This document contains India Irons' learning contract for a social work course. It summarizes her theoretical orientations, career interests, strengths, and areas for growth. Regarding theoretical orientations, Irons cites self-determination, competence, and social justice as influencing her practice. Her career interests include dance therapy, sports outreach, education, policy, and addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system. For strengths, she discusses networking, rapport building, cultural competence, and advocacy. Areas for growth include knowledge of LGBTQ and mental health issues, graduate-level writing, and understanding different social work settings and cultures of practice.

1. Irons1
TSOCW 510: Learning Contract
India Irons
University of Washington-Tacoma
Rich Furman, MSW, PhD
April 9, 2016

2. Irons2
What theoretical orientations, ideologies or practice principles influence your current
thinking about social work practice?
Self-determination is a practice principle that influences my current thinking of social
work practice. According to the NASW Code of Ethics, “the social workers’ primary
responsibility is to promote the well-being of the client,” (p. 7). The client is the expert of their
own life. It is important to start where the client is in order for them to recognize their strengths.
The social worker collaborates with the client to take the steps needed to reach their goals.
Competence is a practice principle that influences my current thinking of social work
practice. NASW Code of Ethics states social workers practice within their areas of competence
and develop and enhance their professional expertise,” (p. 6). A social worker will be working
with clients that differentiate in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, and
language.
Social justice is a practice principle that influences my current thinking of social work
practice. One of Malcolm X’s famous quote is “by any means necessary.” I believe in doing
what is right to fight for the rights of an individual. To empower a voice who is unheard of or do
not have the courage to stand for themselves. To get involved in a social or political cause to
make change. The social worker helps the oppressed and marginalized individuals and groups of
people to gain access to resources despite barriers to enable them to reach their best potential.
Overall, self-determination, competence, and social justice shaped my career of interests in the
social work field.
What is your current thinking about what you want to with your social work career?
At Henry T. Schatz Boys and Girls Club, I am the Performing Arts Program Specialist. In
my program, I teach Hip Hop dance, Step, and Krump to kids ages 6-18 for the kids to perform

3. Irons3
for their peers at the club and families. Even though the performances are the goal to show off
their talent, but the process of the leadership the kids gain by creating their own choreography
and teaching it to their peers, developing teamwork by supporting each other when one of their
peers struggles with choreography, and developing high-self-esteem, confidence, and courage to
take risks. So in the future, I am interested inquiring a license for dance therapy targeted towards
low-income youth and families to continue my passion of dance to work with youth.
In January 2016, I recently coordinated the Puyallup Nation Kings Football Workshop.
The football players had various backgrounds: some had level of college education or GED, low-
income, or something that had them relate to the kids from their childhood that made them who
they were today. Throughout the football workshop, the players ran practice drills with the kids,
played football game, answered questions of what it takes to go into the NFL, and signed
footballs and gave them to the kids. It was through the football workshop that I not only
discovered a new passion football, but also going into sports outreach. I would like to work with
athletes to give back to their community; to inspire and motivate youth to achieve their goals
despite their background.
In Dr. Diehm’s class, I wrote my policy paper about the School to Prison Pipeline. As I
did my research on the policy that addressed the social problem, there were certain areas of
social work I was interested in getting involved in: education, policy/government, and the racism
within the criminal justice system. The target population I am interested in working with are low-
income youth, people of color, and either disciplined to be kicked out of school or pathway to the
criminal justice system.
Overall, I do not have a specific career in mind within these areas, but I am doing research of
various roles I could pursue into these different sides of social work.

4. Irons4
What strengths do you possess as a social worker/helper?
One of my strengths is networking with volunteers or outside agencies to build personal
and professional relationships. This is demonstrated at the Boys and Girls Club when I
coordinate special events. One of the special events I coordinate are dance performances
throughout the school year. I network with the dancers within the community to perform as
special guests at the club. When I coordinate dance workshops, I network with dancers within
the community to teach the kids ballet, tap, isolations, hip hop, and Krump. Whatever the kids
learn from the instructor, they perform in front of the club. The youth members taking classe
from the dance workshop grow as dancers by enhancing their technique, style, and texture that is
taught within the choreography.
Networking is also demonstrated in the Puyallup Nation Kings Football workshop. I
brought the semi-professional football team to teach the youth members practice drills and play
football games. After the workshop, the Puyallup Tribe who owns the Puyallup Nation Kings
organization gave approval for the dancers in my Performing Arts Program an opportunity to
perform as part of the Puyallup Nation Kings Football Game Halftime Show Entertainment.
Building and establishing rapport with youth and parents about academics is
demonstrated in my Power Hour tutoring program. Monday-Thursday, the 2nd graders come to
my performing arts room from 4:30pm-5:15pm to get extra help on their homework. I also print
out worksheets that will enhance their learning on subject; Math Monday’s, Spelling Tuesday,
Reading Comprehension Wednesday, and Educational Game Thursday. As the youth members
are doing their homework and worksheets provided, I see what areas they are struggling with.
When the parents pick up their child, I let the parents know how their child is doing academically
and see what needs to be done for the child to improve on their studies.

5. Irons5
Building and establishing rapport is also demonstrated when managing behavior of the
child. Youth members come to me as a staff to handle problems. When there is an issue between
members, they are set aside to talk about the issue, differentiate between right and wrong, what
can be learned from this issue, and ho the situation could be resolved in a positive manner. If I
had to discipline the youth member because of their negative behavior, it is recorded in a
behavior log. A youth member has been disciplined a certain amount of times for behavioral
issues, the parent is contacted to discuss the behavior patterns of the child. Letting the parent
know gets them involved in collaborating with us staff to manage and control the behavior of the
child so it won’t continue.
Cultural competence is demonstrated through hip hop dance and music in my Performing
Arts Program. Most of the members who attend the boys and girls club are people of color, low-
income, youth ages 6-18. Hip Hop music is part of African American culture. In my program, I
teach the youth the history, the movement, and evolution of hip hop culture. The youth members
who attend my classes learn hip hop choreography to perform in front of their peers and families.
The music being used is edited of inappropriate language and content, however, the youth and
families listen and dance to the music they grew up listening to.
Advocating for youth is demonstrated when I have meetings with the program directors
and branch director of the boys and girls club to discuss programming and special events. In
order for my dancers to perform outside the boys and girls club, I have to get an approval from
the branch director. For the meeting, I have to come prepared with answers to questions like:
budget, number of members attending, how the special event benefits the club and the youth we
serve, and safety procedures of the kids. If I don’t get approval for something, I keep the idea

6. Irons6
and try to revise my plan to make it work for the organization and the well-being of the youth we
serve.
What weaknesses do you possess?
In cultural competence, my strength is working with people of color, but my weakness is
working with people with mental health disabilities. An example of my struggle with people with
mental health disabilities is my mom who is homeless and has schizophrenia. My mom has
income, but she doesn’t use her money to find a place to get an apartment. She chooses to sleep
in her car and help other homeless people in need. As a social worker, I know there are
resources that could help get out of her homeless situation. But whatever is common sense to
help her out of the situation is not her reality. It is not against the law for her to sleep in her car
unless she’s in danger to herself or anyone else. As a person with a mental disability, she is
capable of making her own decisions. Overall, I do not have the knowledge base to work with
people with mental health disabilities.
Another weakness of cultural competence I encounter is working with people who
identify in the LGBQT community. I lack the education of the specific language and terms used
to say without being offensive or derogatory. I also have my own beliefs about sexual orientation
due to being raised in the church and reading the Bible. I don’t want my religious beliefs to get in
the way of my work with a client who identifies through their sexual orientation.
Another weakness I encounter is time management which hinders my writing. My
previous professors have made comments on my paper about sentence structure, grammar, and
punctuation. I know the cause of reduction in grade of writing is my lack of time management to
edit the papers ahead of time which hinders my writing. Between working two jobs and doing

7. Irons7
school, I have a certain amount of time to focus on my homework. The less time I have to write a
paper, the more I write informally.
Describe three main areas of growth that you wish to make over the next year?
One of the areas of growth I wish to make over the next year is learning about other
populations to increase my knowledge of cultural competence. For example, I lack the
knowledge of language and terms used working with clients who identify within the LGBQT
community. Increasing my knowledge of language and terms will help me not offend the client.
The resources I will utilize to achieve my goal to increase my cultural competence of the
LGBQT community is my classmates and Center for Inclusion on the University of Washington-
Tacoma Campus.
Another area of growth I wish to make over the next year is Graduate School Writing.
One of the resources I will utilize is following the expectations of writing in the rubric. The
rubric gives me a grasp of what the professor is looking for in the paper. When there is a
deadline for an assignment, I will manage my time to edit my papers ahead of time before they
are due. This will allow me to see if there is grammar, sentence structure, and spelling that needs
to be fixed. On campus, I will schedule appointments with the Teaching and Learning Center
with tutors to get help on what needs to be expanded in content, transitions, and organization of
the paper. The Graduate Student tutors I go to at the Teaching and Learning Center are Tori, Tre,
and Amy. I also use the APA Manual is my guiding tool to have my papers in APA format.
Overall, growth in Graduate School writing will enhance my growth in professional development
in the social work field.
The third area of growth I wish to make over the next year is discipline of culture within
social work practice. For example, I have a lot of experience working with youth at the Boys and

8. Irons8
Girls Club: coordinating programs, creating a safe environment for the kids to have fun, and
building rapport with youth, parents, and staff about academic progress. The culture of the Boys
and Girls Club is more relaxed because it is an after school programming for youth to get
tutoring and play in different program areas. But the culture of the Boys and Girls Club won’t
prepare me for the expectations and strictness of an organization like the Lakewood Children’s
Administration due to getting hands on experience working with youth, families, and problems
of abuse and neglect, sexual assault and physical abuse. The resources I could use to prepare me
for the discipline of culture of social work practice is each class I take; I pay attention to core
competencies the assignments are focusing on. I will refer to the NASW Code of ethics to gain
information and knowledge to grow as a social worker providing effective practice to clients I
will utilize my mentors and supervisors throughout my Practicum experience by asking questions
of what could I do to improve in certain areas and what more can I can do to help to increase my
learning.