Guidelines for Bi-Weekly Log

SYA 4949-002: Service Learning Internship for

SYD 3700-001: Racial and Ethnic Relations

Instructor: James Cavendish

Fall, 2001

 

Because of the intent of the service learning experience is to help you make connections between sociological thinking and the lives and experiences of those in the community, the following guidelines are offered to assist you in this endeavor.

 

You may wish to begin journaling in your log before you even arrive at your agency.  Simply describe: the reason for your choice of placement; what you hope to accomplish by volunteering there; and what you would like to learn while there.

 

After your initial exposure to the site, you may wish to describe the site and the population it serves.  Were there any differences between your expectations of the site and reality?  What are the goals of the institution?

 

Over time, and as you learn more about sociology and your agency, your journaling should reflect an integration of experience and sociological theories and concepts.  In particular, your bi-weekly logs should address the following questions:

 

 

(1) Who benefits from what this organization does?  Is anyone harmed by its efforts?  How and why?

 

(2) Why are people involved in this work?

 

(3) What are the causes and consequences of the problem that this agency/organization addresses?  How could/should this problem be addressed differently?

 

(4) What structural changes would have to take place to help alleviate this problem?  How might such changes be instigated and implemented?  What are the barriers to making changes?

 

(5) Can one envision a society in which this agency is unnecessary?  What would such a society look like?  Is it achievable?

 

(6) Who has power in the city, in this organization, and in relationships within the organization?  How is that power exercised?

 

(7) What are the sources and consequences of the inequality of power?  How do other forms of social inequality – race, class, gender, age, sexual orientation – bear on the work of this organization and on one’s own work within it?

 

(8) What is the impact of “service” on the “clients” and on others within the community?

 

By answering these questions, you will be well on your way to fulfilling the goals of your service learning experience.