Overview

This semester we will critically examine the world around us, with an emphasis on key political, social, and ethical issues in our community. We will focus on social change and the activists and organizations that make it. Each of you will become a part of making social change by working at a community service site this semester.

The following questions will guide our semester:
• How do social, political and historical factors shape people’s actions?
• How do people’s choices shape social, political and historical realities?
• What is change and how can we best achieve it?

For 10th grade students, the final project for this class will serve as one component of your history portfolio. Your final project will build off the community service work you do at your site. The more exciting and challenging the community service site you choose, the more outstanding and complex your final project will be.

Requirements and Expectations

You will:
• buy a single subject notebook or a steno pad. Journal assignments and research related to your final project must be kept within your notebook neatly and in order.
• arrive promptly to class.
• participate in class discussions and debates.
• complete a minimum of 50 hours at your community service placement. Students will receive Honors credit for this class if you complete 75 hours and your other requirements for this class are met fully.
• hand in a formatted resume.
• hand in a contract when you start your placement and a time sheet when you complete your placement.
• hand in a final project.

Important Dates

• Week of September 19 - TIME AND DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED.
• The Community Service Fair
• Guest Speaker
• Week of September 26: Interns begin their placements.
• Week of December 19: Final paper due.
• Week of January 2: Placements end.

Selecting a Site for Community Service

The Beacon School Community Service program works with more than fifty not-for-profit organizations around New York City. The first step in selecting a site is to figure out what issues are most important to you. Next, look through our list of sites at www.beaconschool.org/CommService. The name of the site and the contact information is available for you. You may work at sites of not-for-profit organizations that are not on our list, if you first get approval from your teacher. Finally, you will need to call the contact person at the site, set up an interview, take your resume, and apply for an internship.

If the interview goes well, ask your site supervisor to fill in your Contract with the days and hours that you will work (and then get it signed by your parents). You will keep a record of the hours on the Time Sheet which needs to be signed weekly by your site supervisor. The Time Sheet will be collected at the end of the semester.

Journals

Over the course of the semester you should complete two short journal entries. The journal should be 2-pages typed and submitted to your Community Service teacher during the week indicated.
• Journal #1: Describe your first impressions of your site: what is your site? What kind of service(s) do they provide for the community? Who is your supervisor? What are your responsibilities? How was your interview? How do you feel about the site? (due the week of 10/10)
• Journal #2: Evaluate your site: Describe the role your site plays in the community overall and evaluate the its effectiveness, discuss strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and evaluate whether or not they are doing a good job. (due the week of 1/9)

Final Project

Your final project will explore an ethical or policy issue. The paper should include research from local newspapers, magazines, and an interview with al least one person who is working around the issue. Your paper’s topic must be related to your internship site. For example, if you are working in a school, you should select an issue around education; if you are working at AIDS Walk, you should research an issue around AIDS or health services for people with HIV/AIDS.

Three Paper Formats

There are three formats you may use for your final project. Your paper must be 4-6 pages (typed, double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman), which includes a two-page transcript of the interview you conduct as part of your research. Your project must include a title page (title, name, class, date), and a bibliography (a minimum of three published sources, MLA or APA format). Your project may include other evidence of research from your site, for example, photographs or collected brochures or leaflets.

Paper Format #1: Ethical or Policy Issue

1. Introduce the issue and why it is controversial.
2. Explain the different sides and interests involved in the problem.
3. Explain the different solutions that community, social, or political groups have proposed for the problem.
4. Include quotes from your interview.
5. Explain your ethical reasoning for what you think is the best solution to the problem using your values to further justify why you take that position.
6. Bibliography
7. Appendix: a transcript of an interview with someone who works around the problem.
8. Optional: photos, brochures, leaflets, or newspaper articles on the issue.

Possible Topics for Format #1

• Education (funding, standardized testing, safety, after-school programs)
• Health Care (funding, access, AIDS)
• Housing (gentrification, public housing, homelessness)
• Environment (air quality, water quality, noise)
• Safety (police, gangs, crime)
• Economic (jobs, minimum wage, unions, poverty, immigration)
• Local government (the mayor, city council, community boards)
• Youth (after-school, school, leadership, sexuality)
• Transportation (trains, buses, bikes)
• Parks (funding, access)
• Human Rights (anti-violence or anti-discrimination work)

Paper Format #2: An Activist or Leader who Creates Social Change

1. Introduce the person’s background (how she/he became involved) and provide an overview of key issues or conflicts she/he is involved in.
2. Explain, in depth, two or three issues that the person has been involved in and the different sides and interests involved in the problem.
3. Explain the position your person took on the issues, her/his reasoning for taking those stands, and the organizations that the person has worked with.
4. Include quotes from your interview.
5. Explain your ethical evaluation on the stands that the person took and her/his reasoning for taking those stands using your values to further justify why you take that position.
6. Bibliography
7. Appendix: a transcript of an interview with someone who works around the problem.
8. Optional: photos, brochures, leaflets, or newspaper articles on the issue.

Possible Topics for Format #2

• An outstanding activist who has created an organization
• A politician who has fought for the community
• A youth leader who taken controversial or novel stands on an issue

Paper Format #3: An Organization that Creates Social Change

1. Introduce the organization (its background) and provide an overview of key issues or conflicts it is involved in.
2. Explain, in depth, two or three issues or campaigns that the organization has been involved in and the different sides and interests involved in the problem.
3. Explain the position your organization took on the issues, its reasoning for taking those stands, and other organizations that worked around the issue.
4. Include quotes from your interview.
5. Explain your ethical evaluation on the stands that the organization took and its reasoning for taking those stands using your values to further justify why you take that position.
6. Bibliography
7. Appendix: a transcript of an interview with someone who works for the organization.
8. Optional: photos, brochures, leaflets, or newspaper articles on the issue.

Possible Topics for Format #3

• The role of the War Resisters League (WRL) during Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, and now.
• The role of the Harlem Live or Global Kids in training youth leaders.
• The role of National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) on reproductive rights struggles or AIDS Walk on funding for AIDS research.