Reading Responses

Within each module, students will complete a reading response. This response is “semi-formal” in nature meaning that it should be polished, clearly written, and should include citations (in APA format) from the weekly readings (the formal part), but you should also feel free to allow your raw thinking come through without concern for being “right” or “wrong” (the informal part). 

The purpose of the reading response is to allow you an opportunity to grapple with the course material. These responses are essentially ways for us to talk to each other about your intellectual development. I also want your reflections to be a useful tool in constructing your final paper, so each response will ask you to think about the key ideas that you might draw into the final paper. 

I want to be clear that this summary is not my way of testing your understanding, but it is instead my way of gauging your understanding. Reading responses are graded for completion, not for “accuracy” though I will provide feedback as part of our ongoing dialogue with one another.

Overall, your response should be ~1000 words and be generally balanced between each section (summary, critical analysis, and reflection).

Summary (~300+ words)

First, I want you to provide an integrated summary of the readings in the context of the central theme of the module. Don’t spend time reproducing what each chapter said individually, but think about the main concepts or themes that connect the readings to one another. Imagine that you are introducing the material to me and you want to draw my attention to ways in which the readings are threaded together. While you should include citations in the summary, you should focus on paraphrasing the authors as you try to draw connections and identify themes. This portion of the response will give you an opportunity to clarify and synthesize your own understanding, and it will give me an opportunity to see how you interpreted the texts. 

Critical Analysis (~300+ words)

Second, I want you to provide a critical analysis of the readings. This is where I want you to directly interact with the text by providing an evaluation of specific ideas in the readings that stood out to you. This is your attempt to grapple with the course material by providing an analysis of what is important, confusing, wrong, or noteworthy in the readings. In this section, your analysis should be extremely close to the text, meaning that you should provide more direct citations that show how you are responding directly to the claims of the authors. Because of the constraints of time and space, you will not be able to respond to everything the authors claimed, nor do you need to do so. Just pick out the aspects of the readings that you found were the most important and analyze them.

Reflection (~300+ words)

Third, I want you to reflect on the readings with an eye toward how they can be used in the final paper. In the reflection portion of the reading response, I want you to start to reflect on how what you learned in this module might be useful for that paper. You can write about anything you find particularly significant, but here are some of the kinds of questions you might consider:

· A powerful illustration of movements focused on economic inequality from When we Fight We Win! is seen in the examples of Occupy Wall Street, the anti-eviction campaign of City Life/Vida Urbana, and the campaign by the Restaurant Opportunity Center to gain livable wages and dignity at work.  These activists organized different constituents and used different strategies to make connections between race, gender, and class and call for transforming the economy into one based on the people. Organizational structure refers to the ways in which work roles are divided and grouped, the formal allocation of decision-making authority, formal channels of communication, and written rules or regulations.  How would you describe the organizational structure of the Occupy Movement? What is your assessment of the dimensions of decision-making in social change organizations described in From the Ground Up, including (1) the way authority is distributed internally (among directors and staff members) and (2) the openness of the organization to client or constituent influence.

· There are different ways to try and improve the world.  Michael Brown, focuses on the strategy of organizing – building powerful, ongoing organizations that can change the world.  Effective and powerful organizations in the world don’t just happen.  Making a difference takes organizers, leaders, vision, goals, planning, recruiting, experience, money, information, action, negotiation, learning, evaluation and the attention to many details.  An organizing strategy understands that it is important to have organizations that are sustainable and that will be around for a long time.  They are not just built to solve temporary immediate problems.  Often times much energy is spent on specific issues that are currently urgent.  However, it is also important to look ahead and continue to develop resources in order to sustain the organization for the long term.  Do you think Occupy Wall Street was only built to solve temporary immediate problems or do you think this was sustainable?  In what way?  What could have been done differently?  Do you think Occupy was valuable to the movement on economic justice and tearing down the structures that exploit and impoverish the 99%?

· Occupy inspired activism is other ways.  Two of the economic justice efforts discussed in this chapter are the anti-foreclosure campaigns and the low-income worker campaigns.  Many different organizations focus on these struggles through the use of different organizing models and actions.  As described in Building Powerful Community Organizations, any social change or improvement project requires action.  Action will bring about tension.  Without this increased tension nothing will change.  Actions will bring contradictions to light.  What action does City Life/Vida Urbana use to fight evictions? What action does Restaurant Opportunities Centers United use when organizing low-wage workers?  When evaluating these actions and experiences, would you describe them as successful?  How can these actions be used to initiate and bring about deeper systemic social change?