Chance to Make a Difference in a Child's Life

My name is Monte Simonton and I run the after school program at Middle Way House The Rise.  We serve children between the ages of 3-19 years old who have come from domestic violence, homeless, and poverty situations.  We have several volunteer options and a service learning course that we need more volunteers for.  Each of them are described below.

L100: *** We still have 8 spots left.
Every year we collaborate with a service learning course (CLLC-L100, 20208) to provide the children with a Spring Break Camp.  The class meets Feb 29th, March 7th, and March 21st from 6:00-8:30 p.m. and includes meeting the week of Spring Break from 8:30-5 p.m.  The first two classes the students will get a foundation on the effects of domestic violence on children.  They will learn about Middle Way House and about what we will doing with the children over spring break.  During spring break we will spend Mon-Fri 8:30-5 with the children.  We will go to the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis, the Exotic Feline Rescue Center,The Indianapolis Zoo, and Wonder Lab.  We will go to a Chemistry Magic show, go swimming, and have live animals brought in by the Humane Society for some educational programs and two animal rescue programs.  It is a really fun week that allows students to make a difference in a child’s life over Spring Break. 

Mentoring:
We currently need 25 men and 10 women to be mentors to the children in our program.  We pair IU students with a child of the same gender for a year commitment as a mentor.  The mentor must spend an average of 3 hours a week with the child, not counting winter, summer, or spring breaks.  Some of our boys have been waiting close to a year to get mentors, because we have not had that many male applicants.  We have a large number of female children who have recently moved and also need mentors.  Mentoring is one of the easiest ways to make a difference in a child’s life.  Just by hanging around them and incorporating them into your life, you can make a major difference in their lives. We ask that the mentor activities be done on the weekend. Please contact Monte Simonton at msimonto@hotmail.com for more information.

Tutoring;
We tutor children between the ages of 4-18 with their homework.  We do tutoring Mon-Fri from 5:30-7:00 p.m.  We need help with tutoring children in all grades.  We could also use help in developing assignments for children to do when they do not have homework that would increase their literacy and math levels.  We are tutoring about 30 children a day and need more volunteers.  We in particular need more tutors on Fridays.  Please contact Monte Simonton at msimonto@hotmail.com for more information.

Interesting Course for Spring: INST-I 100 INTRODUCTION TO INDIA

INST-I 100 INTRODUCTION TO INDIA (3 CR)

From Buddhism to Bollywood, Kalidasa to Kashmir, the Bhagavad Gita to Bhopal, and the Indus Valley to IT, we all need to know more about India to function in our globalized environment. I-100 Introduction to India will give you just that: an overview of modern India and a sense of how India became the world power it is today. Each week India Studies faculty (from such departments as Communication and Culture, History, Law, Religious Studies) will give you glimpses of the latest research in their respective fields. Each week we’ll watch a movie chosen to help us build cultural literacy in the region, illustrating that week’s themes. Come learn about India with some of the leading scholars in the country!

27601 01:25P-02:15P MW BH 003 Manring R
07:15P-10:15P W WH 009 Manring R

I-100 has film screenings on Wednesdays,7:15-10:15p and Friday sections (register separately). The class carries COLL Culture Studies credit,IUB GenEd WC credit, and COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit.

Interesting Service Learning Intensive Writing Course for Spring - ENG W350: Going Public: Writing Health and Health Care in the United State

W350 Advanced Expository Writing
Section 16579; BH 246, TR 9:30 to 10:45 a.m.
Topic: Going Public: Writing Health and Health Care in the United States
Instructor: Joan Linton

N.B.: This IW course requires students to perform community service (total of 20 hours minimum)

Going Public aims to help students develop as public communicators through a holistic approach to health in the community and a systemic understanding of healthcare in the United States. It invites students to practice and expand the critical skills of synthesis and analysis and rhetorical skills of persuasion through their service, writing, and research in the community. In going beyond the classroom, students will develop the knowledge and understanding needed to address issues of health and healthcare, and find their own voice in communicating this knowledge to public audiences—the very people whose lives are affected by these issues. They will come to understand both the power of language in creating and transforming publics, and the responsibility that comes with any attempt to manage and disseminate information. The long-term goal is to help seed the kind of collective action that will enable individuals and families to co-produce their health within their communities, local and extended, as a key component to improving health and healthcare in the United States.

Readings, discussions, and reflections will emphasize the following areas:
(1) holistic approach to health: not just sickness care but being healthy and staying healthy; not just physical health but also mental, social, behavioral, and environmental wellbeing;
(2) cultural literacy in relocating the self in the community: exploring shared goals, assessing community needs and strengths, building trust and reciprocity, perspective taking
(3) critical literacy: skills of research and analysis and a “systems thinking” approach that takes into account the broader cultural and economic contexts shaping health and care and their local and personal effects
(4) civic engagement: understanding public health as a “commons,” locating collective action in the co-production of health in the community within a democratic process of “polycentric governance”
(5) rhetorical skills and strategies for narrating public stories:
These readings will provide a framework for class discussions and reflections on service-related activities, with a view of creating meaningful and sustainable change within communities.

In addition to performing service, students will collaborate on 3 sets of presentations. In writing assignments, students will: reflect on their service experience in light of ideas from readings and presentations; develop one or more focused messages for their community organization for distribution to targeted audiences; and develop and write up a research project. They will document their journey of going public in stories of self, us, and now. Since this is an Intensive Writing course, peer reviews and revisions will be built into the sequence of assignments. Throughout the semester, students will be assembling their portfolio of writings to be submitted along with the research paper.

Course for Students with an Interest in Arts Reporting and Reviewing

SPRING SEMESTER 2012

Course for Students with an Interest in Arts Reporting and Reviewing

The School of Journalism offers students a course designed to develop knowledge of and skills in reporting and reviewing the arts.

Students with such an interest – with journalism major and/or background in a creative or performing arts area and/or a background in arts administration – are welcome. Class is limited to 18.

JOUR – J 460/JOUR-J 552 – Reporting the Arts – Course provides students with training in the coverage of the arts. Writing assignments range from feature articles to news to criticism for the journalistic media. Course includes coverage of issues revolving around the arts and society. Of value also to those who plan to write about the arts for promotion or development purposes. Close attention is given to information gathering and writing. Good opportunity for a student to sharpen writing skills in an area of special interest.

JOUR- J 460, Class 21784 or JOUR-J 552, Class 32708. Reporting the Arts – Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 – 2:15 p.m., Ernie Pyle Hall, Room 207.

For further information, please contact Professor Emeritus Peter Jacobi at 856-1935 or 334-0063 or via e-mail, peter.jacobi@comcast.net


NOTE: THIS COUNTS AS AN ELECTIVE COURSE OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR CMCL MAJORS.

New Course for Spring 2012: HPER-H 317: GENDER, COMMUNICATION, SEXUALITY & HEALTH

HPER-H 317: GENDER, COMMUNICATION, SEXUALITY & HEALTH
Spring 2012: Tuesdays, 5:45PM - 8:15PM
Course number: 25607

Note: This course will count as an elective outside the College of Arts and Sciences for CMCL majors.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This discussion based course will explore the interrelationship of gender, sexuality, the college culture, the ways we communicate about sex, and the impact they have on our health.

The course will explore sexual interactions including societal and media messages, gender roles, and gender assigned sexual behavior as they impact physical and emotional health. There will be a focus on gender differences and encounters within the social context that inform sexual behavior and their health consequences.

SPECIFICALLY:
1. How are the decisions we make on a daily basis driven by our perceptions of gender and sexuality?
2. What does it mean to be masculine/feminine?
3. How do we develop our ideas/perceptions of masculinity and femininity?
4. How do we develop our ideas and values about sexuality?
5. How does gender and sexuality effect how we make decisions?

Spring 2012 Journalism course "Reporting the Arts"

SPRING SEMESTER 2012

Course for Students with an Interest in Arts Reporting and Reviewing

The School of Journalism offers students a course designed to develop knowledge of and skills in reporting and reviewing the arts.

Students with such an interest – with journalism major and/or background in a creative or performing arts area and/or a background in arts administration – are welcome. Class is limited to 18.

JOUR – J 460 – Reporting the Arts – Course provides students with training in the coverage of the arts. Writing assignments range from feature articles to news to criticism for the journalistic media. Course includes coverage of issues revolving around the arts and society. Of value also to those who plan to write about the arts for promotion or development purposes. Close attention is given to information gathering and writing. Good opportunity for a student to sharpen writing skills in an area of special interest.

JOUR- J 460, Class 21784, Reporting the Arts – Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 – 2:15 p.m., Ernie Pyle Hall, Room 207.

For further information, please contact Professor Emeritus Peter Jacobi at 856-1935 or 334-0063 or via e-mail, peter.jacobi@comcast.net