Transformation – Spring Semester on The Service Learning Class At the beginning of the semester, I did not know what the "Service Learning and Social work Practice" course mean. However, through the process, with the accompaniment of Professor Preeti Charania, I understood the course and noticed a lot of transformation in me through the semester. The following are some of the changes and growth I have seen in me from class readings, discussions, group works, and working with the Church World Service (CWS) agency. Most of the readings in the class focused on civically engaged activity that helped me to reflect on my personal and other people efforts to bring changes in society and the world. Through class readings I learned on what people are doing, and why are they doing certain activities or action in the society. The readings assisted me to reflect more on my journey about the past and the future. I reflected on the 11 years I lived in Brazil as a volunteer missionary, giving service to the marginalized. I testified the unjust system that hinders the poor and favor the rich or people of power. Some of the readings like …show more content…
"Selection from Politics" by Aristotle made me to reflect on my values, where I come from, and to where I belong. Identity is important for the Social worker to save others. Aristotle clarified it by saying that a human being without a nation, he or she is useless or nothing. It was so good to participate in class group discussion.
Each one in the group had different interpretation of the readings that challenged and helped me to grow. I learned that the world is very diverse. A poem written by Jan Beatty "Saving the Crippled Boy", was a challenging poem for me and my colleagues. It helped me to learn to be non judgmental. It portrayed the word "saving" in unfamiliar way to me. I questioned about the appropriate way of charity. According to my values and belief, giving my body to someone is not charity or service. However, as a social worker, it made me conscious about the differences in the World. Also, the class reading helped me to connect my personal experiences, values, and Ethics with the society I am living, Understand the cultural differences and oppression systems in the
society. CWS gave me special experiences of working with an organization and refugees. Also, it opened my eyes to the challenges and difficulties of all immigrants in the world. Being an immigrant, I faced many challenges when I arrived for the first time in the U.S.A. The main challenge was language; speaking English all the time was stressful. Documentation was another challenge for me; It was hard to register for school with all documents required by Barry University. The experience from CWS make me aware for the future of social work practice that there are so many factors that hinders the progress of a refugee or an immigrant in a new country. For example, language, documentation, faith and belief, lack of family and community support, cultural differences and financial instability. In addition, through the agency, I learned to be flexible with administration and personnel changes that bring the differences in leadership. I learned that, when changes happened it is good to give time for the new leader to process and figure out how to proceed, especially if the changes were done abruptly. The changes of resources manager in CWS frustrated me, however I learned to come down, take the situation positively, knowing that it might happen again in the future. To conclude, the Service learning and Social work practice course helped me to improve my communication and collaboration skills. I learned about social justice issues, how they impact the society and an individual. I gain knowledge on the importance of treating each person with dignity and respect, being non judgmental, understand, and accept the diversity. Moreover, I learned about the importance of relationships, connections, giving and receiving, the difference between poverty and need, also the impact of power and privilege in the society.
During this few days, the class focused on two poems Strange Fruit and Primping in the Rearview Mirror. Both poems had interesting stories and meaningful messages behind them. I particular liked reading Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol. Even though the poem was heavy as it describes the horrendous lynching of black men in the South during the 1940s. I think the poem, both when it was originally written and now, allows it readers to truly think about the serious role that racism had in the American society.
I knew I loved to help others but it was not until I was an emerging adult that I knew what my calling was. My devotion to improve the quality of life for those who are disadvantaged is one of the reasons I have chosen to pursue a Master’s in Social Work. After obtaining my masters, I plan on diversifying my masters by getting licensed and becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I would like to study social work because I feel it will lead me directly to one of the most emotionally fulfilling careers available, as well as giving me the chance to combine helping people 's mental well being with their physical
Birkenmaier, J., & Weger, M. (2011). The practicum companion for social work: integrating class and field work (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Something real and attainable. Not some throwaway class or silly high school sport or surface level volunteer program. Everything I’ve been learning in the class has been pushing me this way, I couldn’t tell why until I talked with Mr. Mraz. Then everything clicked. I see why all these systems and strategies matter and how they directly affect clients. Every entry in the code of ethics and competencies lines up with my personal values of treating people with respect, advocating for the oppressed and being competent in my attempts to volunteer and help different populations. I really feel like Mr. Mraz’s words and experience breathes new life into what I’ve been learning in class. He was able to provide new context for multi-level system perspectives by showing examples of the ecological, strengths, and systems models. Before in class I was honestly just writing these things down and not thinking too critically about them. But, now that I’ve seen them applied in area I feel more invested in I see what how they enable a social worker to better help clients and the agencies they serve. Seeking the betterment of clients and enabling them to help themselves is i think one of the greatest things about Social Work. I was ecstatic when Mr. Mraz mentioned that type of therapy as
My perspective about social work profession and career interests have been evolving and gaining more depth since I entered the MSW program. I would like to contribute to the betterment of lives of the disadvantageous or marginalized individuals, and I am confident that graduating from the UTSA MSW program will enable me to apply my knowledge to culturally competent practice. It was my career in teaching that directed me through the years of my professional experience toward social work. I recall many instances when I felt helpless because of the limitation of my resources and abilities when confronted with my students’ problems or questions.
(Cummins, et al., 2012). Social workers are also represented in different diverse settings to help different ages from younger kids to the elderly. I was first introduced to Service learning during Social work 250. Before taking Intro to social work I did not know much about service learning but I learned that service learning is a way to help you get hands on experience in a choice of place that interest’s you. Service learning teaches you many different important traits, which you need in order to succeed in your future professional jobs. Some of the traits learned during the service learning experience are time management, responsibility, critical thinking, how to carry your self in a professional way, professional connections
Social work practitioners can use the information from this study to document activities that MSW graduates engaged in relevant to cultural competency. The study will provide current and future social workers with specific details and strategies that they can employ to assist them on their journey toward culturally competent practice. In addition, this research study will offer examples of what social workers can do to build their knowledge, skills, and values.
The learning experience that I’ve had over the past several weeks has been continuously beneficial and effective. I consistently implement my social work course content and skills into my advanced clinical practice at my practicum. I’ve also consistently demonstrated Saint Leo’s core values at my placement through personal development, supervisory training, and interaction with clients. It is essential that social workers utilize their professional skills, knowledge, and feedback for personal growth and development. Demonstrating effective oral and written communication with clients through various types of assessments and interviews will allow me to obtain the skills that I need to effectively assist individuals, families, groups, organizations,
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
I tend to want to do everything I can for someone else. While warmth and care are positive character qualities, I have learned that creating a work-life balance and taking some time for oneself is beneficial. Finding a balance decreases the chances of burnout and helps social workers maintain active commitments to their consumers (Corey & Corey, 2011). In my Introduction to Social Work Practice class, I have enjoyed applying my knowledge to role-play situations and mock case studies. I have learned about various theories of practice such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. As I proceed further into my coursework, I anticipate building my knowledge of how to apply the textbook material to the field. I hope these practice situations will continually challenge me to grow because I know that not every situation in the field will be easy to manage. Nonetheless, I am willing to undertake any challenge to become a part of a profession I deeply admire and have the chance to help others from all areas of
When entering the theory and methods class, I thought it was based upon myths and facts about social workers. I was completely wrong about, this class about seeking positons as professional social workers. I learned how to examine basic therapy and counseling techniques that will help deal with certain clients. It provides us with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in the classroom to real world situations. This class offers a taste of future career opportunities. Social workers should always trust your guts.
However, there is still a great amount of competence to grasp. Dimitrijoska and Vladimir (2016) state that “[t]he social worker is responsible for his/her professional development and must continually work on gaining new knowledge and learning new methodologies (p. 55). Moreover, as I move forward in social work courses, I will need to take a few actions to ultimately become successful. I will need to do more research, whether it be scholarly articles or assigned texts. I would like to engage in my community by volunteering at more agencies, and making connections with the organizations and learning from social workers. The last step I would like to take is from this point forward, I would like to engage in mindfulness practices. This step in particular is for me to be able to have a healthy relationship with myself, so I am able to continue working for clients in the future, and be able to act as an effective
The Oxford Dictionary defines Service and the action of helping or doing something for someone . The Christian meaning, as outlined in our Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, defines Service as “a way of offering resources, time, treasure, influence and expertise for the care protection, justice and nurture of others” with the desire “to reflect the helping, caring and sharing love of God in the world.” The primary difference therefore between the world’s perception of service and the Christian act of service is the manifestation and reflection of God’s love.
Thanks to the service learning opportunity, my speculations in becoming a successful math teacher brought out confidence, clarity, and will. Before I explain how my assistance improved the life of a child etc..., let me concisely elucidate all the benefits on why I'm so appreciative to be associated with our service learning: fieldwork. Up to the present time, Dr. Oliver, who is a professor in the history department at Tallahassee Community College, constructed a great class for future educators, called EDF 1007. For this class field work, it provided me the opportunity to sit actively in a classroom setting, discern the teacher, and take effective notes. At the present time, Dr. Oliver also teaches Diversity of a Classroom, and this class fieldwork pertains a lot
Social work is a people centred discipline that recognizes the complexity of interactions between human beings and their environment. It extensively draws on the theories of human development and behaviour, and social systems to analyze complex situations and to facilitate individual, organizational, social and cultural changes (International Association of Schools of Social Work [IASSW] and International Federation of Social Workers [IFSW], 2000). Being a professional branch of education dealing with the needs of the society, it is imperative for social work to incorporate the changing social conditions and their ramifications along with the significant theoretical and practical advances in the mainstream development concerns, in its curriculum.