Service Learning Guide: Journal Guidelines

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The following exercise has been adapted from:

Knapp, Tim. 2001."Syllabus: Sociology 420 Social Inequality." Pp. 123 in Service-Learning and Undergraduate Sociology: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, edited by B. Marsteller Kowalewski, M. Ender, and J. DeFiore. Washington D.C.: American Sociological Association.

Each student's journal documents her or his experiences in service-learning activities. You have a good deal of latitude in what you write in your journal, but I want you to use a 3-part format for each entry. Journals should be word processed: This allows you to edit your entries. Editing promotes deeper insights, because as we rethink we can rewrite, which stimulates further thinking.

Write one journal entry at least every other week. Write the date at the beginning of each entry, and space out entries, unless a particularly important event occurs right after you completed an entry. Since I ask that you space out your journal entries, it is a good idea to jot down summaries of significant experiences at their service sites, and especially note any insights about social inequality that occur to you on a given day.

Journal entries need to be written at three levels (and in three different fonts).

The first and easiest level explains your observations. Describe what you actually have seen and done at your sign. Write this section of your journal entry in standard default font on your computer. In your first journal entry, take a moment to describe your agency, identify who it serves and what services it provides.

Level Two requires you to reflec t upon your reactions to what you saw and did. Think about and describe your mental and emotional reactions to your service experience. Tell me what service experiences have been meaningful to you. Explain what you think about the agency and its clients, and what your feelings are about your service experiences? Write this section of your entry in a different font.

Level Three is the most difficult part, especially at the beginning of your service period. Here in a third font, explain how what you observed at your service site relates to concepts, ideas, theories or data that you have been exposed to in class or through class readings. I'm asking you to apply what you've learned in class to better understand what is going on at the service site, and apply your experiences to better understand classroom material. This will take more thought than the first two sections of your entry.

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