What were you expecting before you attended the event?

Community Engagement Project Description
A major component of becoming culturally competent is experiencing cultural encounters. We can increase cultural knowledge somewhat through reading or watching movies, but without engaging with other cultures, how can we ever increase our cultural skill and awareness?
The Community Engagement Project invites you to immerse yourself in a cultural experience of a culture with which you do not identify. As Covid19 restrictions lift, I encourage you to choose a cultural event/experience you can attend in person, however you may also choose to attend a virtual event, so long as you are unfamiliar with the culture. When choosing a cultural community to observe and event in which to participate, remember that culture is influenced by a wide variety of factors such as religion, age, mental and physical health, race, values, and socioeconomic status.
Some examples of community cultural events include but are not limited to:
attending a religious service at a church, temple, or online;
attending a cultural festival;
visiting a cultural museum or exhibit and speaking with the curator or artist (several museums have virtual tours);
attending an open 12 step meeting;
eating at a restaurant that serves food from a culture that is unfamiliar to you.
At the end of Week 5, after attending the cultural event, you will submit a 3-4 page double spaced written report that explains the following:
1. Background or history of the cultural community, their values, beliefs, traditions, practices, etc. using one outside source.
2. A description of the cultural event that draws on the senses, and includes any conversations that occurred, your observations, and your experiences during the event. You may also comment on the impact of Covid19 on the community’s traditions and interactions.
3. Reflective response on how attending the event supported or challenged the way you have been thinking about your own process of becoming culturally competent. You must integrate two of the course materials we’re used up to this point to show how you are applying the theory in real life experiences.
You will be sharing these reports with your classmates.
Questions to consider (these are just to help you brainstorm; do not feel like you have to answer each question):
What were you expecting before you attended the event?
What were your underlying assumptions about the event?
How did you feel participating in the event as an “outsider”?
What did you learn about the culture?
What do you wish you had known about the culture prior to the event?
What concerns, fears, questions did you have prior to and during the event?
What was challenging about this project?
How did this experience impact your process of becoming culturally competent?
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RUBRIC–your report will be assessed by how well it meets the following requirements:
20 POINTS — Your writing must be organized, cohesive, and clear. This means you should include paragraphs organized in a logical progression with sentences that make sense.
30 POINTS — Report must include three sections: background/history of cultural event, institution, subject of report (must use one external credible source from your preliminary research); detailed description of changes made and community response; and reflection (must use two course materials/sources).
30 POINTS — Integration of sources must include an introduction and explanation, and be cited correctly in APA format. The following is an INCORRECT use of a source:
After reading about stereotyping, I realized I do in fact stereotype.
Even though you address a concept (stereotyping), you are not using a source from the class.
The following is an APPROPRIATE use of a source:
McMahon (2011) discusses how stereotyping may have originated from the human brain’s need to categorize an overwhelming amount of material. After learning this, it’s clear to me I often stereotype based on my own personal experiences.
This example shows you are considering the materials in your own life, and helps the reader see the connections you’re making.
10 POINTS — Report must be proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
10 POINTS — Report must be three double spaced pages long (not including title and reference pages), and submitted in APA format, with a title page, reference page, and in text citations. For help with APA visit Owl (Links to an external site.).

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