Assignment:
Reflection Paper
You will prepare for sessions by reading or watching a number of resources we provide you with (linked in each assignment and also available in the Files section of Canvas). Some of those resources will be required (denoted by being bolded and asterisked), and the remaining resources can be selected from the other posted resources. If you would like to read all of the resources, please feel free to, and these are certainly worth considering for your final paper.
Engaging in these resources will prepare you to participate in our class activities, which rely on you being familiar with the topics, concepts, and languages from the resources. We will sometimes provide you with additional video resources during our class sessions, and you may also return to the pre-class resources to continue your learning. You may also be inspired to find more resources for yourself or to make connections from our course materials to other courses or resources from your life.
After each week's sessions, write a response paper where you share a story or stories from your life that engage with the pre-class resources and the in-class activities. You must connect your story to and cite at least 3 resources from the pre-class and in-class resources and include a reference list at the end of your response paper. Your entire response should be between 500 and 750 words total. This reflection must be submitted to Canvas by 11:59 pm PT at the conclusion of the second module for each week unless otherwise specified.
This assignment reflects our commitment to balancing resources from the shelves (what has been published for others) and resources from our selves (our own experiences and understanding of our own lives). Elements of a story include context (when and where are you and who else is there), and drama (i.e. action, uncertainty, change, and feelings). Your story/stories should comprise of 60-75% of your assignment. Your stories must do the work of bridging past to present to future.
? What is it that you are recalling from the past (whether your distant past or your experience in this class)?
? How is what happened in your story impacting you now? How are you feeling right now about what you are recalling and sharing?
? And what are you going to do with this story? How might this story to change? What's the next right thing for you to do? What does it mean for this story to be a part of your justice - what you makes you feel whole, and well, and in just relationship with others?
The other 25-40% is explaining how your story connects with the shelf resources. For each prep & post, you need to cite and connect to at least three of the ten assigned resources. Use our EDUC 251 APA guidelines to include in-text citations and a reference list at the end of your document. As you cite your references, please consider: what specific aspects of the resources are you connecting with? How do these connections leave you feeling? What do these connections or tensions tell you about the broader world? Do NOT summarize the resources as we have already read/watched all of them. We are most interested in your story and how you are connecting it to our course content.
If you don't think that you have any stories to tell related to these resources, please share why you believe you don't have any stories. Is it because your families, communities, or schools never talked about these topics? If so, why do you think that is? Is it because you have never thought about these topics in terms of diversity, equity, and social justice? What would it mean to begin developing stories that support you developing this understanding?
Again, these prep & post reflections should be 500 to 750 words including references and uploaded as a Microsoft Word document or PDF. (All UW students have access to Google docs through your UW email account. You can then download your Google doc as a Word document or PDF.) We require this so that our teaching team can offer you in-text feedback on each assignment. To view these comments after your assignments have been graded please click on the "View Feedback" button on Canvas.
References
Pre-Class Resources
? Aleem, Z. (2015 February 3). Why do so many rich people think they're in the middle class? Mic.com.
? Evans, G.W., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Klebanov, P.K. (2011, Winter). Stressing out the poor: Chronic physiological stress and the income-achievement gap. Pathways: A magazine on poverty, inequality, and social policy.
? Chen, T.P. & Jordan, M. (2016 May 1). Why so many Chinese students come to the U.S. Wall Street Journal.
? Farrell, H. (2015 September 23). Why are working class kids less likely to get elite jobs? They study too hard at college. WashingtonPost.com.
? Actions
? Galuppo, M. (2016 March 11). Disney, Pixar misrepresent class struggle in children's films, study finds. HollywoodReporter.com.
? Kamp, K. (2013 September 20). By the numbers: The incredibly shrinking American middle class. BillMoyers.com.
? Kelley, R.D.G. (2017). What is racial capitalism and why does it matter? KODX Seattle.
? Khazan, O. (2014 September 15). When you can't afford to sleep. The Atlantic.
? Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). The honorable harvest. In Braiding sweetgrass (pp. 175-201). Milkweed Editions.
? Summers, J. (2014). Rich kid, poor kid: For 30 years, Baltimore study tracked who gets ahead. NPR.org.
? Toghesity, D.Z. & Bazil, M. (2015). Rights versus responsibility [video file]. Beyond Boarding.
? Rights vs Responsibilities
In-Class Resources
? Beyond Boarding.Phi, B., & Bui, T. (2017). A different pond. North Mankato, MN: Picture WindowBooks, a Capstone imprint.
? Parton, D. (1971). Coat of many colors.
? Toghesity, D.Z. & Bazil, M. (2015). Rights versus responsibility.
Possible Story Stems:
Social class exists because social classes exist as defined by the borders between people in different social classes. That is, there are clusters of people who share the same socioeconomic conditions and are in a social class together. Then there are people who are materially and socially in different groups because of their access to and ownership of different levels and types of possessions, power, and opportunities. These differences mark the boundaries between classes and can at different times be quite stark and at other times quite murky.
1. How have you experienced your own social class? How and when do you recognize people as being in a similar social class to you? How does it feel to be with other people in the same social class?
2. How have you experienced other social classes? How and when do you recognize people as being in a different social class to you? How does it feel to be with other people in different social classes?