Service-Learning Approval Form

1. Fill out this form, save it as a Word document and submit it (and the syllabus) electronically to the Director of Service-Learning (Dr. Darrin Good) for suggestions. 2. Once suggestions have been addressed, submit the two files (this form and the syllabus) to the Chair of the Education and Policies Committee. 3. Print out a hard copy. 4. Circulate the hard copy for signature from the department chair and submit to Mary Koski in the Dean's Office.

Date Submitted: August 21, 2011

Submitted By: Mike Egan

Course Number: EDUC 263

Course Title: JAMAICAN SCHOOL-BASED INTERNSHIP

Number of Credits: 1

Instructor(s): Mike Egan and Rick Jaeschke

Have you made your department chair aware of this proposal for service-learning designation for this course? _X_ yes ___ no

Is this course? ___ New ___

Master schedule/transcript title (limited to 21 letters): Jamaican Teaching INTR

Maximum Enrollment: 20

Is a change from the previous enrollment maximum (if not a new course)? N/A

Course description (Catalogue Copy):

EDUC 263 is a 1-credit school-based internship offered to students enrolled concurrently in EDUC 262. These courses combine to form an Augustana Learning Community. EDUC 262 is taught during the winter term at Augustana College, while EDUC 263 is conducted at the Convent of Mercy "Alpha" school compound in Kingston, Jamaica during the winter break. Co- requisite: EDUC 262.

Are there adequate library resources to support the service-learning assignments for this course? ___ yes ___ Submit your course syllabus as a Word document.

The Quad Cities Area Community Engagement Consortium defines service-learning as:

A method of experiential education by which students learn and develop through thoughtfully organized service that:

1. Is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students enrolled 2. Is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an educational institution, and 3. With the community, helps foster civic responsibility 4. Includes intentional time for students to reflect on the service experience.

Please provide a short explanation of how this course does each of the following:

1. The need for the service-learning project is identified by the community liaison. Evidence that the service project fulfills a need identified by members of the community being served must be submitted with the proposal for S-L designation. This must be in the form of a short paragraph from the community leader/liaison. (paste text from statement from community person)

In the spring of 2011, Rick Jaeschke and I communicated with administrators at the Alpha schools in Kingston via phone conversations and email exchanges. The email messages detailed the expectations for the trip, noting explicitly that Augie student labor at Alpha would be directed toward Alpha student learning needs as identified by Alpha personnel. Alpha administrators acknowledged that such service from Augie students would be welcomed and appreciated. A copy of a lengthy email string verifying this is available to Augustana users at https://docs.google.com/a/augustana.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzPfT22Bne FlN2M1NDU2MTYtMjBjYy00ZDg2LWEzM2ItYmNmNmUxMjU4MmI1&hl=en_US .

Excerpts highlighting Alpha’s acceptance of our service-learning proposal at their schools is pasted below:

Message from Alpha Academy’s Administrative Assistant (on behalf of her husband, the Principal, Mackran Singh)

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 11:16 AM, llo darlinghow you doing Singh wrote:

Dear Mike,

We were on Easter Break. Just got back to work today Monday May 2. I have spoken to Sister Shirley today and she says that Rick has been in touch with her and she is very open to you all coming .

Of course, the Academy, you know welcome you with open arms.

I am still waiting for confirmation from the Primary School.

Looking forward to seeing you and your team.

Give my love to Coleen and the girls.

Sincerely,

Bibi Singh

Mackran Singh Principal CONVENT OF MERCY ACADEMY 26 SOUTH CAMP ROAD

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. EMail:[email protected] Tel: 876-938-4719

Message from Alpha Boys School’s Administrator, Sr. Shirley Chung

------Forwarded message ------From: Shirley Chung Date: Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 5:08 PM Subject: Re: Alpha Boys school and Augustana To: "Jaeschke, Frederick"

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Jaeschke, Frederick wrote:

Dear Sister Shirley,

It was great speaking with you last week on the phone regarding our proposed project between Augustana College and Alpha Boys School. Both Allen and I are excited with the opportunity to have our students work with your boys

Hi Rick:

First let me apologize for not responding before now but with the Easter I was under a lot of pressure and this week we are busy preparing for the start of the next semester on Monday.

I looked at your proposal and it looks great. Just let us keep in touch from time to time.

2. The instructor must clearly demonstrate significant, integrative work (readings, writing assignments, etc.) in the syllabus requiring students to make explicit connections between the course content and their community service project.

EDUC 263 is a 1-credit, school-based internship. It is coupled with the 3-credit academic course EDUC 262 to form an Augustana Learning Community (LC). Participants are required to enroll in both courses: no student will enroll solely in one or the other.

EDUC 263 (the 1-credit internship) does not include course readings, but the 263 syllabus is explicit about the expectation that students will draw connections between 262 course materials and their internship work (and vice-versa: connecting their internship work to course discussions and assignments in 262). Presented below are passages from both the 262 and 263 syllabi indicating how students are expected to integrate and connect material across the academic and experiential components:

Excerpts From the 262 Syllabus: How Course Readings Inform the Internship

Context (p. 1): An overview of Jamaican history from 1492 until today will frame this part of the course, with particular emphasis on the components of Jamaican history that help us understand Jamaica’s current political situation, educational system, and forms of musical expression.

Immersion (p. 2): The student bodies, geographical location, and history of the Alpha schools also connect seamlessly with the inter-related themes of Jamaican music, education, and socio-politics explored in EDUC 262. The K-12 students at all three schools hail from Kingston’s inner city, thus the children that Augustana students encounter will have some degree of first-hand knowledge about the economic struggles and political strife found in this urban, third-world setting. Indeed, the wards at the Boys School have likely experienced these struggles most acutely as they have no traditional caretakers who can support them. Located in the heart of Kingston, Augustana students will see numerous striking features of the city that they will have read about prior to their arrival. These features include the ubiquitous spray-painted political graffiti demarcating the boundaries of party-affiliated garrison communities, the architectural contrasts between the area surrounding our uptown hotel and the downtown structures and shanties we’ll see on the drive to Alpha, street murals portraying respected musicians, politicians, and crime dons, etc. Finally, the history of the Alpha schools also resonates with course material. Superficially, the great Bob Marley sent his children (who now comprise the group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers) to Alpha Primary and Alpha Academy. More substantially, the development of Jamaican music (and likewise its role in expressing socio-political discontent) over the past 50 years has many roots in the Alpha Boys School Band. Alpha Boys alumni played prominent roles in each of the major Jamaican musical genre innovations since 1960, including ska (Don Drummond and the Skatalites), rock steady and reggae (Desmond Dekker), early dancehall (Yellowman), and contemporary dancehall (Bounty Killer). Reflection (p. 3): Upon returning to campus, students will be challenged to integrate their academic and experiential knowledge of Jamaica as they wrestle with difficult questions about their current and future roles as teachers in formal education systems and as citizens of both local and global communities. The Jamaican experience will serve as the common referent point as we explore these questions, but effort will be made to articulate how the Jamaican experience will impact our outlook on schooling and politics moving forward (and most students will presumably “move forward” into contexts other than Jamaica). During this part of the term, course readings will relate to larger issues surrounding the intersections of education and politics [rather than Jamaica-specific], while social commentary through Jamaican music will continue to serve as the soundtrack for our class.

Excerpts From the 263 Syllabus: How Assignments Prompt Student to Make Explicit Connections Between Academic Course Material and Work Performed During the Internship

Shared LC Requirements (pages 5-6 of the syllabus)

As a Service-Learning Learning Community, students are expected to utilize academic material from EDUC 262 as a lens for understanding and appreciating their internship work in Jamaica. Conversely, students are also expected to highlight how their direct experiences in Jamaica have influenced their understanding of course material. Most assignments designed to assess the degree to which students are integrating their experiential and academic insights are required (and hence graded) in the academic course EDUC 262. More information about these assignments is found in the EDUC 262 syllabus.

However, two assignments, the Jamaican Web Log and the Final Paper, most clearly reside in the intersection between the internship and the course. These assignments prompt students to explicitly comment on how course material relates to their work on the island, and also to share how their experience on the island affected their understanding of course material and their perspectives as teachers and citizens moving forward. Because these assignments most directly connect to both the internship and the course, student performance on these assignments will affect final grades in both EDUC 262 and EDUC 263. The complete description of the assignments is found in the EDUC 262 syllabus and has also been copied below. Again, refer to the EDUC 262 syllabus for further information about the other integrative assignments that are referred to in this description.

Jamaican Web Log (Completed Daily in Jamaica) Students will be required to write a daily “journal entry” reflection while they are in Jamaica. The journal should record significant events that occurred each day as well as insights gained through the day’s experience (or, even better, “aha” moments whereby something learned or experienced in the past now makes more sense due to something that happened today). At least one entry (possibly the final entry) should compare and contrast your actual experience in Jamaica with what you had anticipated via the Anticipatory Paper. The journal entries are likely to contribute to your summative Desktop Documentary and Final Paper due later in the term, so thoughtfulness is key.

In an effort to foster the sharing of ideas through the journal entries, the entries will be made public (and hence open to feedback from others) via the web. Students will have the option of maintaining their journal via the medium of an “Augie Blog” (which will be accessible to the whole world, including family and friends back home) or, if more privacy is desired, through a “Moodle Blog” which will only be available to other members of the class. Final Paper (Completed by Finals Week of the Winter Term) During the second half of EDUC 262 we explored numerous issues that tied together knowledge gained from the first half of EDUC 262, experiences from our EDUC 263 internship, and considerations for each of us as teachers and citizens moving into the future. Listed below are summaries of the issues we planned to address (though additional, unanticipated issues may have been raised during the term) and questions related to these issues:

Freire writes a stinging critique of the “false generosity” of privileged individuals who engage in piecemeal charity work (Freire, 2000, pp. 44, 49-50, 54, 55, 58-59, 73). To what extent is our Augustana group guilty of this false generosity? What implications does this have for us as we continue our lives as teachers and citizens? Kozol chronicles disparities in school funding within the United States between poor districts and wealthier districts. Through your own experience in U.S. schools and now in a Jamaican school, you have witnessed disparities in material resources between schools in the developed world and schools in the developing world. Are there parallels between Kozol’s work on intra-national disparities and your impressions of international disparities in educational opportunity and quality? What parallels can we draw between the intersections of politics and education in Kingston’s urban schools and these intersections in America’s urban schools? We’ve listened to a great deal of Jamaican music which sharply criticizes both the island’s political structure and its approach to education. Having spent time in the middle of Kingston and in a Jamaican urban school, how accurate do you think these musical critiques were? Can we find similar cries of protest in American music/art? If so, how valid are these artistic commentaries? The formal education system in Jamaica has a long history of high stakes tests driving school curricula, and this has become increasingly the case in the United States over the past 20 years. What are the consequences of this?

Your final paper should be organized around one of the issues/questions listed above. Or, if you feel driven to write about another issue that ties into course themes and experiences, you must present your paper idea to the instructor by the end of Week 7 for approval. A quality paper will most likely have at least 7-8 pages.

3. The time serving in the community required of each student needs to be clearly stated in the syllabus. Guideline: 20 hours minimum of community service by each student

As noted on pages 3-4 of the 263 syllabus:

Time Commitment: Interns will serve 20 contact hours with Jamaican school children. We will spend 4-5 complete days in Kingston, hence interns must prepare for 4-5 hours of direct work each day. Outside of direct contact time, interns are required to engage in appropriate planning before and during the trip, spend time assessing student work or performance during the trip so that the Jamaican students receive meaningful feedback prior to your departure, and you must prepare a formal report on the outcomes of your work which will be shared with appropriate Alpha staff. The combined “non-contact” tasks of planning, assessing, and reporting will take up far more than 20 hours of your time, hence the total amount of time devoted to your internship will exceed 40 hours. Furthermore, copies of the documentation related to your “non-contact” tasks must be provided to the EDUC 263 instructors who will assess its value and assign appropriate grades. Further detail is provided in the remainder of this section.

4. A reflective project based on the service-learning experience that is worth a significant percentage of the course grade. The instructor should explain what course materials (readings, writing assignments, etc.) should be used by students to reflect on the integrative nature of the service-learning experience and its effect on their sense of civic responsibility.

The “Final Paper,” which comprises 20% of the final grade for the EDUC 263 internship, aligns closely with this expectation of an integrative assignment combining academic course material and student insights on civic responsibility as developed through the experiential internship. The description of this assignment is pasted below (once again, please note that the “academic material” is drawn from the accompanying 262 course. As indicated in the 263 internship syllabus, though, the final integrative paper is a shared assignment affecting the final grade of both 262 and 263).

Final Paper (Completed by Finals Week of the Winter Term) During the second half of EDUC 262 we explored numerous issues that tied together knowledge gained from the first half of EDUC 262, experiences from our EDUC 263 internship, and considerations for each of us as teachers and citizens moving into the future. Listed below are summaries of the issues we planned to address (though additional, unanticipated issues may have been raised during the term) and questions related to these issues:

If you need assistance with any facet of a service-learning course, contact the Director of Service- Learning in the Community Engagement Center (Dr. Darrin Good)