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Thursday Thoughts: Global Days of Service 2018
Every year, Walden University celebrates Global Days of Service. Here in the Walden Writing Center, we participate by volunteering and sharing resources related to positive social change. This year, we have even initiated paper reviews for social change. As a scholar practitioner, you play a role in creating change in your field and society.
To honor this year's Global Days of Service, here are a collection of some of our favorite service-minded resources:
Social Change and Difficult Conversations: In this WriteCast episode, writing instructors talk about the importance in having a space in which to hold difficult conversations, as that is where social change takes place and is developed.
Using Restorative Writing to Enact Social Change: The Walden Writing Center hosts a series of webinars related to positive social change, and as you check out the archive be sure to pay attention to this newest webinar. New to restorative writing? We walk you through it and show how it can be a part of positive social change.
Creative Writing for Social Change: The Academic Skills Center also hosted a webinar looking at how writing can lead to social change. This recorded webinar looks at creative writing and the literary history of social change.
Student Spotlight Series: Here on the blog we like to highlight the wonderful work of our students, both in their coursework and in society. Start with this post about Jessica Meadows, a student in the College of Education, and then use the "Student Spotlight" tag in our blog to find more inspiring stories.
Social Change at the Writing Center: This page is a hub for the social change efforts of everyone here at the Walden Writing Center.
The Walden University Writing Center supports students throughout all stages of the writing process, including the development of texts that help to create positive social change.
To honor this year's Global Days of Service, here are a collection of some of our favorite service-minded resources:
Social Change and Difficult Conversations: In this WriteCast episode, writing instructors talk about the importance in having a space in which to hold difficult conversations, as that is where social change takes place and is developed.
Using Restorative Writing to Enact Social Change: The Walden Writing Center hosts a series of webinars related to positive social change, and as you check out the archive be sure to pay attention to this newest webinar. New to restorative writing? We walk you through it and show how it can be a part of positive social change.
Creative Writing for Social Change: The Academic Skills Center also hosted a webinar looking at how writing can lead to social change. This recorded webinar looks at creative writing and the literary history of social change.
Student Spotlight Series: Here on the blog we like to highlight the wonderful work of our students, both in their coursework and in society. Start with this post about Jessica Meadows, a student in the College of Education, and then use the "Student Spotlight" tag in our blog to find more inspiring stories.
Social Change at the Writing Center: This page is a hub for the social change efforts of everyone here at the Walden Writing Center.
The Walden University Writing Center supports students throughout all stages of the writing process, including the development of texts that help to create positive social change.
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Helping the Helpers: The Writing Center and Walden University's Global Days of Service
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The documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? recounting Fred
Roger’s long career in public television has generated publicity and praise
since it was released in June 2018. Rogers dedicated his life to helping
children understand complex concepts such as empathy, tolerance, and inclusion
through his television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Although it’s
difficult to pinpoint a defining message from Rogers, his thoughts about how adults can help children handle tragic events illustrates one principle of
his philosophy:
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”
Fred Rogers was a helper who celebrated helpers on his
television show, and his message continues to resonate with children and
adults. In the Walden University Writing Center, we are grateful to be able to
work with the helpers who have dedicated their careers to promoting positive
social change in their communities through scholarship at Walden University. Walden
scholars contribute to positive social change in a variety of ways, often while balancing
coursework, careers, and familial responsibilities.
To give back to the Walden student community, the Writing
Center has created Reviews for Social Change, where students can submit work completed outside of
Walden with the goal of positive social change for paper review appointments at
the Walden Writing Center. The Reviews for Social Change appointments run from
October 15th to October 19th and are part of Walden’s Global Days of Service, so if you’re a Walden student who is writing or has
recently written something like a blog post, letter to the editor, scholarship application,
article for publication, grant, community resource, pamphlet, or other document
to promote social change, we encourage you to make an appointment with us on the Reviews for Social Change myPASS schedule.
In addition to implementing Reviews for Social Change to
help Walden scholars, the Walden University Writing Center participates in
other center-wide initiatives to support positive social change. In 2017, we
partnered with Breakthrough Twin Cities to provide feedback to students on their ACT practice essays.
Breakthrough Twin Cities is a multi-year college preparation program for
motivated but under-resourced middle and high school students in Minneapolis
and St. Paul, Minnesota, and 100% of their class of 2017 graduated in 4 years,
with 98% enrolling in post-secondary education. We’re excited to work with
Breakthrough Twin Cities again in October 2018.
The Writing Center also participated in the Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon organized
by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian
Transcription Center, and the Colored Conventions project. After completing the
Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon, we hosted another transcribing session in
August 2018 and have transcribed 168 pages from the Freedman’s Bureau Papers to date. Anyone can participate in transcribing the
Freedman’s Bureau Papers, so you can create an account and begin transcribing if you would like to contribute to better understanding of the
post-Civil War era.
Although all of these volunteer projects were undertaken to contribute
to positive social change, the desire to help Walden students achieve their
academic and career goals so that they can employ those skills to help others
is an important motivation of the Walden University Writing Center
professionals. Walden students’ dedication to helping others shows in their writing
that we see daily in the Writing Center. As we begin our Reviews for Social
Change initiative, we are proud to be helping the helpers who make up Walden University’s
student population.
Are there any writing-related online volunteer opportunities
that we should know about? Please sound off in the comments or let us know how
you’re contributing to change in your community!
Katherine McKinney is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She received an M.A. in English from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at Walden. Katherine's goal as an instructor is to show students that the best writing results from practice, and she aims to provide feedback and resources that will guide students through the invention, composition, and revision process.
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Reviews for Social Change: A Writing Center Global Days of Service Initiative
Each year, Walden University hosts Global Days of Service to encourage Walden faculty and staff members, students, and alumni to participate in service projects in their communities. During October, any person with a connection to Walden is encouraged to partner with community-oriented organizations such as Avenues for Homeless Youth, People Serving People, and other groups that have a goal of creating positive social change. Global Days of Service is the embodiment of Walden’s commitment to positive social change.
This year, we at the Walden University Writing Center want to give back to our students who give so much to their communities. To participate in Global Days of Service, the Walden University Writing Center is introducing Reviews for Social Change, an initiative to review Walden students’ writing outside of Walden that is geared toward influencing positive social change.
From October 15th to October 19th, 2018, professional staff members at the Writing Center will review writing projects that Walden students are working on outside of Walden to promote positive social change. For example, students can submit grant proposals, community resources, letters to legislators, scholarship applications, articles for publication, and even blog posts for a paper review during this time period. Any type of writing done outside of Walden that has a goal of producing positive social change can be submitted, although the Writing Center always reserves the right to cancel appointments that do not meet the criteria or follow myPASS policies.
While we’re eager to help out with writing projects that engender positive social change, the Writing Center professionals will be looking at drafts as outside readers rather than content experts. Although writing instructors may not be familiar with a specific genre, they can comment on clarity, voice, flow, style, and other aspects of writing. We want to celebrate and support you in your goals relating to positive social change!
If you’re a Walden student, you can register as a new user in myPASS if necessary and learn more about making appointments. Just remember to use the Reviews for Social Change schedule in myPASS for reviews of writing independent of Walden coursework rather than the Graduate Coursework, Undergraduate Coursework, or Preproposal Schedule. The Reviews for Social Change schedule has already opened for reservation, and appointments are available from October 15th to October 19th.
If you’re not a Walden student, you can still participate in Global Days of Service by volunteering in your community. Even though Global Days of Service is a Walden initiative, the goal is to loop others in to widen the circle of service. The more people contribute to their communities, the larger the global effect. Have you ever heard the saying that a butterfly fluttering its wings casts a breeze across the globe? If that is the case, then joining hands in helping others creates a bond far beyond a local community. When we raise our hands to help, we lift others so that they can help as well.
Katherine McKinney is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She received an M.A. in English from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at Walden. Katherine's goal as an instructor is to show students that the best writing results from practice, and she aims to provide feedback and resources that will guide students through the invention, composition, and revision process.
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From October 15th to October 19th, 2018, professional staff members at the Writing Center will review writing projects that Walden students are working on outside of Walden to promote positive social change. For example, students can submit grant proposals, community resources, letters to legislators, scholarship applications, articles for publication, and even blog posts for a paper review during this time period. Any type of writing done outside of Walden that has a goal of producing positive social change can be submitted, although the Writing Center always reserves the right to cancel appointments that do not meet the criteria or follow myPASS policies.
While we’re eager to help out with writing projects that engender positive social change, the Writing Center professionals will be looking at drafts as outside readers rather than content experts. Although writing instructors may not be familiar with a specific genre, they can comment on clarity, voice, flow, style, and other aspects of writing. We want to celebrate and support you in your goals relating to positive social change!
If you’re a Walden student, you can register as a new user in myPASS if necessary and learn more about making appointments. Just remember to use the Reviews for Social Change schedule in myPASS for reviews of writing independent of Walden coursework rather than the Graduate Coursework, Undergraduate Coursework, or Preproposal Schedule. The Reviews for Social Change schedule has already opened for reservation, and appointments are available from October 15th to October 19th.
If you’re not a Walden student, you can still participate in Global Days of Service by volunteering in your community. Even though Global Days of Service is a Walden initiative, the goal is to loop others in to widen the circle of service. The more people contribute to their communities, the larger the global effect. Have you ever heard the saying that a butterfly fluttering its wings casts a breeze across the globe? If that is the case, then joining hands in helping others creates a bond far beyond a local community. When we raise our hands to help, we lift others so that they can help as well.
Katherine McKinney is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She received an M.A. in English from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at Walden. Katherine's goal as an instructor is to show students that the best writing results from practice, and she aims to provide feedback and resources that will guide students through the invention, composition, and revision process.
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A Coda to GDS 2017: Writing Center Resources for Positive Social Change
At this point of Global Days of Service 2017, Writing Center staff have already contributed volunteer hours to help organizations like Habitat for Humanity, presented webinars on service and social change, and have helped students express the ways in which their scholarly and professional work will enact social change.
To continue this celebration of GDS 2017, we want to share some of the Writing Center's resources related to social change.
How to write for positive social change: This blog post helps students understand how to connect their work to social change.
Writing for social change webinars: We have an entire series of webinars related social change. These include topics like exploring differing perspectives to tips for communicating ideas in grant proposals.
Balance passion and objectivity: In this podcast, listen as we discuss ways to express our passion while remaining objective.
Social change and difficult situations: What do we do when we encounter different points of view related to social change? Writing Center instructors discuss this difficult situation in this episode of the podcast.
How do Walden students create social change: In our student spotlight series, you can read about the ways in which Walden students create positive social change. This link will take you to just one of the blog posts in the series. Feel free to search the "student spotlight" tag for more.
The Writing Center social change hub: Continue to explore the Writing Center's social change resources by starting on this webpage.
The Walden University Writing Center supports students throughout all stages of the writing process, including the development of texts that help to create positive social change.
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To continue this celebration of GDS 2017, we want to share some of the Writing Center's resources related to social change.
How to write for positive social change: This blog post helps students understand how to connect their work to social change.
Writing for social change webinars: We have an entire series of webinars related social change. These include topics like exploring differing perspectives to tips for communicating ideas in grant proposals.
Balance passion and objectivity: In this podcast, listen as we discuss ways to express our passion while remaining objective.
Social change and difficult situations: What do we do when we encounter different points of view related to social change? Writing Center instructors discuss this difficult situation in this episode of the podcast.
How do Walden students create social change: In our student spotlight series, you can read about the ways in which Walden students create positive social change. This link will take you to just one of the blog posts in the series. Feel free to search the "student spotlight" tag for more.
The Writing Center social change hub: Continue to explore the Writing Center's social change resources by starting on this webpage.
The Walden University Writing Center supports students throughout all stages of the writing process, including the development of texts that help to create positive social change.
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Global Days of Service: Community Partnerships and Social Change
Working with students, Writing
Center Administrative Assistants and those I “see” through the Writing Center,
provides me an opportunity to learn about the great work students do in the
name of social change as part of their studies, career paths, and volunteer
work. In fact, one aspect that drew me to Walden University as a Writing
Instructor was Walden’s
social change mission—social change is something that is both
professionally and personally important to me.
My own graduate studies were grounded in social change. As a
community literacy scholar, studying and presenting how everyday people go
public, social change meant helping to disseminate the voices of others—voices
not often heard across communities—to wide, disparate, audiences, such as
scholars, activists, and others who might find inspiration from these voices to
enact their own social change mission. However, writing about communities and
people when one is positioned as an outsider to that community is, well,
complicated. Thus, as we kick off the Global Days of Service here at Walden
University, I’m reminded that it’s important for those who enter a community
with the goal of social change to do so ethically by understanding one’s own
outsider status and keeping the community’s true needs in mind.
Luckily, as a discipline, community literacy provided me a
foundation for facing this complicated situation of studying, writing about,
and volunteering for communities I was an outsider to. For instance, I observed
and interviewed community members of a group who were going public against the
racial discrimination and sanctions they faced in relation to their immigration
status. As someone whose race, immigration status, and subsequently, social and
political experiences differed from this group, I was a community “outsider” in
relation to their status as community “insiders.” That said, community literacy
practices are grounded in changing the dynamics of this outsider-insider
issue—not by pretending to close this gap, but by acknowledging it and
respecting the various insider-outsider dynamics and differences at work. I
quickly learned that these dynamics and differences are fluid, much like an
individual’s intersecting identities (gender, race, class, etc.) are fluid.
So, while I was observing and interviewing community
members, it was important that I considered my own
outsider status to include how the group I was writing about was not static
in terms of identity or social and political public position. One way to
achieve this was to ensure that the group I studied co-created my research—their
voices were always at the forefront of my work and they provided feedback on my
notes and writing along the way. Thus, my work was not the result of passive,
unreflective observation and interviewing group members, but the result of
self-reflection and ethically fostered relationships and communications.
Equally important to ensuring that the voice of the
community led my work was ensuring that I volunteered for the community for
allowing me to study them and did so on their terms. More specifically, in
exchange for allowing me to study the group, I provided some much-needed
volunteer work—work that helped the group continue to meet and grow. In this
case: babysitting.
Admittedly, babysitting was a less glamorous reality of
volunteering and social change work than I expected. In my mind, I imagined
myself more at the forefront—helping with organizing marches or discussing
tactics for going public—after all, I had a background in public rhetoric. I might
have requested to do something more “glamorous” as opposed to holding one end
of a jump rope up or playing tag. However, I was an outsider to this community
and this was not my social and political cause. That said, working with this
group allowed me to reflect on my own understanding of what volunteer work
means and how it should be driven by the needs of the community one is
volunteering for.
If there is an overall “moral” to my volunteer work, it was
that, no matter what your area of expertise is or what you think you should do
to best support a community, volunteer work should be about what is most needed
for that community at the time according to the community being volunteered
for. Even the seemingly smallest tasks, such as babysitting, can have a huge,
positive impact on a community. For instance, without babysitters, many
community members would not have been able to meet with the group at all. Even
the smallest task requested can prove to have an important outcome for a
community.
When I volunteer during this year’s Global
Days of Service, I will keep in mind
that acknowledging and respecting the voices, positions, and intersecting
identities of others also means ensuring that the volunteer work I do is on the
terms of the community I volunteer for. After all, social change is grounded in
the need for people and communities to work together.
Veronica Oliver is a Writing Instructor in the Walden Writing Center. In her spare time she writes fiction, binge watches Netflix, and occasionally makes it to a 6am Bikram Yoga class.
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GDS 2017: Part of Something Larger
Social change is at the center of Walden University’s mission and vision statements for each college. Walden students are
often asked to reflect on how their academic work and future professional work
can enact positive social change. This week, we want to celebrate the
importance of social change here at Walden University.
The timing is perfect as well. Global Days of Service is kicking off this week. The Writing Center is always
excited to get to take part in GDS and help support the vision for greater
social change.
Explore Walden University’s commitment to social change:
- What does social change mean to Walden University?
- Meet some social change agents
Next week we’ll continue our celebration of GDS on this blog with posts that examine the idea of positive social change through action and language. As you learn more about social change at Walden, and how the Writing Center supports that commitment, we hope you'll join us.
Walden University and the Writing Center provide a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can affect positive social change.
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Special Webinar Event: Global Days of Service Kickoff
Every year, Walden University celebrates Global Days of Service (GDS). During this time, Walden and Laureate students, faculty, and staff contribute to positive social change by participating in community service projects. In 2016, we performed over 220,000 hours of volunteer service. To kick off GDS for 2017, join us for a very special webinar on Tuesday, October 3, 8:00-9:00 PM EST.
The Walden University Writing Center embodies its positive social change mission by supporting Walden students as they carry out their research and professional writing. With direct instruction to students, a library of writing resources, and an underlying position of support, the Writing Center provides Walden's writers with the tools to make positive social change through their research and action.
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This webinar will give students, staff, faculty, and alumni the opportunity to discuss goals for social change and learn how writing can help you achieve those goals. Specific attention will be paid to how writing can help you generate ideas, as well as how you can use writing in areas like social media, grants, newspapers, and blogs to communicate your vision for social change.
Interested? Register for the Writing for Social Change: Exploring Perspectives webinar.
Walden's 2017 GDS begins on October 9th. If you're interested in other resources the Writing Center has for enhancing your social change goals, or if you're interested in learning more about the Writing Center's approach to social change in general, join us back here in the next weeks to help us celebrate GDS. See you soon!
The Walden University Writing Center embodies its positive social change mission by supporting Walden students as they carry out their research and professional writing. With direct instruction to students, a library of writing resources, and an underlying position of support, the Writing Center provides Walden's writers with the tools to make positive social change through their research and action.
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Global Days of Service Kick-Off: Volunteering in the Hustle and Bustle of Daily Life
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| Walden University's Global Days of Service starts today! |
Today begins Walden’s Global Days of Service 2016, a week-long
celebration of our mission of social change where those in the community are encouraged to volunteer
and make a difference.
According to a 2015 study conducted by the United States Department of Labor, the volunteer rate for the US is in
decline with 24.9% of the population volunteering. While many in the Walden
community volunteer regularly, there’s a good chance that this isn’t something
that everyone does, perhaps because they don’t feel like they have the time or
they haven’t found a place to volunteer. We get it. There’s already so much to
balance in life from work to family to school.
However, as Hillary stated in her blog post last week about writing skill development, “Yes,
you do have time for that—even if it’s just 5 minutes a day.” The same is true
for volunteering and working to make a difference in your community: you have
time for that, and it’s important. Even if it’s just an hour a week or one
afternoon each fall, taking the time to volunteer will bring many positive
benefits to both you and your community.
In my own experiences volunteering at grade schools, summer
programs, the zoo, fall clean up days, and nursing homes, here are the benefits
of volunteering I’ve discovered:
You Meet New People: Volunteering
is a great way to get out in the community, meet some new people, and form relationships.
The people you meet might become your friends, colleagues, co-workers,
teachers, and more. There’s a good chance that you’ll meet people who are
different than you and can challenge you, help you grow, and teach you new
things. For example, each time I volunteer with kids, I learn more about
curiosity and having fun, and each time I volunteer at nursing homes, I learn
about wisdom and patience and storytelling. Meeting new people and expanding
your network and the people in your circle can bring many rewards.
You Learn About Your
Community: Through volunteering and the people you meet and structures you
work within, you can learn a lot about how an aspect of the community
works. For example, I just moved to
Minnesota from Missouri, and each week I volunteer at my local grade school in
the media center and in a classroom. Through this experience, I’m learning a
lot about the diversity in my community, the needs of the school district, and
what kinds of books and topics entice kids to read.
You Positively
Benefit Others’ Lives: Volunteering, by nature, is a somewhat selfless act.
We all have busy lives, and choosing to spend our time on an activity without
compensation shows effort. That effort
is not missed, and you might find that your volunteering positively impacts
someone else. Whether it’s providing someone with a meal, offering tutoring in
a community center, cleaning up fallen leaves, or working one-on-one with kids:
you’re making a difference through your selfless act and positively impacting
someone else’s life.
You Get to Try
Something New: Volunteering is a great way to develop skills and have new
experiences, and the time commitment can be as much or as little as you like. Through
volunteering, I’ve enjoyed developing my skills in working with children, which
is not something I do in my job as a Writing Instructor here at Walden. In
addition, through fall clean-up and outdoor beautification projects, I’ve
learned a lot about yard work, basic maintenance, and gardening. You might find
too that you can use volunteering as an avenue to have a new experience or
develop a new skill.
You Can Use Your
Professional Skills in a New Context: Volunteering is a great way to use
your professional skills in a different way to benefit those in need. For
example, several years ago I volunteered in a summer program held at the zoo,
assisting kids grades 1-5 as they created books about their experiences and the
animals they were seeing and learning about.
As a writing teacher practiced in asking leading questions to encourage
and support writers, and as an amateur sketch-artist gifted with the ability to
draw pictures of animals, these skills were very helpful working with kids this
age as they worked on their first books. I felt proud using my professional
training and creativity in this way.
As we celebrate Walden’s Global Days of Service, I hope
you’ll reflect here with me: What other
benefits are there for volunteering? How
do you use your professional skills to volunteer and offer a service to your community?
I look forward to hearing your responses and celebrating Walden's Global Days of Service with you.
Jes Philbrook is a Writing Instructor and the Coordinator of Doctoral Writing Assessment at Walden University, and she is working on her dissertation as she nears the end of her own doctoral program in English. In addition to her busy life working and writing, Jes volunteers each week at the neighborhood grade school. She loves volunteering because it’s a way to give back, make new friends, and learn about her community.
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