Civic Action Scorecard COVID-19 Edition
You will submit a Civic Action Scorecard Portfolio for this class. You will document various civic actions that you complete, and will you will reflect upon your experiences in completing said civic actions. These activities are supported by the Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy at Miami Dade College. Stand up. Be counted. Do something. This assignment allows you to do something worthwhile. So, then, just do something worthwhile.
Logistics: Generalized instructions for completing your Civic Action Scorecard can be found here:
https://www.mdc.edu/main/images/Civic%20Action%20Scorecard%202020-2021%20MASTER%20COPY_tcm6-106087.pdf
If the link doesnt work for some reason, you try cutting and pasting it, or, you can easily goggle it.
You need to review the instructions in the link above carefully.
For this class, we have more specified requirements. You must:
-upload your completed Scorecard as a single.doc or .docx formatted document into Blackboard.
-complete all reflections as Written Reflections where applicable. They must be 200 words and they must be thoughtfully written (see section on Reflections below).
The following items are required for this class:
ITEM iCED Points
DE-3 5
DE-4 5
DE-6 5
DE-9 10
DE-23 5
DE-27 5
ES-4 5
ES-5 5
ES-7 5
ES-8 5
ES-10 5
SI-3 5
12 Items 65 iCED Points
Completing these items will result in earning 65 (or more) Scorecard points. You are welcome to earn more than 65 points. Points of 100 or more are eligible for the Civic Action Award through the Institute for Civic Engagement & Democracy (iCED). For this class, we will translate Scorecard points into class points.
Conduct:
Be a good human being whilst completing Scorecard items. Some items you complete by yourself. Some items are completed in the presence of others. You want to be a good person when dealing with other people. Just be cool. Be real. Represent yourself, your family, your diaspora, and MDC with pride. It never looks good when you look bad.
Writing Reflections:
Write meaningfully. In this exercise, meaningful reflections empirically tie your personal experiences to broader social issues. Think about what you do, think, and feel before, during, and after completing the Scorecard item. Explicitly address every question listed in the actual Civic Action Scorecard and each of the following four questions in all of your written reflections:
1. -Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does this civic action address?
2. -Explicitly explain how the action you completed specifically addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goal(s).
3. -How has your engagement in this activity altered your perception or consciousness about this issue? What will you do differently in the future as a result?
4. -Explicitly explain how the action you completed is connected to course content in this course.
Information on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can be found here:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
If the link doesnt work for some reason, you can easily google it.
How to do it:
1. Get over yourself.
2. Make time.
3. Embrace your learning experiences.
4. Take making the world a better place seriously.
You will find a template on the following page.
You will find a few examples on subsequent pages.
Civic Action Item # and name of item:
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out:
Date(s) of Reflection:
Citation of external sources (if applicable):
Documentation:
[Delete this and paste your documentation here. Usually this will be a photo or a screenshot]
Reflection:
[Delete this and write your reflection here. If no written reflection is required, then say that no written reflection is required.]
Word Count of Reflection:
[Highlight your written reflection and then see the word count below.
Delete all of this and write the number of words here.]
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: DE-1 Register to vote
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out: This particular card was issued 07/16/17, but I have been registered to vote since the day I turned 18.
Date(s) of Reflection: 9.20.20
Citation of external sources (if applicable): N/A
Documentation:
Reflection:
I will first address the question in the actual Civic Action Scorecard. Second, I will address the questions mandated by my professor.
I actually do not remember much about registering to vote for the first time. I do know that I was all excited to do it on the day I turned 18. I cant recall all of the details, but I did it at like a post office or maybe the DMV or something. Whatever it was, it was easy in my case. No troubles at all. It was fast and easy. I filled out a form and was told to wait for confirmation in the mail. I was excited because my birthday is in October and there was a big Presidential election coming up in November. I think that folks that have difficulty with the registration process might be less willing to vote, but Im not sure. Throughout my life, Ive moved a lot. I have always updated/re-registered to vote at the exact time Im updating my address with the USPS. Ive found that to be easy in my case. Id suspect that millions of pages have been on the importance of voting. I can at least say this: voting is important because folks need to be represented in a democratic society. No representation? No democracy.
Because elected officials write and vote on legislation, create and implement ordinances, and change and enforce various rules and regulations, an argument could be made that voting, broadly construed, is related to each of the UNSDGs. Therefore, lets just reflect on one Goal 13 on Climate Change. The current US President announced that the nation quit participating with initiatives associated with the Paris Climate Accord. This civic action of registering to vote is explicitly related to UNSDG 13, then, insofar as we can vote for officials that may reconsider such a withdraw. I do not think my engagement in voting has changed my perception about climate issues, but I do think my engagement in voting has increased my knowledge about climate issues. I dont think Ill do things differently in the future, but, I will say that Im certain Id benefit from doing further research on issues vis a vis candidates. Lastly, voting is related to sociology in many, many ways. The simplest way to put it is that the very hallmark of democratic societies is voting. In authoritarian or totalitarian societies, voting isnt even an option. Monarchies are political systems that are, in part, all about familial succession, and most monarchies did not vote. King says. Peasants do. There are a million other cool ways to connect voting to sociology such as analyzing the dynamics of voter suppression, gerrymandering, campaign contributions and on and on and on.
Word Count of Reflection:
456
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: DE-20 Attend a protest, rally, or demonstration with positive signage
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out: 10.7.19 (just barely less than a year ago )
Date(s) of Reflection: 9.20.20
Citation of external sources (if applicable): (https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/sexual-violence/index.html).
Documentation:
Reflection:
Two years ago, the Sociology Club invented what they called the Sexual Assault Awareness March. During the 2019-2020 school year, a dedicated Honors College student continued the tradition. You can find several of my students in the image above. Professor Respass can just barely be seen near the sculpture of the bear. She is rallying the troops prior to the March. I helped pass out informational flyers to attendees, actively listened to the two speakers at the rally, handed out signs that students had made the previous day, and marched with this mob of students around the late at North campus twice. We definitely made some good noise. I was disappointed to see that despite several faculty and administrators in attendance during the speakers, I was one of the few non-students that joined them in the actual. It is possible that these faculty and administrators were too busy to join the march or that they saw the march itself as a thing just for the students. I joined them. Simple assembly and peaceful protests are important in a democracy because it provides a way for a citizenry to express itself.
This particular march is most closely related to UNSDG 5 gender equality. It addresses this goal insofar as the march increased awareness of violence against women and girls. Though I do not think the march changed my perception of the issue, I did learn things. I learned, for example, that the CDC reports that more than 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 4 men have experienced sexual violence at some point in life (https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/sexual-violence/index.html). These are staggering statistics. The march is related to sociology because gender is a fundamental organizing structure across societies. Further, sociologists study inequalities be they economic, racial, or gendered or a host of other social structures.
Word Count of Reflection:
302
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: ES-1 Know the native plants of your community
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out: 9.20.20
Date(s) of Reflection: 9.20.20
Citation of external sources (if applicable): https://fleetfarming.org/floridas-7-wild-edible-plants/ and http://floridayards.org/fyplants/plantquery.php and https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E_infographics_15.pdf
Documentation:
From https://fleetfarming.org/floridas-7-wild-edible-plants/ and http://floridayards.org/fyplants/plantquery.php
These ones are edible:
Kumquat
Blackberries
Muscadine Grapes
Purslane
Spiderwort
Swamp Cabbage and Saw Palmetto
Betony
These ones arent:
Leather Fern
Southern Maidenhair Fern
Century Plant
Elephant Ears
Milkweed
Pawpaw
Reflection:
Just goofing around on these two websites for about fifteen minutes has taught me that I know amazingly little about native plants in south Florida and there is a lot I need to learn. I have really awful allergies in south Florida, and Ive been to three different allergists and no one can seem to figure it out. Looking even further into this just might help me out . Though I didnt list them above, I did investigate native grasses in south Florida. Though I dont seem to encounter the seven native grasses that pop up in the floridayards.org site terribly often in my everyday life, I do think there is some Purple Lovegrass in my neighborhood. Maybe it isnt that, but it seems like it might be. It is possible I dont seem to encounter some of these grasses because I live and work in an urban environment where much of the grasses are not native.
This Civic Action is related to UNSDG 15 Life on Land. Part of UNSDG 15 is about curbing biodiversity loss. Well, now that Ive learned what some of the native plants where I live and work actually are, why do I rarely seem to encounter them?… probably because weve paved over seemingly everything. Im not sure what to do differently. I think I should learn more, I guess. The UNSDG site talks about how biodiversity loss not only has ramifications for climate change but also for human disease. Wow. This is something isnt it? Disease? At a time like this? Good grief. Finally, though it may seem like this isnt related to sociology, it really is. If biodiversity has direct and indirect effects on human life on land, well, then, changes in biodiversity in a society are relevant to a society insofar such effects impact human life. Take deforestation, for example. I have a buddy who recently published a great paper on deforestation, chocolate, human rights, and consumption. This is a great, great oversimplification, but his findings basically are as such: Wealthy nations consume a lot of chocolate. They have been consuming more and more over time, in fact. Cacao, the crop that can be turned into chocolate, just so happens to grow really great in central America and West Africa. So, farmers in central America and West Africa have been cutting down trees to make room for cacao plants. Folks that harvest cacao are sometimes slaves, and when they do get paid, they do not make a living wage. Air quality in these places has gotten worse as deforestation has increased. Put differently, while you enjoy that chocolate treat, the cacao was probably harvested in a way that violated someones human rights and was possibly harvested from a place that used to be covered in trees, but isnt anymore.
Word Count of Reflection:
467
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: AC-1 Watch a film or documentary about a political, environmental, social, or cultural issue
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out: 9.21.20-9.23.20
Date(s) of Reflection: 9.?.20
Citation of external sources (if applicable):
Vaughan, Diane. 1996. The Challenger Launch Decision: Risk Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Documentation:
Challenger: The Final Flight is a documentary series about the Challenger launch decision. One thing I learned is that Diane Vaughan, a prominent contemporary sociologist and total expert on the Challenger decision, does not appear in the documentary series. I was not pleased with this. To my knowledge, she still teaches at Columbia University. Ive met her, but were not close pals or anything. The portrayal of the fiasco is pretty low-key in the documentary. It focuses on the pre-flight national attention given to the launch focused around Christa McAullife, a school teacher, being sent up with the crew. And yes, the short of it is that the shuttle exploded a few seconds after takeoff and no one survived. Not good. Investigations placed most of the blame on the faulty O-rings. I do think the series highlights organizational confidence, but downplays, or fully ignores, organizational deviance and calculated risk things that Diane Vaughan is an expert in.
The bottom line is that many folks had access to knowledge that suggested launching the Challenger was a bad idea. Some folks with this knowledge spoke up. Some didnt. Despite the folks that chose to speak out about the launch being a bad idea, the launch was approved and initiated despite knowledge that it was wildly risky. This national disaster was a tragedy and an embarrassment.
[223 words]
Reflection:
The film tells the story pretty straightforwardly. And while it acknowledges some of the goof ups, it does feel a bit like an advertisement for American resiliency. The series includes mostly interviews with folks from NASA and a few from engineering firms that had contracts with NASA but again, included no academic analysts in its interview pool. I wasnt crazy about this omission. I did learn that the firm responsible for the O-rings knew they werent perfect and repeatedly reported to NASA that they knew they could possibly become problematic. I think the film, despite wildly underplaying the risky organizational culture at NASA that could be as much at fault as the O-rings were deemed, can enrich those who watch it insofar as it is a window into an American tragedy, but, alas, we did get through it, and we did learn something
This documentary is related to UNSDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Innovation is often linked to the economy, and, broadly speaking, innovation often strengthens economies. The docu-series also highlights the extent to which NASA was trying to sort of normalize space travel with the Challenger mission. I mean, it wasnt like an Elon Musk sort of privatization thing, but, it did feel that way just a little bit. I dont know if watching the series has changed my perception or consciousness about American space travel. I am, in fact, a proud annual pass-holder for the Kennedy Space Center. One thing Ill perhaps do differently is to further investigate the extent to which the Center itself downplays organizational deviance and cultures of risk embedded within NASA as a bureaucratic organization. As mentioned, the documentary is related to sociology because it is, if flawed, a mini-case study in organizational failure.
Word Count of Reflection: 296
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: AC-3 Research the indigenous people and tribe(s) of your community using your zip code with Native Land
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out: 9.21.20
Date(s) of Reflection: 9.21.20
Citation of external sources (if applicable):
https://www.semtribe.com/stof
https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/tequest/tequest1.htm
Goggin, John M. 1950. The Indians and History of the Matecumbe Region. Tequesta 10, p. 13-24. Accessed here: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/content/FI/18/05/09/00/00010/FI18050900_00010_00004.pdf
http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dPanther/collections/TEQ
https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/historyculture/nativepeoples.htm
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/
Documentation:
According to https://native-land.ca/, I live on Seminole and Tequesta lands. I do not own property, but I do lease an apartment on this land. The Native Land website led me to https://www.semtribe.com/stof. There is a lot to learn there. The website splash page notes the Seminole Tribe of Florida is both a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe and the only Tribe in America who never signed a peace treaty. The History tab on the website has twelve subsections including one with brief biographies of nine historic Seminoles. Some Seminole leaders forcibly resisted removal. Some Seminoles, on the other hand, attempted to negotiate with state and Federal governments in peaceful ways. There is also a tab with a timeline that outlines, essentially, five hundred years of survival in the face of Spanish combatants followed by American combatants. Of course, the Seminoles are active today. They are of course widely known for gaming, but their Tribal Council also oversees the Seminole Police Department, Legal Services, Water Resource Management, Education, Housing, and dozen of other administrative units. The website also maintains that, today, the primary foci for the Seminoles today is to maintain economic security and to maintain culture.
The Tequesta, perhaps less widely known than the Seminoles, are likely very, very few in number today. https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/tequest/tequest1.htm suggests the Tequesta were hunters and gathers that were all but eliminated by the early 1800s thanks to battles, disease, and slavery. The National Parks Service indicates that when the English gained control over Florida from Spain, there were only hundreds of Tequesta that remained and they may have migrated to Cuba along with the Spanish (https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/historyculture/nativepeoples.htm). In 2014, a Tequesta village was found in downtown Miami. Today, it is covered by Met Miami, a series of three skyscrapers (https://www.cnn.com/2014/02/04/us/florida-indian-village). Interestingly, the Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida is named Tequesta and was published up until at least 2014 (see http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dPanther/collections/TEQ ). The journal, despite its namesake, isnt a journal dedicated to research about the Tequesta people, it is rather a journal about history in south Florida.
[Documentation word count 342]
Reflection:
I have a few reactions upon initial reflection. The first is a question: why/how did the Seminoles persist while the Tequesta more or less fizzled away? Also, there seems to be very little known about the Tequesta. Thus, there may be much for archeologists, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, and historians to discover about this under-researched group. If I were a graduate student at any institution in south Florida, Id be excited to work on this, given it has received comparatively little attention from academics. It is important to know about the indigenous tribes of our communities because we need to be mindful and respectful of people that were here before us – and not just the people, but also their histories and their stories. There is a lot of blood in the soil in North America, but, I guess, one could say that about most of the world. The weird story of the American democratic experiment is rooted in conquest, genocide, forcible population transfer, assimilation, and segregation. Many like to think were living in this multicultural pluralistic democratic society today, but it isnt that pretty. It isnt difficult to see how dominant groups continue to treat non-dominant groups. Just check the news.
The ongoing, everyday activities of all First Nations people could related to all UNSDG goals, but Im going to limit this part of my reflection to the act of taking an hour or so and doing a little bit of research on the people that were the first people to live where I live today. Let us take Goal 4 Education. Much of this UNSDG is focused on access and quality. Target 4.7 invokes an education that includes foci on human rights, cultures of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity, amongst other foci (see https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/). This exercise has, at the very least, led me to expand my appreciation of the cultural diversity and history of the area in which I live. I dont think that this activity has necessarily changed my perception about the relationships between First Nations in America and Spain and English colonists the facts remain the same, I just learned some new facts like the time Seminole leader Osceola was captured by the American military under a flag of truce and then sent to prison (https://www.semtribe.com/STOF/history/historic-seminole). Im not sure what to do differently. I may consider inviting Seminole presenters to my classes. Thatd be cool. As far as how this is connected to sociology, well, it is basically the fundamental point of sociology to study groups of people. As invoked above, the stories of the Seminole and Tequesta, though unique to their own and should be appreciated as such, are also similar to the stories of other First Nations groups. Across societies, weve seen and studied how dominant groups treat non-dominant groups, and, well, unfortunately, most of the time is just isnt very pretty.
Word Count of Reflection: 482
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Civic Action Item # and name of item: SI-3 Watch two TED Talks on the same subject
Date(s) the Civic action was carried out:
Date(s) of Reflection:
Citation of external sources (if applicable):
The videos are here:
and
Documentation:
Both of these TED Talks address innovation, broadly construed.
Rodney Mullens talk on innovation is really a talk about innovation as a dependent variable and x an y being independent variables. That is, x+y = innovation. That is the main idea, more or less.
Reflection:
Rodney Mullen was innovative in his inventiveness and in his creativity. For sure. He saw maneuvers before others did. In my case, as a kid, I was more into style. So I really admired Steve Caballero. He was an innovator in his own right, but not like Mullen. I learned how Mullen worked on his innovations, incessantly, whilst just a kid and, basically, secluded. It relates to my own experience because when I was a kid, I was just imitating Steve Caballero and Rodney Mullen. Their maneuvers were difficult ones to learn. But my personal efforts were invested in earning already invented maneuvers, not innovating my own.
Word Count of Reflection:
[Highlight your written reflection and then see the word count below.
Delete all of this and write the number of words here.]
Documentation Rubric:
Documentation
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Documentation is not provided or is irrelevant to Civic Action Item
Partial documentation is present
All documentation is clearly presented
Reflection Rubric:
Written Reflection
Not Accomplished
Partly Accomplished
Accomplished
Reflection word count not met and/or does not follow instructions
Reflection word count not met and/or partially follows instructions
Reflection word count met and fully follows instructions
Applied Sciences
Architecture and Design
Biology
Business & Finance
Chemistry
Computer Science
Geography
Geology
Education
Engineering
English
Environmental science
Spanish
Government
History
Human Resource Management
Information Systems
Law
Literature
Mathematics
Nursing
Physics
Political Science
Psychology
Reading
Science
Social Science
Home
Homework Answers
Blog
Archive
Tags
Reviews
Contact
twitterfacebook
Copyright © 2021 SweetStudy.com
