Discovering the meaning of practicum

The last few weeks have been an adventure to say the least. Week 7 proved to be no different. when looking at what the word practicum means, the American Heritage Dictionary says that a practicum is "A school or college course, especially one in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of previously studied theory" This is not far from the truth!!! The kids T.A.S. works with have been expelled from school and are trying to work their way back in to school. As I wrote the last two weeks, many are there to get off their parole and dont really care about school. Last Monday I was talking with my boss who is also the Executive Director and founder of the organization. I was talking with her about some the kids and their lack of willingness to work. She went in to the computer lab where the kids were working and talked with all of them. There were a number of kids who had been there for a couple of weeks who had not done any work on the educational software. Those kids got booted out of the program. I was also given the oppertunity to confront the kid that I had been having trouble with. This particular kids next step is boy's school. I talked with him about the choices he has been making and how they did not line up with what he said he wanted to accomplish and also what the program is designed to accomplish.

I have been gaining experience on many fronts during this semester. The greatest experience I have gained this semester is gaining an understand of a culture. Of the 10 boys in the program there is only one Caucasian kid. Growing up in Southern Indiana, I was mainly surrounded by Caucasians. SInce moving to Indy in 2001 I have been in an ongoing process of accepting other cultures other than my own. I am by far not racist, but I had never been exposed to a culture other than a farming community. During this semester I have been able to experince a new culture and how to talk with and deal with them.

Research/micro: What has research shown to be the traits a social worker needs to have to engage with a client.
Chang, Scott and Decker says, "As a practitioner, understanding and accepting yourself is an essential beginning to understanding others" (p. 46). I feel that this is an important trait for social workers to understand. When looking at traits, Dictionary.com says that it is "a distinguishing characterisitc or quality" (Dictionary.com). I feel a social worker must understand themselves so they can understand their characteristics in their life that will allow them to advocate for, show empathy for, and work with a certain population on a daily basis. Understanding oneself is important because one will know where they stand on issues and what they need to mprvore in order to advocate for social justice for all.

References

Chang, V. N., Scott, S. T., and Decker, C. (2007). Developing helping skills: A step-by-step approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Thomason Learning.

practicum. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/practicum

trait. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trait