Building Citizens: A Critical Reflection and Discussion Guide for Community Service Participants

Abstract: This guide is designed to help community service programs incorporate a deliberative, civic dimension into their programs by guiding participants in reflection that makes explicit connections between service and critical, enlivened citizenship. Chapters include: Common Thinking: From Me to We in Democracy, which provides games to build strong group dynamics; Critical Thinking: From Narrative to Analysis, which shows how individual members can talk about their experiences and relate them to a wider context; and Complex Thinking: Service in a Broader Context, which includes short stories and articles to help think more critically about the questions community service might raise. (AT)

Cover and Table of Contents (550K pdf)

• Cover, Title, and Thank you Pages
• Preface
• Credits
• Table of Contents

Introduction (1170K pdf)

• Why This Guide?
• Before Getting Started
• Sample "Courses of Study"

Part One:
Common Thinking: From Me to We (3170K pdf)

• From Me to We in a Democracy

Part Two:
Critical Thinking: From Narrative to Analysis (4660K pdf)

• What Does It Mean to Move from narrative to Analysis
• Facilitation Guide
• Notes on Experiential Learning and Community Service
• Relating Experiential and Democratic Learning to Community Service
• Service-Learning
• Learning Exercises

Part Two (cont.):
Critical Thinking: From Narrative to Analysis (5230K pdf)

• Critical Incidents
• Community Mapping
• Different Models of Service to Think About
• Is Your Service Democratic? Take the Text and See

Part Three:
Complex Thinking: Service in a Broader Context (5320K pdf)

• Service in a Broader Context
• It Got Them Thinking: Reflections by Young People on Service
• Writing Exercise: Reflecting on Service
• Personal Voyages

Part Three (cont.):
Complex Thinking: Service in a Broader Context (6050K pdf)

• Service is Contested
• Service and the Nation: The Politics of National and Community Service
• Conclusion: Being and Active Citizen

Shea, Margo and Kevin Mattson. Building Citizens: a Critical Reflection and Discussion Guide for Community Service Participants. New Brunswick, NJ: The Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy, Rutgers University, 1998.

This document is provided electronically with permission from:
Dr. Benjamin R. Barber
CivWorld @ Demos
220 Fifth Avenue
Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10001
212-247-5433
http://www.civworld.org/
http://www.benjaminbarber.org/