COURSE GOALS
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By examining and explaining the
fundamental concepts, theories, and strategies of sociological
analysis and applying them to personal and global issues, students
learn to link personal problems and situations to wider social
contexts and patterns in society. The instructor aims to make
students aware of the factors that determine the contexts for
social behavior while examining the place of intentionality in
life and how people consciously and unconsciously construct social
realities. |
WRITING ACTIVITIES
1. SOCIOLOGICAL FIELD
NOTES |
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Students visit a Neighborhood Board
Meeting and observe the people who are speaking on behalf of the
community. In their field notes, students document the presence
and manifestations of behaviors that take place during the
meeting, describe what kinds of people were present (i.e. locals,
professionals, politicians, females, males), the physical setting
of the room, and seating arrangements. These observations are used
as data from which to generalize principles and patterns of social
behavior, and to test some of the ideas and sociological concepts
presented and provided by the course text. |
The main objective for using
writing is for individuals to document on paper the descriptions
of their own behaviors and the behavior they observe going on
around them. As social scientists we are trying to produce data
from which to generalize scientific principles. With the first
essay, the goal is accuracy. Can they simply and clearly describe
what they are experiencing themselves or see other people
experiencing? --Instructor |
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For example, students may analyze
and discuss the meeting events and collective behavior of the
people as patterned or unpatterned, transitory or spontaneous.
Students turn in rough drafts for instructor comments. The
instructor may also note ways in which students can further
observe. Students turn in final, more developed, drafts for
"credits." Students achieve their final course grade by
accumulating these "credits."
PURPOSE:
The goal of this assignment is to introduce students to
sociological ways of collecting and analyzing data. Students learn
to document others' and their own experiences and behavior
accurately, completely, and clearly, thus practicing sociological
techniques and ways of thinking applicable in advanced courses and
research. This reinforces theories learned from the text through
the application of theories to concrete data. |
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2.
RESPONDING TO PEER NOTES: A REACTION ESSAY |
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After Sociological Field Notes have
been handed back to the student author with teacher comments on
them, students trade papers, read them, and write a second paper
about the student's text they've read, commenting on what they
found interesting, disturbing, or otherwise topical. |
Reading newspapers and
newsmagazines and then writing a paper about them is the most
significant activity for me in this class because I can find out
what is going on in society while I am learning how to
write.--Student |
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PURPOSE:
This assignment encourages students to share ideas and document
each other's written behaviors. It also allows them to practice
writing. |
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3. OBSERVATION LOGS |
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Students write for
"credits" as often and as much as they can about
anything that is of interest to sociologists. These observation
logs can include notes about the class (helpful to the instructor
because they provide an opportunity to clear up global
misunderstanding) or reactions to newspaper articles, or be an
ongoing dialog with the instructor. Students can receive extra
writing "credits" by editing other students' texts. |
One of the ways I encourage them to
write for credit is, if they write about prosocial or antisocial
things that they do, I don't punish them for antisocial behavior.
I give them credit for writing well something contrary to my
values.--Instructor
One of the problems I'm having is
getting freshmen to use sociological language.--Instructor |
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PURPOSE:
The idea is to provide another avenue of writing through which
students learn sociological concepts and express this learning. |
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4. FREEWRITING |
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At least once a week, students are
given a sociological concept or construct (from the text or
lecture) to write about for five minutes. Students are encouraged
to write as much as they can about the topic(s). Students may
choose to turn in freewrites for credit or keep them and receive
no credit. |
What I like most about the writing
assignments was that I could write anything I wanted to. Also I
liked them because I could put in my personal interests and
opinions without being less academic.--Student
I liked the fact that we could
write on any subject. --Student |
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PURPOSE:
This exercise provides students with an opportunity to explore and
discover interests and ideas in a sociological context. It is also
another way to stress the sociological concept of
"choice" that students may exercise. |
| 5.
COURSE BOOKLET |
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At the end of the semester,
students rewrite and turn in their best writing on topics such as
ethnicity and life in Hawai‘i, collective behavior, and gender
relationships. The teacher publishes a collection of student
texts, adding his own commentaries in an introduction. Each
student receives two copies of this booklet.
PURPOSE: Besides providing a
tangible reward for student efforts, the purpose of this exercise
is to help students understand the concept of audience in a
sociological context. The exercise also motivates students to
revise their papers for publication. Since participation is
optional, students are again given the opportunity to exercise
choice. |
