Syllabus

Integrating Community and Classroom:
Internship Reflection

PPS 137, Fall 2003
Wednesday, 5:30-8:00 p.m.
03 Sanford Institute Building
Duke University

Alma G. Blount, Instructor
blount@pps.duke.edu
613-7323
Room 110 Sanford Institute

Heather Oh, teaching assistant
heather.oh@duke.edu
613-7349

Blackboard web site:
https://courses.duke.edu

This course offers students an opportunity to reflect on their summer work in community-based organizations in order to make sense of their experiences and to integrate what they have learned with concepts about service, citizenship, and leadership. The heart of the course is an investigation of a social issue encountered by each student during
the community internship experience.

The process of framing the issue and focusing the investigation will take place in consultation with the instructor and peers. During the semester students will present their work to the entire class for critical analysis and feedback. The final section of the research portfolio will include a memo of recommendations for policy reform.

Drawing upon a wide range of resources, with the students' narratives as a starting point, we will explore how lives of commitment to the common good are formed and sustained. At the end of the course each student will submit a paper that articulates a personal philosophy of service leadership.

Course Outline

Part One Service Leadership

Week 1, Aug. 27 Introduction

Week 2, Sept. 3 Service to social action: taking the risk to challenge others despite controversy and criticism (Essay #1)

Week 3, Sept. 10 Linking civic engagement to policy change in communities (Essay #2)

Week 4, Sept. 17 Reclaiming the meaning of politics (Essay #3)

Week 5, Sept. 24 Mentors, models, and the process of forming a compass of values (Essay #4)

Week 6, Oct. 1 Leadership as adaptive learning: helping groups face difficult problems within complex systems (Essay #5)

Week 7, Oct. 8 Leadership as adaptive learning, continued (Essay #6)

Week 8, Oct. 15 Leadership as agitation (Essay #7)

Week 9, Oct. 22 The inner work of leadership (Essay #8)

Part Two Social issue presentations

Week 10, Oct. 29 Student presentations begin

Week 11, Nov. 5 Student presentations continue

Week 12, Nov. 12 Student presentations continue

Week 13, Nov 19 Student presentations continue

Week 14, Nov. 26 No class, Thanksgiving Break

Week 15, Dec. 3 Celebration dinner and wrap up

Part One, Service Leadership

Week 1, August 27--Introduction: the course as an opportunity to 1) reflect critically on your summer internship, 2) conduct research on a policy issue, and 3) develop a framework for understanding how leadership functions within complex systems.

Reading packets will be distributed in class

Week 2, Sept. 3--Service to social action: taking the risk to challenge others despite controversy and criticism
· King, Jr., Martin Luther. “On Being a Good Neighbor.” Service Learning Reader: Reflections and Perspectives on Service. Edited by Gail Albert. Raleigh: National Society for Experiential Education, 1994, pages 197-202.
· Caroline Kennedy, editor. “Hilda Solis,” by Anthony Walton. Profiles in Courage for Our Time. New York: Hyperion, 2002, pages 268-291.
· Ingram, Catherine. “Cesar Chavez,” In the Footsteps of Gandhi. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990, pages 98-121.
· Ingram, Catherine. “A. T. Ariyaratne” In the Footsteps of Gandhi. Pages 122-139.
· Arundhati Roy. “The Ladies Have Feelings, So…Shall We Leave It to the Experts?” Power Politics. Cambridge, Ma: South End Press, 2001, pp. 1-33.
· Eric Sawyer. “An ACT UP founder ‘acts up’ for Africa’s access to AIDS,” From ACT UP to the WTO; Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization. New York: Verso, 2002, pp. 88-102.
· Jay Walljasper, Jon Spayde and the editors of Utne Reader. “Ernesto Cortes, Jr.” Visionaries: People and Ideas to Change Your Life. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2001.
· Rogers, Mary Beth. “Moses and Paul: The World’s Greatest Organizers.” Cold Anger: A Story of Faith and Power Politics. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 1990, pp. 13-17.
· Caroline Kennedy, editor. “John Lewis,” by Teresa Carpenter. Profiles in Courage for Our Time. New York: Hyperion, 2002, pages 319-343.
· Caroline Kennedy, editor. “Lowell Weicker, Jr., by E.J. Dionne. Profiles in Courage for Our Time. New York: Hyperion, 2002, pages 53-67.

Week 3, Sept. 10--Linking civic engagement to policy change in communities
· Makani N. Themba. Making Policy Making Change: How Communities Are Taking Law into Their Own Hands. Berkeley: Chardon Press, 1999.

Week 4, Sept. 17--Reclaiming the meaning of politics
· Michael Gecan. Going Public. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

Week 5, Sept. 24—Mentors, models, and the process of forming a compass of values
· Choose a biography or autobiography of a Nobel laureate or another prominent social or political leader that you admire. Read the book, write an essay about it (guidelines will be provided), and come to class ready to teach us about your discoveries. (Please see the sample list of titles at the end of the syllabus.)

Week 6, Oct. 1--Leadership as adaptive learning: helping groups face difficult problems within complex systems
· Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Boston: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. (Text available from Regulator Bookshop)

Week 7, Oct. 8--Leadership as adaptive learning, continued
· Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers.

Week 8, Oct. 15--Leadership as Agitation
· Todd Gitlin. Letters to a Young Activist. New York: Basic Books, 2003.
· John Colapinto. “Armies of the Right: The Young Hipublicans.” New York Times Magazine, May 25, 2003.

Week 9, Oct. 22--The Inner Work of Leadership
· Horton, Myles. “Knowing Yourself.” The Long Haul: An Autobiography, pp. 193-197.
· Palmer, Parker J. “Leading from Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership.” (Presented at the Annual Celebration Dinner of the Indiana Office for Campus Ministries in March 1990.)
· Laurent A. Parks Daloz, Cheryl H. Keen, James P. Keen, and Sharon D. Parks. “Confession: The Struggle with Fallibility,” and “Commitment: The Power of the Double Negative,” Common Fire: Lives of Commitment in a Complex World. Pages 170-192 and 193-211.
· Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky. Excerpts from “Part Three: Body and Soul,” including the following chapters: “Manage Your Hungers, Anchor Yourself, What’s On the Line?, and Sacred Heart,” from Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.
· (Note: the following article was assigned in the house course. Please reread it carefully again for this class.) Green, Tova and Woodrow, Peter, with Peavey, Fran. “Strategic Questioning: An Approach to Creating Personal and Social Change.” Insight and Action: How to Discover and Support a Life of Integrity and Commitment to Change. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1994, pp. 90-116.

Part Two: Social issue presentations

Presentation outlines and background readings for the social issue presentations will be provided in class by the student presenters.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Books and articles
Copies of the assigned articles will be handed out in class.

In addition, four books are assigned for the first part of the course. They can be purchased in the textbook department of the Regulator Bookshop on Ninth Street.

· Making Policy Making Change, by Makani N. Themba. Berkeley: Chardon Press, 1999.
· Going Public, by Michael Gecan. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.
· Leadership Without Easy Answers, by Ronald A. Heifetz. Boston: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1994.
· Letters to a Young Activist, by Todd Gitlin. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

Research support
Research groups
Students will be assigned to small groups to provide peer support for designing the social issue investigations and planning presentations to the class. Instructions will be provided in class, and will also be available on the class web site.

Research support groups should arrange to meet several times from October 1-29 (four weeks), before student presentations begin.

Research consultations and electronic database training sessions
Please make an appointment with me to discuss your research topic anytime between September 10-October 1 (three weeks).

Make your calendars and plan to attend the workshop on electronic database searching and web research that will held on Monday Sept 8, and again on Monday, Sept. 15 from 5:30 to 8:00 in the instruction room of Perkins Library. (Choose one date to attend.) You need to take this class no matter how advanced you think your electronic research skills may be right now. Perkins librarians Catherine Shreve and Emily Werrell have designed the training session to highlight social issue topics identified by the class. The workshop will provide invaluable tools and resources for your research projects.

Course Requirements
1. Please attend all our classes and show up on time.

2. Carefully read the assigned articles and books before you come to class.

3. Write eight brief, powerful essays based on the readings, and be prepared to launch a full discussion in class based on your insights and ideas. (See assignment calendar on page 6 for due dates.)

4. Find creative ways to help us learn together as a community. Contribute to our class discussions in order to help us deepen our conversations throughout the semester. If your tendency is to talk a lot in class, try listening and observing group dynamics more, and see what you can learn from this practice. If you are usually quiet during group conversations, please stretch yourself and find your voice. Experiment with the role you play in class with the purpose of intensifying the learning process for all of us, and also to develop a better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses in creating great group discussions.

5. Participate fully in the work of your small research group.

6. Conduct an extensive investigation of a social policy issue related to your internship experience. Design a portfolio containing research, reflections, and key resources that illuminate and focus the issue you’ve identified.

7. Submit drafts of each of the component parts of the social issue portfolio on the due dates. This is a firm requirement of the course. No late drafts will be accepted, so please plan ahead to make sure you are on track with these deadlines throughout the second part of the course.

8. Present your research to our class in such a way that your investigation and learning process intrigues us.

9. Write a declaration of service leadership at the end of the semester. What does engagement with the world mean to you here and now, in concrete, specific terms?

Grading Policy
Class participation: 20%
Weekly essays: 25%
Social issue investigation portfolio: 30%
Social issue presentation: 15%
Declaration of service leadership: 10%

Assignment Calendar
· Weekly essays are due by 8:00 a.m. each Wednesday, via the blackboard web site: September 3, 10, 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22.

· Social issue presentations will take place from Wednesday, October 29 through Wednesday, November 19. Assigned dates for individual presentations will be announced in class by October 8.

October 29: Group #1
November 5: Group #2
November12: Group #3
November 19: Group #4

· Social Issue Research Portfolio Due Dates

Research Plan (email message to me) Wed., Oct. 1
Focusing Statement and Essay Wed., Oct. 29
Book Review (draft) Wed., Nov. 5
Annotated Bibliography (draft) Wed., Nov. 12
Interview with a Practitioner (draft) Wed., Nov. 19
Policy Recommendations Memo (draft) Wednesday, Dec. 3
Final Portfolio Wed. December 10

· The declaration of service leadership essay is due by 5:00 pm on Friday,
Dec. 12.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Component Parts of the Social Issue Research Portfolio

1. Focusing Statement and Essay
A. Focusing Statement: What is the social issue you are investigating? Include key questions. Outline the dimensions of the problem. State it as clearly and succinctly as possible. Make it compelling, so that we become curious and want to know more. (One page)

B. Essay: Why does this issue concern you? “Tell the story.” What experiences brought you to this issue? What have you learned in the process of experiencing its effects first hand (from your summer internship) and from investigating it further in this research project? Explain the importance of this particular issue. Explore your own relationship with the issue in ways that seem relevant. What impact has the issue had on you? What impact can you have on this issue? (Three to five pages.)

2. Book Review:
List the title, author, and vital information about the book. (Please use standard citation format: MLA Handbook or Perkins reference resources such as: http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide.htm)
Why did you choose this book? What are the author’s main points? Where do you agree? What is your critique of the book? How does this book help you deepen your understanding of the social policy issue you are investigating? (Five pages.)

3. Annotated Bibliography:
Provide a descriptive listing, written strictly in your own words, of key resources about your social issue that interest you. Include brief descriptions of relevant books, magazine and newspaper articles, films, videos, and web sites. (Several pages of annotated bibliography listings, of one to two paragraphs per listing; and then several pages that describe three key resources in greater detail. Total of 12 brief annotations and 3 extended annotations. Please use standard citation format. (Around five to six pages.)

4. Interview with a Practitioner:
Find someone who is a practitioner in your field of interest, someone who can clarify and focus some of the key issues you have been investigating. Concentrate on asking great questions. Write a brief description of the practitioner, and explain his or her connection to the social issue you are researching. The interview can be verbatim, in a “Q and A” format; it can be an edited and condensed version of the “Q and A” format; or it can be written in the form of an article. (Three pages.)

5. Policy Memo
Draft a policy memo of recommendations about the social issue. What are the underlying structures or systems that need to change in order to make serious progress on this issue? Who are the key players that need to be involved in the change process? What kind of leadership is needed to create these changes? What policy options can you identify? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the different options? Which option is the most viable? What are your specific recommendations for action? (Three to five pages.)

Weekly Essay Guidelines
· Length: 500 words.
· Essays are by 8:00 a.m. each Wednesday on the blackboard web site group pages: September 3, 10, 17, 24, October 1, 8, and 15, 22. https://courses.duke.edu
· Read each of the assigned articles or books carefully—take note of the themes that emerge.
· Before you begin writing ask yourself, “What is the author saying? What are the key concepts? How do these ideas speak to me? Do I agree? Do I disagree? What do I find interesting? Do I find myself resonating with one set of ideas more than others? Which ideas do I find the most compelling? Why?” What meaning do these ideas have for me in light of my own experiences, ideas, and questions about this issue?
· Write a concise essay that brings the two parts together: #1) your reflections about the authors’ ideas, and #2) your own original response to these ideas--your own questions and insights. From week to week your essays will prepare us for great discussions in class, and you will also be laying the groundwork for your final essay on service leadership. Make the effort to develop your own point of view and to have something worthwhile and interesting to say each week.
· Craft your essay so that your ideas can spark a good conversation. I may read your essay aloud in class as a way of launching our discussion.
· You will be graded on the overall quality of your inquiry and the development of your own distinct voice over the course of the semester. You will not be graded on each essay individually. During your mid-course evaluation meeting I'll give you specific feedback on your weekly essays as well as your participation in class discussions.
· Please keep author quotes to a minimum; paraphrase when necessary. Engage with the material in a fresh, original way.
· Please look at the essays of the other students in your weekly assignment group before class each Wednesday. (Group members will be listed in the group pages section of our class web site.)

A sampling of books available in the Hart Leadership Program library: mentors and models assignment

Nobel Laureates:
· I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, by Rigoberta Menchu
· The Voice of Hope, by Aung San Suu Kyi, et al.
· Aung San Suu Kyi: Standing Up for Democracy in Burma (Women Changing the World)
· Freedom From Fear, by Aung San Suu Kyi
· Mandela, by Charlene Smith, Desmond Tutu
· Mandela: The Authorized Biography, by Anthony Sampson
· Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
· No Future Without Forgiveness, by Desmond Mpilo Tutu
· Suffering into Joy: What Mother Teresa Teaches about True Joy, by Eileen Egan, Kathleen Egan
· No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa, et al
· Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams: Making Peace in Northern Ireland (Women Changing the World), by Sarah Buscher, et al.
· After Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of Landmines, by Shawn Roberts, Jody Williams
· Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David J. Garrow
· Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have A Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World, edited by James M. Washington
· Transforming the Mind: Teachings on Generating Compassion, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
· Ethics for a New Millennium, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
· And the Sea is Never Full, Memoirs, 1969, by Elie Wiesel

Other political and social leaders:
· The Story of My Experiments with Truth, by Mohandas K. Gandhi
· Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope, by Judith Brown
· Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume One: 1884-1933, by Blanche Wiesen Cook
· Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume Two: The Defining Years, by Blanche Wiesen Cook
· Jane Adams and the Dream of American Democracy: A Life, by Jean Bethke Elshtain
· Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography, by William Lee Miller
· The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War, by Roy Morris, Jr.
· Open Letters, by Vaclav Havel
· Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography
· Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate, by Barbara Mikulski, Kay Bailey Hitchison, Dianne Feinsteirn, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, Olympia Snow, Susan Collins, Mary Landrieu, Blanch L. Lincoln; written with Catherine Whitney.
· Rosa Parks, by Douglas Brinkley
· Abraham Lincolm, by Thomas Keneallly