESL Program Coordinator
First United Methodist Church, Ypsilanti
209 Washtenaw Avenue
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
734-482-8374 ext 27
gutierre@umich.edu
Worker Interview Research Project: In conjunction with a research project (SIF), the WCWC is conducting interviews with people in the community regarding the workplace situation in the area, specifically, the displacement of low wage native born workers by immigrant workers. Three student volunteers are needed to interview waiters and waitresses working at restaurants in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti to get their perspective on the situation. Interviewer training will take place in early September.
Contact:
Professor Ian Robinson
eian@umich.edu
Washtenaw County Public Health Department
Kelly Stupple
stupplek@ewashtenaw.org
The Maternal and Infant Health Program (MIHP) and the Children’s Health Insurance Advocacy Program are seeking student interns to work with financially challenged Latino clients under the supervision of nurses, social workers and nutritionists. These clients are mostly immigrant parents with limited English, some are teen mothers comfortable using English. Students able to communicate in Spanish could work as translators on home visits with MIHP staff. Those not conversant in Spanish would learn to use the Tele-Interpreter phone services and how to help families apply for Medicaid and other public benefits.
Contact:
Kelly J. Stupple, MSEd.
Children's Health Insurance Advocate
Success By 6 at Washtenaw County Public Health
555 Towner Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
(734) 544-3079
2. Preparatory Assignments: You must complete all three (3) of the preparatory assignments before submitting your final Reflection Paper.
3. Reflection Paper (8-10 pgs.): The reflection paper is your opportunity to reflect upon and integrate your experiences at the field site, the course readings, and other insights from class. This paper should not be simply a narrative of your experience as a volunteer, but rather a well-organized meditation on the interconnections between "theory" and "practice". Your paper will be evaluated based on your ability to clearly and succinctly communicate your ideas, opinions, questions, concerns and thoughts. We're particularly interested in and will be looking for the connections you make between your field experiences and the topics covered in class. Please be candid in your papers and use specific examples to illustrate your points.
Your writing is expected to meet basic college level standards. This means no typos, misspellings, or outrageous grammatical errors. A good way to avoid such pitfalls is for you (or someone whose opinion you trust) to carefully proofread every draft of your paper. You should produce a first draft well in advance of the due date and go over it with a fine-toothed comb, insuring that there are no misspellings, or grammatical errors such as run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and incorrect citations. Your arguments should be well organized and supported with definitions, examples, and appropriate citations from class readings and other sources. Your paper should be double-spaced in 12-point font with margins no larger than 1-inch. Please follow the formatting and citation guidelines suggested by the Chicago Style guidelines.
3.Mini Resource Book/Annotated Bibliography: Along with your final reflection paper you are required to submit a Mini Resource Book, which is basically an annotated bibliography of at least six (6) sources. This bibliography should include at least 3 written (books, articles, reviews) sources that are not from the course readings. You may include sources that focus on a particular area of interest that you have with respect to your service organization. It may also include essays and articles about experiential learning. You can contact the Ginsberg Center for a list of articles on community service-learning or simply go to our "Community Service Learning" Resource folder on the AC213 CTools site. Follow Chicago Style guidelines when formatting your bibliography.
