Monica “Mo” Janzen

Monica Janzen is assistant professor of philosophy at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in the eastern metro area of Minnesota. In her teaching, she “…invites students to examine the importance of creating and living an ethical life.”

 

 

1. What project(s) do your students do?

One tested approach that I used for many years in ethics courses asked students to devise and complete large, semester-long civic engagement (CE) projects to make a positive difference in their communities. These projects encouraged activism, leadership, responsibility, and outreach. A primary goal of this assignment was to empower students to learn ways to work toward social change, and, ultimately, become more skilled citizens. To do this, students identified an issue they felt passionate about and then designed and implemented a project that addressed this issue. (Examples under #2.) Students’ agency in the choice of work and the requirement to engage with the public differentiated these projects from some common forms of service learning and also helped facilitate the goal of becoming more engaged citizens in their wider communities.

Currently, I have my ethics students do a project I call “Experiments in Ethics” which is composed of many smaller activities that culminate in the students organizing an activity—a less extensive version of the semester long project. In addition to organizing an activity that engages the public (examples under #2), students write letters to those in power, do volunteer work in the community, do a personal change mini-project, and research effective charities. Together, these activities reach the same goals of encouraging activism, leadership, responsibility, and outreach as well as empowering students to learn ways to work toward social change, and, ultimately, become more skilled citizens.

 

2. Give an example of a successful project.

Examples of successful semester long CE projects:

• Organizing a poetry slam by survivors of domestic violence: I was so impressed by this student’s ability to invite other students who were also survivors of domestic abuse to participate in her event. It gave voice to student’s resiliency.

• Creating a nonprofit group that takes veterans on wilderness outings: Oftentimes, my students are already doing work that is changing the world. This was the case with this project. Our class bore witness to this student’s passion to help veterans.

• Organizing a bake sale: I’ve had a lot of students do bake sales over the years—but none that raised over $800. This student was a fantastic planner AND baker!

Examples of successful Experiments in Ethics “Organize an Activity”:

• Creating hygiene kits for women in developing countries: This idea for a project was new to me. I was struck by how simple and profound this project was.

• Creating and distributing care kits for the homeless: It can be challenging to know the “right way” to interact with people we don’t know who are in different circumstances. This group was brave and experimental in their approach.

• Organizing a free dance workshop: This student loved to dance and really captures her passion for her craft and shares it with others.

 

3. What failure have you experienced doing civic engagement, and how did it teach you as you moved forward?

Despite successful results using the semester long civic engagement projects, I continued to have students that struggled each semester. Some students got a late start on their CE projects because they had no ideas for possible topics, despite the many archived projects I could show them. These students may not have had any experience choosing a topic on which to work, and may not have felt passionate about many social problems or issues. Some students have fantastic ideas, but lack practical experience in organizing and carrying out social action. For instance, a group of students who worked to promote vegetarianism on campus organized a movie—but failed to adequately advertise it. The result was no audience to watch their movie or eat their vegan snacks. Another student aimed to help elderly neighbors, but didn’t know how to contact them or, if contact was established, explain that he wanted to volunteer his services. As a result, this student fell back into a more familiar and easily organized project that was far less meaningful than his original idea.

Rather than see these ongoing struggles as a reason to stop assigning CE projects, I redesigned the assignment! I wanted to improve student success and retain my own sanity, so the CE project assignment is now a series of many smaller “experiments” where students are encouraged to build skills and explore topics through theoretical study and hands-on assignments. For example, students participate in giving games, volunteer activities of their choice, write a letter to a person in power, cultivate a new virtue or habit, and organize an activity. My goal is that by providing more scaffolding for the projects, students are better equipped to choose, organize, and carry out their own activities and the quality of student engagement continues to improve. One student reports, “Each project presented its own unique way to teach ethics in a practical, real life manner.  I thoroughly enjoyed being in this class…This was my favorite class I have taken.”

 

4. What do you think students gain from doing this civic engagement?

I have loved incorporating civic engagement projects into my classes because it invites students to examine the importance of creating and living an ethical life. For me, philosophy is not just an intellectual exercise, but a way to think about and develop a good life. Civic engagement projects give students time and space to do this for themselves in a way that is meaningful for both them and others.

 

5. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your passion?

Besides my lovely family, my students get me out of bed each morning. I work at a community college where I get to work with students from diverse economic, cultural, and political backgrounds. I see my role as a teacher but also as a cheerleader, counselor, role model, and friend. I want my students to know that they can choose the life they want to have, that they can overcome tragedy/suffering, that people care about them, and that they have power to effect change in the world. My goal each day is to communicate this to them.

 

6. If you had to pick a “theme song” for your civic engagement work, what would it be? Why?

“We Shall Overcome”—I know it might seem like this song indicates that the work is difficult. But on the contrary, I believe that our small actions will add up to real, lasting change and the creation of a better world.

I also am inspired by “Where is the love” by the Black Eyed Peas, because it gets at our need to create a better world through our own actions.