Blog Post #3

In my view, as I had mentioned in my blog video post, Macro Practice of Social Work focuses on changing the larger system.  It requires the involvement of community development, community organization and public health.  In Social Work history macro practice meant doing research, trying to create change within an organization (http://academic.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0534640435_52807.pdf) , and they really did not focus on making the community and people work together.  In the past Macro Practice in Social Work mainly focused on unemployment and employment rates, they looked at the issues that had an effect on these rates.  Top two importance with Macro Practice is advocacy and community organizing (http://academic.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0534640435_52807.pdf).  Social Work in the past and even now still focus on advocating whether it be for a certain policy or client and focuses on community organization and its functioning.   Also as mentioned in my blog video post macro practice worries and focuses on the big picture of problems and situations instead of focusing on an individual and what problems they have within their system.  Instead it looks at the possible problems in an environment that will and can affect an individual later on.

#2 

Sometimes with Macro Practice a lot slips away from the worker within it because they usually do not get to work with a client one on one instead they are just creating and evaluating policies that workers need to implement on their clients.  As one can see in this Dilbert comic in the 5th square it shows the world and the one little tiny dot that all these data and results are suppose to represent and help and that's the issue with Macro Practice.  That regardless of how much is done not everyone will be satisfied with the work that it is done and it is hard to see the direct affect these policies and so on may have an affect on the clients they are being implemented on.  Which this is a social issue that's bigger than the issue of unemployment.  The people who fall between the gap are usually those who are of a minority, this is because they aren't the majority so they aren't focused on as much.  For example a study my be done on an African American community and a Latino community and then policies are created around that, that will be imposed on Non-Hispanic and people of other nationalities that were not included in the study.  This information is linked to what Sen said on page 108 of his article about paying attention to culture.  There's just so much time and information that can be devoted to a culture for everything to be divided out equally, because it is hard to create cultural change when you can't get to know every culture.

#3

As you can see to the left, the bigger picture.  Macro Practice focuses on all the subcultures/subtitles Micro Practice focus on but in addition to that they focus on other goals and situations besides those with in a Micro Practice.

An example of the aspects that a Macro level worker focuses looks at and thinks about when coming to conclusion about their decision on a new policy is usually as shown below (just replaced the word student with consumer):

#4

The above image shows different steps which can be taken in evaluating what is to come and decisions.  There was a better map on pearsonhigered.com but I was unable to save and post it here.  But the above circle display the issues that need to be looked at to ensure that the policies and so on do not affect anyone in a certain way.  The map basically shows the different steps that are taken to ensure that no one is left out and everything possible is being met.

Jane Edna Hunter - "a nickel and a prayer"
      http://youtu.be/vnbWGvs8aC0


    Jane Edna Hunter was a African American and White Social Worker who was born in 1882.  She was not really close to her mom who was the African American but was close to her dad because she lived with him until he died when she was about ten.  Jane Edna dedicated her life and focused on helping the African American women and helping to improve their conditions.  She helped young females to find work after migrating north from the south.  She seen how black females were struggling to make something of themselves so she wanted to help, so spent her time and life creating Phillis Wheatley Association in Cleveland, Ohio.  Jane Edna was a part of the National Associations for Colored Women (NACW) and through out her lifetime created many scholarships and had one later named after her.  Jane Edna died just recently in 1971. (6)
Jane Edna's history and life work reminds me of Sen said in his article (that we had to read on Blackboard) about getting women of color involved in organizations and things in their community.  That we need to get them outside of their normal state of being a house wife or maid.



In Conclusion:
    In the past Macro Practice really let a lot fall through the crack because it wasn't really taught in the school and to the previous professionals.  This is a big issue of the past because the problems that are big now are problems because those before us did not know how to go about them because they were not trained in that area.  Most training was taught about in an individual, small community basis, instead of create and reviewing policies that had impact on more than one community.  Another thing about Macro Practice and it's history is that when Macro Practice was in the process and being worked in Social Work practice there was neglect to the minority population, the people of the minority were looked down upon and didn't really get much assistance, racism still played a big part.



Citations:
1.  http://academic.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0534640435_52807.pdf
2.  "Data-Driven Instruction and the Practice of Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice." Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice | Just another WordPress.com weblog. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. <http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/data-driven-instruction-and-the-practice-of-teaching/>.
3.  Kershaw, David. Team Performance Management:Ways of seeking better outcomes in team-oriented organizations [Internet]. Version 9. Knol. 2011 Feb 8. Available from: http://knol.google.com/k/david-kershaw/team-performance-management/1tqiu5wwu2cm3/2.
4.  process, following a systematic evaluation, students can obtain timely feedback throughout the development lifecycle of their animation project.  The following activities outline the overall process, and the value for each activity.. "Prek-12 Educational Evaluation · AEA365." aea365. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. <http://aea365.org/blog/?cat=229&paged=2>.
5.  http://pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205838782.pdf
6.  "Jane Edna Hunter biography."Lakewood Public Library (Lakewood, Ohio). N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. <http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/hunt-jan.htm>.