Engaging in Self-Observation and Reflections on the Concept of Diversity , sociology homework help

This assignment invites you to engage in self-examination, which will help you to become more aware of the unique features of your experiences, beliefs, and values. “Everything we see is filtered through our personal frame of reference and our very presence changes the context. Therefore, we do not discover behavior, we create it” (Becvar & Becvar, 1999, p. 36). This means that we can never achieve a completely neutral stance; we can never divorce ourselves from our own biases, assumptions, and beliefs. What we can do is to take responsibility for our assumptions, biases and beliefs and recognize them as such. This process requires recurrent self-examination and self-reflection.

Part I (Adopted from Johnny Saldana): Self-examination

Divide an empty sheet of paper into three parts. On the top of the paper, please write: “This is where I am today,” in the middle “This is how I got here,” and towards the bottom “This is where I would like to be.” Then take a few moments and write a short paragraph to describe each statement in the framework of your professional aspiration to become a successful and culturally competent Marriage and Family Therapist.

Part II: Self-observation

Choose a public location where you can easily observe people without necessarily being noticed. Take 15 minutes to observe several people that you notice in the crowd. You can choose to take notes pertaining to the type of people that you are noticing, your reactions towards these people, and your thoughts while completing this assignment. After completing the assignment, write a 2-3 page paper summarizing your experience pertaining to these three categories (people description, your reactions [physical and emotional], your thoughts in the process of completing the assignment).

Part III: Self-reflection

In this part of the assignment, you are invited to reflect on two concepts: change and diversity. Reflecting on the concept of change, consider different factors that you believe are the most important to create the experience of change. In a 1-page reflection, please provide an example of a profound change that you experienced at some point of your life.

Reflecting on diversity, use your critical and creative thinking skills to compose a reflective essay that focuses on key ideas related to diversity, your personal philosophy of diversity, and the importance for cultural competence in family therapy. Please incorporate references to the assigned readings to support your thesis. Then following the examples in the Speak Out section on pp. 58-59 of the Family Therapy Magazine (see the Books and Resources for this material), write your own entry to add to the page if you were invited to “speak out.” The whole entry should be 4-5 pages.

Aspects of culture and diversity must be interwoven throughout the three parts of this assignment.

Length: 6-8 pages total (includes parts I, II, and III)

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts that are presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

Upload your assignment using the Upload Assignment button. Your submission should be composed of three parts combined in one document: self-examination (1 page), self-observation (2-3 pages essay), and self-reflection (3-4 pages essay).

CHAPTER 7 & 8 Gehart, D. R. Mastering competencies in family therapy Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole, Cengage Learning.