Article 1
Frachey, Sherry. “Unity in the Community.” Teaching Tolerance, 15 Dec. 2016, www.tolerance.org/magazine/unity-in-the-community.
Writing for Teaching Tolerance in 2016, Sherry Frachey introduces the story of five Illinois schools that worked together to plan an event to showcase their own community resources. The elementary school teacher focuses on community engagement in her article, “Unity in the Community.” In the beginning of the article, Frachey tells about how they planned to put on a positive event since the east side of the city lacks a good reputation. Throughout the article, the teacher explains how the schools were brought together to plan a creative Fall Festival to educate and engage their community with the help of community partners. Frachey communicates to readers that, “everyone involved experienced the power of working together for the common good.”
Besides the title, this article would be a great fit for the theme of Unity in Community because it illustrates how students of the school district experienced giving back to their hometown community. Through the article, Frachey explains how the schools were able to work together to experience unity. According to Frachey, “the most important result is that this event led to greater openness and willingness to work together as one educational community.” Frachey shows how the schools unite to show their town that they might not have a great reputation, but they value the community and schools. The article provides a great example of community engagement with many topics for discussion and relation to other communities.
Article 2
Klinenberg, Eric. “To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library.” The New York Times Magazine, 8 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/opinion/sunday/civil-society-library.html?module=inline.
Writing for The New York Times in 2018, Eric Klinenberg informs readers of how public libraries are being neglected when society needs them most. Through Klinenberg’s article, “To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library,” he tells of how libraries are closing down throughout the United States. The reasons include lack of resources, tight budgets, and the overwhelming use by the public. The sociologist explains his research in New York libraries and how during his research he was reminded of how essential libraries are. Klinenberg reminds readers, “Libraries stand for and exemplify something that needs defending: the public institutions that serve as the bedrock of civil society.”
This article would be an appropriate choice to fit the theme of Unity in Community because it takes an issue in today’s society and explains how fixing it will help to “restore” the unity in communities all over the United States. Klinenberg questions readers if the public library is obsolete. He answers the question by saying that powerful people in society think so, however, so many people use them which bring communities together. According to Klinenberg, “Libraries are the kinds of places where people with different backgrounds, passions and interests can take part in a living democratic culture.” Libraries represent a place where communities come together and readers of Klinenberg’s article learn how important it is to restore them.
Article 3
Porter, Jana, et al. “How We Incorporated Service Learning into a Medical Student Rural Clinical Training Experience.” Medical Teacher, vol. 38, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 353–357. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3109/0142159X.2015.1078889.
Writing for Medical Teacher in 2016, Jana Porter describes the Community Integration Program at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. The Article, “How We Incorporated Service Learning into a Medical Student Rural Clinical Training Experience” explains that the purpose of the program is to enhance training experience and prepare medical students to work in rural communities. Throughout the article, Porter writes about how students would choose a specific health need in the community and then set a community-based service learning project. Porter concludes that the opportunity exposed students to their communities and helped them understand specific health needs within them.
This scholarly article would be a great fit for the theme of Unity in Community because it identifies how the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri incorporates community into their learning environment. The article shows how students were able to find a concern in their own community and bring the community together through meeting a need. Porter states that, “Participants reported they felt more integrated into the community, had a greater understanding of community health needs and resources, and were more likely to participate in future community service activities.” This statement perfectly fits into the theme of Unity in community by providing a real-world example of how a program helps their own community.
