Entry 1: “Selection of the Service Learning Project.”

Write an entry of 400 words minimum on why you chose your project. Discuss the life or work experiences that may have influenced your selection, including whether these experiences were positive or negative. Consider how issues of community, government or individual responsibility, leadership, productivity, problem-solving, work ethic, and/or ambition might have affected your project selection. Most importantly, explain why your project is important to you, as well as to the larger community. Include two unique citations from the assigned articles in this paragraph.

Entry 2: Write an entry of 400 words minimum explaining how your project relates to at least two of the course objectives. See the complete list of course objectives in the course syllabus (these can be found on the last page of this document). Be sure to explain why you think these objectives are important. Label this entry “Service Learning Project Objectives.” Include two unique citations from the assigned articles in this paragraph.

Note: The purpose of this entry is not to tell what you think the objective of your SLP is; rather, it is to relate your project to the course objectives (which are found in the course syllabus).

Entries 3-4: Narrate your experiences on the project. Synthesize ideas from the course readings in entries 3-4. You may reference ideas from earlier phases in the course, as well as up to four additional non-course assigned sources you have found in your own research. Cite at least 2 articles and/or readings from course in these entries.

Entries #3 through #4 discuss your experiences as a volunteer. These paragraphs can be redundant. To avoid repeating yourself, examine closely how your experiences align or reflect the main ideas or themes found in the week’s assigned reading documents. For example, when Jefferson posits the American ideal that, “all men are created equal,” did your experience as a volunteer find this to be the case? Why or why not? Also, examine the organization you volunteered at from the perspective of the organization’s client (or those who used the organization for assistance). You can also examine the organization from the perspective of those who are employed or leadership positions. Why are they working here? What motivates them? Also, you can examine why others, like you, volunteer at the organization. Finally, what do outsiders, or those that know of but are not involved in the organization think of the organization? Is it helpful? Does it serve a purpose? If so, what purpose does the organization serve? Finally, how does society benefit, or not, from the efforts of those involved in the organization’s mission?

A minimum of 500 words must be written for each entry.
Entries should simply be labeled with the appropriate entry

Course Objectives

Students who successfully complete this cluster should be able to:

1. Analyze the importance of such values as justice, dissent, and equality to the functioning of republican government.

2. Explain the importance of the Constitution and the structure of the government it creates to the preservation of individual rights.

3. Reflect on the relevance of the values discussed to their work and personal lives.

4. Assess the benefits of changes in race and gender equality for the individual and governance.

5. Synthesize ideas about the challenges posed, to the individual and to governance, by globalization and immigration.

6. Assess the impact of large changes in modern society on their work and personal lives.

7. Explain the relationship between engaged citizenship and the functioning of a republican form of government.

8. Synthesize ideas about the duty of individual citizens to promote engaged citizenship.

9. Assess the impact on their communities of their own acts of engaged citizenship.