Social science homework

Step 1:  Review all of your auto-ethnography entries.  Are they complete or is there a social justice issue you confronted in your schooling that you still need to write on?  (If so do it!) Write a 1-2 page essay on what this autoethnography project/reflection meant to you this semester.  How did it enhance your learning and reflection on your own schooling experiences and how questioning those experiences helps you to "read the world" (Freire)?   (This part of the the final is worth 75 points) 

Step 2:  Choose the issue that surfaced in your entries that is of most importance to you now in light of your personal passions, or career goals/hopes.  Pull together the passages in your autoethnography that you’ve already written on it or that relates to it.  In one full page, describe what you are giving voice to, and expand on it.

Step 3:  Do a search for scholarly literature on the issue you have named in education, sociology and/or your major discipline, and find at least three scholarly articles.  (One may be from our readings you have done from this course, and you may "follow the bibliographic threads" from our readings.)  Write annotations for each of these articles (in your own words!) briefly summarizing the points that are relevant and stating how they help you formulate your deep thinking on this issue.  Indicate the type of study (i.e., qualitative or quantitative) and summarize the methodology the researcher(s) used to carryout the inquiry and generate findings.  (2-3 pages) 

Step 4:  Using the research and your reflection, write a brief  “problem statement” (see  http://faculty.virginia.edu/schoolhouse/WP/probstattemplate.html) stating the issue, how it has been dealt with or ignored, and why people should care. Illustrate it by choosing  three images that represent the issue and embed them in your narrative. Provide a caption for each imagine and credit the source of the photo. (2-4 pages with images)

Step 5:  In no more than two pages (at least one page), suggest some do-able directions (small coordinated steps) for creating pathways or policies that will address your issue of concern.  (Imagine you are the school board president and are charged with developing a plan).  Your plan may include doing action research, if it is warranted.