THE FINAL REFLECTION

ETHN 21 – Monday, December 3rd

Overview

Overview of Final Reflection Review of Course Themes and Topics Preview of ETHN 98 Course

Revisiting the “Successful College Experience” Reflection from Week 1

Read over your reflection. Make note of your reactions to what you

wrote: How has your thinking changed? What has

stayed the same? Has your thinking about college changed a lot? Why or why not?

Share out with your group What is similar among your group members

reactions? What is different?

FormatGoalsSuggestions for Success

The Final Reflection

Final Reflection - Format

A detailed overview of the paper will be posted under the Resources section of the course website tomorrow evening.

Three reflective essays, each at least 3 pages in length (750 words each). Essay1 (Compulsory) – Revisit your initial reflection on

a successful college experience. Essays 2 and 3: (Choose any two) – (1)

workforce/career, (2) campus/community involvement, and (3) major/course work.

Due electronically via email by 5 PM on Thursday, 12/13 at james.fabionar@saclink.csus.edu

Final Reflection - Goals

To illustrate the development of your views on a successful college experience.

To ground your thinking in themes, discussions, and readings from our course.

To surface and clarify goals, strategies, and experiences related to college success.

Final Reflection – Suggestions for Success

Organize the work you produced from the course Personal reflections, online reflections, thematic

reflections, notes from class, etc. For each essay, read back over these works and

note ideas that are related to the essay topic. Synthesize your notes into a coherent narrative or

storyline that describes your thinking on the topic. Select key passages from your reflective work,

class notes, and readings to illustrate key dimensions of this narrative. Make sure to carefully cite these materials in your essays.

Introduction;Recognizing diversity, striving for equality; Linking knowledge, power, and representation;Questioning the university’s role in society;Navigating institutions to advance an agenda;Building community to promote self-

determination;Forming coalitions to affect change.

Review of Course Themes and Topics

Course Introduction (Weeks 1 and 2)

Inspiration: TWLF students – coalition of different ethnic groups. Emphasized the “legacy” of our experiences as API

students at the university. Introduced six themes derived from the student

movements at UC Berkeley and SFSU:(1) Recognizing diversity, striving for equality; (2) Linking knowledge, power, and representation; (3) Questioning the university’s role in society; (4) Navigating institutions to advance an agenda; (5) Building community to promote self-determination; (6) Forming coalitions to affect change.

Theme 1: Recognizing Diversity, Striving for Equality (Weeks 3 and 4)

Respect for diversity is central to a democratic society.

Members of non-dominant groups are not inherently less intelligent or capable of success than those of the dominant culture.

Identity and culture as an assets to education.

Privilege, prejudice, and bias maintain or reinforce social inequality.

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

Identity – definition and dimensions

Culture – definition and dimensions; dominant/non-dominant cultures.

Privilege, bias, and discrimination.

Weeber, What Could I know of Racism?

McGuire, Growing Up with Two Moms.

Schank, Are We Getting Smarter? 

Wing Sue and Sue, A Racial/Cultural Identity

Model. Leonder-Wright, Are

There Class Cultures? McIntosh, White

Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.

Takaki, We Will All Be Minorities.

Delgado-Romero, The Face of RacismTwining, Active Learning.

Bayoumi, How Does it Feel to Be a Problem.  

Theme 2: Linking Knowledge, Power, and Representation (Weeks 5 and 6)

Knowledge is socially and politically constructed.

Non-dominant groups are often excluded from processes of knowledge production.

Perspectives of non-dominant groups are often ignored or misrepresented in formal academic knowledge.

Each of us accesses knowledge (learns) differently

Learning in high school is different from learning in college.

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

Dr. Steve Arunsack's Presentation

The Graduate Initiative Panel Participants

General Education Workshop

Characteristics of Knowledge (Knowledge evolves, is not universal, is socially and politically constructed, and is internal and external). 

Video: On Strike: Ethnic Studies 1969 – 1999

Accessing Knowledge (Paulo Freire, the banking systems, teacher-student dialogue, active learning).

Halverson and Carter, On Academic Freedom.

Schank, Are We Getting Smarter? 

Malcolm X, Saved Meiland, The Difference

Between High School and College.

Wagner, Rigor Redefined James, Understanding

Who is Smart Staley, How Do You

Perceive and Process Information

Twining, Active Learning. 

Theme 3: Questioning the University's Role in Society (Weeks 7 and 8)

Universities have historically reinforced social inequality by excluding untraditional learning populations.

Universities can be catalysts for social change.

History, structure, and culture of US universities.

Functions/roles of contemporary colleges and universities

Meaning of “higher education”

Working with professors

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

The history of U.S. universities and colleges

Structure of universities (role players, organizations within the university, and purposes (research, instruction, and public service)).

Culture of universities (3 tensions: property rights vs. human rights, public good vs. private interest, and individualism vs. collectivism). 

The meaning of higher education (schooling, education, and higher education). 

Working with professors Professors' expectations of

students (intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation) Jones, The Educated Person Pellegrino, Having a Degree

and Being Educated. Leonhardt, The College

Dropout Boom. Ballard, Job Search: Chance

or Plan? Gardner, Decoding Your 

Professors. Finster, Freshmen Can be

Taught to Think Creatively, Not Just Amass Information.

Brown, Why I don’t Let Students Cut My Classes. 

Roosevelt, Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes.

Theme 4: Navigating Institutions to Advance and Agenda (Weeks 9 and 10)

Clear and purposeful goals are necessary to utilize institutions effectively.

Strategizing on these goals requires knowledge of the way institutions work.

Selecting a major Bridging college and

career Exploring passions,

concerns and interests (Contemporary Issues)

Locating and utilizing campus and community resources.

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

Agendas - Moving Forward and "Thinking Peripherally.”

Choosing a major - The Baccalaureate Degree, degrees in academia, and principles, guidelines, and suggestions for selecting a major. 

Contemporary Issues - Solutions, Components, and Dimensions.

Bridging college to career - Viewing careers from a developmental perspective

The job market - tools for interpreting market prospects and suggestions for gauging potential job satisfaction

Contemporary Issues - Identifying resources for learning and action

The University in Your Future I55-57, The Harvard Guide to Happiness.

Cicarelli, A New Debate is Joined

Over an Old Question: Is College an Investment or an End in Itself

Minnick, Fourteen Ways of Looking at Electives

Bowen, The Baccalaureate Degree: What Does it Mean? Collier and Levin, It’s Okay to be Undeclared.

Tunstead Burtchaell, Major Decisions.

Seligman, Work and Personal Satisfaction

Marcus and McVey, Using the Decision-Making Process to Choose a Major and Career.

Sherry, Postgraduate Paralysis. Lacey and Crosby, Job Outlook for

College Graduates. Carter, Outlooks and Insights:

Succeeding on the Job and in Life.

Theme 5: Building Community to Promote Self-Determination (Weeks 11-13)

Building relationships within and without racial and ethnic communities is essential for the preservation of non-dominant groups.

Building and maintaining healthy relationships

Supporting success by making key connections with students and mentors

Respecting limits in supporting others

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

Community - Values and Action; 

Self-Determination - Independence and self-rule

Loneliness and Fitting In Balancing our needs and

others' needs. Arnaud, Strengthening

Your Personal Development through Community Engagement.  

Gordon, The Developing College Student. 

Morril, Developing a Personal System of Values.  

Uchida, What Students Must Know to Succeed in the 21st Century. 

Newman and Newman, Loneliness. 

Erickson and Stromer, Fitting In. 

Jones Sears, Tips on Becoming Personally Effective. 

Fox-Hines, Standing Up fro Yourself—Without Stepping on Others.

Theme 6: Building Coalitions to Affect Change

Complex social problems requires deliberate thought and action.

Societal change often requires organizing people with different backgrounds around a common interest.

Becoming change agents in the university and society

Ideas from Ethnic Studies Related Topics for First-Year Students

Format and Goals

Preview of ETHN 98

ETHN 98 - Format

Built around your Contemporary Issues and Coalitions

1-unit course (3 hours: 1 in class, 2 outside of class)

Key components: Partnership with an “expert.” Develop a change agenda and project plan Apply for a grant Implement and present project

Goals

To engage students in meaningful developmental experiences based on their interests and values.

To build relationships between students, faculty, staff, and community members (on and off campus).

To enact social change.