I was happy to see the variety of topics discussed in our student community profiles. Students were asked to write about any local topic as long as they applied the research skills presented in my Canvas assignments.
- Here are some examples: Immigration Reform, Fieldworker Rights, Police Brutality, Gender Discrimination, Teen Pregnancy, Anxiety and Depression, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
When selecting their topics, I asked them to think about the following components:
i. Will I have a personal connection to my profile subject? Can I discuss our relationship. Will I be able to share we had.
ii. Will writing about this person open up a larger discussion to an important issue?
iii. Will this larger issue be researchable? Am I going to be able to find information to incorporate into my writing?
In Jay’s Community Profiles, we strive to open a greater discussion of social and political import. With first-hand research of an uncle’s minimum-wage job experience in the fields, for example, a student can better address the issue of worker rights. An interview with a former teacher can lead nicely into an insightful paper about educational reform.
Here is our goal: to provide our own commentary, questions, interpretations, clarifications or even feelings of what we have read and heard. In other words, we take possession of our source and establish our presence in our papers. I want to deepen my students’ involvement in their own education. I want to give them their voice and a larger audience. I want them to feel more a part of this campus. The writing here reflects the diversity of student interest and concern regarding important issues in our community.
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