This week you focused on the complex role of the adult and tensions that can occur in youth-adult relationships.
This week, you read the following:
- Reading 1: At Our Best Chapter 4 (Brion-Meisels, G., Fei, J.T., & Vasudevan, D.S. (Eds.) (2020). At our best: Building youth-adult partnerships in out-of-school-time settings. Information Age Publishing)
Your reading response essay should not include direct quotes from the readings if at all possible. If you either directly quote or paraphrase the author’s words from the text, include the appropriate citation. Utilize your APA manual and/or see the brief APA handout about in-text citations here
or within the Home tab on the left-hand side of the course in Canvas. Your reading response essay should address the following (and must be written in the same numbered format as you see below). I have provided length guidelines, as it is important to develop the ability to write thoroughly yet succinctly. This is not an easy skill to master, though students vastly improve on this skill as they move through the semester! The skill will come in handy in your professional and academic lives. Remember, one paragraph = no less than 5 sentences. Be sure to check out the Reading Response Essay example.
- Thoroughly yet succinctly summarize the main points and highlight key themes for each reading. Tip: pay attention to the topics laid out in the headings, and make sure you touch on each of those (at minimum). (Length: at least one paragraph for each reading; no more than 1.5 paragraphs each).
- Discuss any shortcomings or provide a critique of the information presented for at least one reading. Think about what you think the author should have talked about in order to strengthen their argument but didn’t, or think about the quality of the information provided, or what you didn’t like about the reading, etc. (Length: at least one paragraph; no more than 1.5 paragraphs)
- Discuss at least two overall strengths of this week’s readings. For example, you may discuss the merits of the topic, the information provided, how it contributes to and improves knowledge regarding Y-ARs, the research that was cited, etc. (Length: at least two paragraphs; no more than three paragraphs)
- For the last part of this assignment, you’ll provide a reflection. This reflection could be from just you, as an individual, or you could talk with your organization/mentor partner about these concepts and provide your reflection conversation here. Choose any concept or idea from Chapter 4, and write a reflection about it (1 paragraph). For example, how have you experienced the social construction of youth, or this top-down, unequal relationship? Do you agree that this is the case (whatever concept you chose) or do you disagree with it? How does it impact your work with youth, or how might it impact your work with youth in the future? These are just some ideas to get you going for your reflection, but are not required to be answered.
