Journal Posts
The purpose of the assignment is to begin the process of becoming more culturally competent. The first step in doing that, according to Campinha-Bacote's Process of Cultural Competence (2009), is cultural awareness, which includes exploring one's own cultural and professional background.

 
Skills
After completing the assignment, you will develop the following transferable skills that future employers and graduate programs are looking for in potential applicants regardless of major: 

• Critical thinking 

• Creative thinking 

• Ability to communicate through writing 

• Self-awareness

 
Knowledge 

This assignment will help you identify similarities and differences compared to another person's experience and help you articulate your own personal and professional identities.

 
Task
Identify TWO poems from Clint Smith's Counting Descent that you can relate to from your own life experience. Identify TWO poems from Clint Smith's Counting Descent that you cannot relate to from your own life experience. Those FOUR poems will frame the narrative you will compose in which you 1) will compare your experience to Smith's, 2) explain FOUR identities that are the cornerstones of who you are personally, 3) discuss how finding your personal identity will impact your professional life (i.e., action, awareness, advocacy, empathy).

Published in 2016, "Counting Descent" is Smith's first full-length collection of poetry that explores themes of race, humanity, and coming of age. It won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. People sometimes ask author Clint Smith if "Counting Descent" is a book about "the black experience." Not exactly, he tells them; it is his black experience. Smith, who is a writer and teacher, studied incarcerated youth at Harvard University. The New Orleans native's first full-length collection of poetry has been selected as the official 2021-2022 Common Reader. This year's programming will feature student, faculty, and staff experiences on topics of American culture.

 
Criteria for Success
Write the narrative in essay form using a word processor, like Microsoft Word. The essay should have three main sections, one for each of the points listed above. Each section should be broken into paragraphs to help move between ideas. A good rule of thumb, paragraphs are generally 3-5 sentences long. The essay must be between 500-600 words. For this assignment you do not need to worry about citing using APA 7th edition format.
 

https://books.google.com/books?id=LYhXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&ne...