SIGN IN

Service Learning for Youth Workers

Tuesdays  11–12:15am
2613 James Hall or 301 Rooosevelt

Professor Nancy Romer
nancyromer@gmail.com
(718) 951–5015
(917) 693–3155

Office: 5405 James Hall
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:15–2pm

Course Description: This inter-disciplinary community service learning class will be based on the seminar sessions dealing with the readings and the general orientation as well as 5 hours per week of direct service work with high school students at our various sites.  All our sessions will require your active participation. Your ideas, opinions, and concerns are always welcome.

  1. To examine our roles as individuals in the world and in our communities.
  2. To develop interactive skills while working with people of diverse backgrounds and consider creative ways of resolving conflicts.
  3. To practice and discuss various ways of learning.
  4. To reflect on our fieldwork experiences and how they relate to current social, political, and economic issues.
  5. To develop ways to improve education and youth services based on social justice and equality.

High School Youth Workers:Brooklyn College students in this class are trained to work with high school students on a range of exciting youth development projects including arts, academic tutoring, and college prep workshops, in Brooklyn high schools. You will be required to attend a training session at the beginning of this semester. This session will give you some basic skills that will be useful in the work that you do. Dates and times will be announced. Once you have been assigned to a field-site, you will arrange with your site director specific times and responsibilities each week. Stick with your schedule throughout the semester.  We also encourage you to attend at least one Saturday program at BC (9am-4pm).  Always bring identification when you visit your site!

*Because you will be working with minors, you will need to be fingerprinted. You will be given directions on how to do this from your site director. Remember to count your trip to get fingerprinted as fieldwork hours. Bring your ID!

Classwork: There are 14 class sessions this semester.  Active and thoughtful participation in class discussions is expected. When participating, please respect others by leaving space for many voices.

Readings: We will discuss readings in class that are related to your experience as a youth worker this semester. Class time is short therefore we may not discuss every reading, but you are still responsible for every reading as each must be discussed in your journal. If you have trouble with a reading, please email: winton@thebccp.org

Lateness/Attendance Policy: If you are more than 10 minutes late 2 times, you will be given 1 absence. If you miss 3 classes your overall grade (after your fieldwork and class work have been averaged together) will be lowered 1 grade level. Do not miss class. If you know you will be unable to attend, please let me know in advance.

Cell phones: Your cell-phone should be turned off at all times while at your site or in the classroom. If you are in the midst of a crisis, speak to your supervisor about keeping your phone on. Otherwise, turn it off. In our classroom, you must do the same.

Fieldwork: (63 hours) Begin your work as soon as you can. Arrange your 5 hours per week with your site director. Remember you are responsible for contacting your site director and arranging a meeting time. You must complete 63 hours by the end of the semester or you will receive an incomplete. Each site keeps attendance differently—consult with your site director regarding this.

Fieldwork Rules:

  1. Be there when you are supposed to be there. The students will respect you more when they see that you are always on site at a certain time. They will notice that you are reliable. This is important because the turnover rates for teachers and other adults in some of these children’s lives can be very high.  You have the power to change this trend if only for a semester.
  2. Act professionally. Even though you may be close in age to the students you are working with, you must conduct yourself in an appropriate way at all times. This means that you should consider your language, clothing, topics of discussion, and remember to turn off your cell-phone. You are expected to keep your relationships with the students professional.
  3. Be involved. Do everything needed to be helpful. Try. Ask. Don’t wait for things to happen.
  4. When in doubt, ask your site director.  Your site director’s respect for your commitment, reliability, and energy will be very important in giving you the most interesting work possible.

Journal: You will be required to keep a journal. This is a chance for you to write about your fieldwork, discuss the relevance of the readings to your experience, and to respond to class discussions. These entries should be as long as they need to be.

Your journals should have 3 separate sections :

  1. assigned readings: each assigned reading should be reviewed
  2. class discussions: describe what you learned (or didn’t) from each class session at the college
  3. field site: describe what happened during each of your visits to your field site, relationships you are developing with kids and staff, your thoughts about your work, and connecting the readings to the work with the kids.

You must do all of this to pass.  Entries should be typed, 12 pt. Times New Roman.  As a rule, write in your journal at least 3 times a week.

Group Site Oral Reports:You will meet with the other students serving in your field site to prepare and then present in class a report and analysis of the activities, strategies, approaches, strengths and weaknesses of the work at your site.  Your team will suggest ways to improve the work at your site. These presentations will take place at the last class session.

Grading:

  • 60% Class-work (2 journals 25% each + 10% group report + class participation + attendance)
  • 40% Fieldwork (this grade comes from a site evaluation and a grade given by your site director)

Paper: If you signed up for Psych 4210 you are required to write one paper (3+ pages) in which you consider one of the developmental theories and how it relates to your practice, your fieldwork, this semester. Guidelines to follow. This paper will be averaged in with the class work. This paper will be factored into your final grade and will be worth 10% of your final grade.

Tuesday Class Schedule

Please note: All classes will take place in 2613 unless 301 Roosevelt is indicated

January 31: Introduction to the course and field site orientation 

February 7:  Orientation by Site Directors 

 

February 14: : Video Making: Powerful Medium for Teens’ Powerful Ideas(301 Roosevelt)

Readings:

February 28: Youth Development: Theory and Practice 

Readings:

 March 6:  Building Resilience in Youth (5403 James)
Reading:


March 13:  Psychological Theories and Educational Practice (5403 James)
Reading: 

 March 20:  Race and Ethnicity: Identity and Youth Development (5403 James)  All Teams
Readings:

 

  • MID SEMESTER JOURNALS DUE MARCH 20

March 27: What Do I Do When I Graduate? (5403 James)
Readings:

  •  “Jobs & Grad Schools”  hand out in class

April 3: Gender Issues (5403 James)
Readings:

  •  “Gender” (this is a PDF file. Right-click it and save it to your computer to read. It’s a large file and may take a while to download, please be patient.)

Spring Break:  April 6-15

  • THEORY PAPER DUE APRIL 3

April 17:  High School Students “Shadow Day” (301 Roosevelt)
Readings:

 April 24: Group Reports on Site Experiences

May 1: Shadow Day: HS Kids Come to BC (301 Roosevelt)

May 8: Group Reports on Site Experiences

May 15: Group Reports on Site Experiences   FINAL JOURNALS DUE