PUTTING THE PIECES of
SOCIAL / POLITICAL ACTION*
TOGETHER
*SPA: Highly Effective Teaching
Summer Institute 2014
Sue Pearson
“No one is born a good citizen;
no nation is born a democracy.
Rather, both are processes that
continue to evolve over a lifetime.
Young people must be included from birth.
A society that cuts off from its youth,
severs its lifeline.”
~ Koffi Annan ~
2001 Nobel Peace Prize
The Center for Effective Learning-S.I. (C) 2014
Dump Out the
Pieces
Open the Box
• Intro
• Quotation
• Agenda
• Sense of Belonging
• Personal Goals
• Service Learning
• Social/Political Action
• The Science of Learning
One Piece at a
Time
The BIG
Picture!
• Curriculum Connection
• Action Plans/Reflection
• Resources
• Closing
• SPA
• Getting Started
• 10 Steps to SPA
• Real Life SPAs
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Building a Sense of Belonging
You are a piece of the puzzle; therefore:
• Introduce yourself to your Learning Club.
• If necessary, share your name, where you
are from and your position.
• Think about social/political action YOU
took part in as a student somewhere
between Pre-K and Postgraduate work.
• Reflect on 2 or more ways this had an
impact on your life.
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Personal Goals
• Thoughtfully reflect on two personal
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goals you have for this session.
Write them in your journal.
Share when invited.
Use these as a focal point during the
presentation.
Revisit them at the end for final
reflection.
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Service Learning: definition
Service-learning is a teaching and
learning strategy that integrates
meaningful community service with
instruction and reflection to:
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Enrich the learning experience
Teach civic responsibility
Nurture active participation
Strengthen communities for the common
good.
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Social/Political Action: definition
Social/Political action is a teaching and
learning strategy that integrates meaningful
community service with instruction and
reflection to enrich the learning experience,
teach civic responsibility, and strengthen
communities for the common good. This
strategy also integrates the potential for
short or long term change in a system.
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The Science of Learning
Highly Effective Teaching Model
Five Bodybrain Principles
Intelligence as a Function of
Experience
• Provide LARGE amounts of sensory input
from experiences in the real world
• Design curriculum and instructional
strategies that encourage practice and
mastery in real-world situations;
application greatly increases
development and maintenance of neural
connections
• Students vividly recall social/political
action projects!
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Body-Brain Partnership:
Emotion and Movement
• “Emotion drives attention which drives learning,
memory, problem-solving, and just about
everything else.” Dr. Robert Sylwester
• Movement is crucial to every brain function
including planning end executing plans, memory,
emotion, language and learning
• Social/Political action engages the emotions and
action (movement). Key in the vivid memories is
the passion students feel about their projects.
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Multiple Intelligences
• Intelligence entails a set of problem-solving
skills, enabling the individual to resolve genuine
problems or difficulties he/she encounters and,
when appropriate, to create an effective
product.
• It also entails the potential for finding or
creating problems, thereby laying the
groundwork for the acquisition of knowledge.
~ Dr. Howard Gardner
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Pattern-Seeking & Program
Development
• Detecting an understanding of patterns in
society – a process through which the
brain creates meaning
• Developing a mental program to use what
is understood about those societal
patterns and to store it in long-term
memory
• Building the capacity to use what is
understood, first with assistance and then
automatically; connection of curriculum
to the real world; citizenship
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Temperament
• How learners take in information
• How they organize during learning
and when applying learning
• What they value when making
decisions
• How they orient to others
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Social Political Action
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10 Steps to a Successful SPA
(Social/Political Action)
Adapted from:
The Kids Guide to Service Projects
By Barbara Lewis
Getting Started
• Be observant; look all around you for
issues, problems, challenges, etc.
• Read local newspapers
• Watch the news
• Get information from posters/brochures
• Talk to friends, parents and community
members
• Brainstorm a list of possibilities/sites
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1. Research Your Project
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What would you like to do?
What would benefit the most people?
What is really possible?
What projects tie to our curriculum?
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2. Form a Team
Include:
• Others at your grade level or school
• Parents
• Community members
• Agencies
• Local/National Businesses
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3. Find a Sponsor
Ask for support from:
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Classmates/former students
Parents
Businesses
Organizations
Community members
Grant
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4. Make a Plan
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Decide who will be part of the team.
Set a goal.
Define your goal.
Estimate your costs.
Is your project realistic?
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5. Consider the Recipient
• Make sure the people/group want
your help.
• Find out their needs.
• Are there limitations/restrictions?
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6. Decide Where You Will
Perform Your Service/Action
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Will you go to the site?
Can you do part of the service at school?
Does the location have what you need?
What will you take?
How will you get there?
Can they come to you?
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7. Obtain Permission
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Principal
Parents
District
Neighbors
Community organizations
Owners of facility you want to use
Anyone else?
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8. Public Relations
• Let others know about your project.
(Consider state standards/skills)
• Create a flier/brochure/poster.
• Produce a public service
announcement.
• Send out a press release.
• Contact the press. (newspaper,
radio, TV, DVD, video)
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9. Raise Funds
• Do you need startup money?
• Do you need to buy supplies?
• Who will pay for printing, busing,
etc.? (Target Field trip Grants)
• Unspent money?
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10. Evaluation/Reflection
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What did you learn?
What did your students learn?
What did you accomplish?
Would you do it again?
How could you improve it?
Would you do it again? How soon?
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Collaborative Work Skills
Social/Political Action Project
Student Name:_______________________ Teacher Name: Ms. Hall
Category
Contributions
4
Routinely provides
useful ideas when
participating in
group
Quality of Work
Provides work of the Provides high
highest quality
quality work
Problem-Solving
Actively looks for
and suggests
solutions to
problems
Working w/others
Almost always
listens to, shares
with, and supports
the efforts of others
3
Usually provides
useful ideas when
participating in
group
2
Sometimes provides
useful ideas when
participating in
group
1
Rarely provides
useful ideas when
participating in the
group and in
classroom discus.
Provides work that
occasionally needs
to be checked or
redone by others
Provides work that
usually needs to be
checked/done by
others
Refines solutions
Does not suggest or
suggested by others refine solutions, but
is willing to try out
solutions suggest.
Usually listens to,
Often listens to,
shares with, and
shares with, and
supports the efforts supports the efforts
of others. Does not of others-sometimes
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“waves”.
not a good member
S.I. (C)
2014
Does not try to
solve problems or
help others solve
problems.
Rarely listens to,
shares with, ands
supports the efforts
of others. Often not
a team player
Social/Political Action Projects
Not only to help but prevent, end, or
alleviate the problem by educating
the public
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Nursing Homes
Soup Kitchens
Homeless Shelters
Home for Abused Women & Children
Military Service Families
Food/Clothing Drives
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Where to Look?
Government:
•
local/state/national
•
candidates
•
issues
•
referendums
•
registration of voters
Environmental Issues:
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pollution
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endangered species
•
invasive plants/animals
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Social/Political Action Examples
• Solace School, Syracuse, NY;
Save a Seat for Rosa Parks
• Paw-Paw Lake, Michigan-Video
• Most Holy Rosary, Syracuse, NY; 4th grade;
helium balloons, church service;
• State Muffin-apple-4th grade class in N.
Syracuse
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Social/Political Action Examples
• Kaleva-Norman-Dickson, MI: 4th
grade students-raising salmon to
release in local streams
• Kingman, AZ: 4th grade created museum
display to educate community on use of
stones in local architecture
• St. Agatha School, Buffalo, NY: researching
need for traffic light by the school/church;
getting petitions signed and presented;
public service announcement
• North Charleston Elementary, SC: LEED
“green” school, built-in recyling area
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Social/Political Action Examples
• Endeavour Magnet School, Cocoa,
FL. ; student gardens-giving food to
needy families and educating public
about nutrition
• Bismarck, ND: labeling plants in garden to
educate community
• Most Holy Rosary, Syracuse, NY; 4th grade;
building bluebird houses-increase #’s of
state bird
• Paradise Valley, Casper, WY: Clean-up of
Braille trail; posters educating community
of need
keep
trails
litter free
The to
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for Effective
LearningS.I. (C) 2014
• Jefferson Magnet, Utica, NY: educating
community about nutrition; brochures,
posters, DVD distributed statewide ,
demonstrations for parents
• Sunnyside Environmental School, Portland,
OR: Grades 6-8; studying westward expansion;
reintroduction of the gray wolf (1996); used
materials representing different perspectives;
attended state hearing; 13 spoke; negative
reaction to student participation; eventually
students participation recognized as “Best of
Portland”-”Best Class Action” of the year.
Green Teacher: Summer 2006 Issue #79
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“DO NOT MAIL”
• The production of the 100 billion pieces of junk mail that
Americans annually receive requires more than 100 million
trees, while producing as much global warming emissions as
3.7 million cars. Moreover, this deforestation is occurring in
forests that play vital roles in the fight against climate change:
the Canadian Boreal and Indonesian Tropical Forest. If left
intact, these trees and soils act as a defense against global
warming. The Canadian Boreal Forest forms part of the
greater Boreal Forest, which alone stores more carbon than
any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Yet, it is still logged
at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day, to produce junk
mail and other paper products.
Junk mail distributed in the United States currently accounts
for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it
goes to landfills unopened.
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“DO NOT MAIL”
• http://www.DoNotMail.org
• Citizens take control over the
unsolicited coupons, credit cards,
catalogs and advertisements that fill
their mailboxes on a daily basis.
• Sign up here.
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Curriculum Connection
Brainstorm the following and share:
• What issues exist in your local community
that also connect to your benchmarks and
state standards?
• This is a Presidential election year. How
will you integrate your civics standards,
science, ELA, math and technology into a
SPA project?
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Sample Action Plan #1
Science
Social Studies
Benchmarks
Benchmarks
Do not
Release
Helium
Balloons
NYS 4.35
Habitats
Communities
Language Arts
Math
Benchmarks
Benchmarks
Writing letters to Pastor;
No. of balloons released
into environment
Offer alternative ideas
Center
Effective Learning- Reflection, Celebration
4 Elements: Preparation, The
Design
&forImplementation,
S.I. (C) 2014
Sample Action Plan #2
Science
Social Studies
Benchmarks
Environmental
Impact Study
Benchmarks
What part(s) of the state
does this impact and
how?
Language Arts
Math
Benchmarks
Benchmarks
Informational Reading
Economy-Cost to
taxpayers in $/wildlife
Persuasive Writing
Center
Effective Learning- Reflection, Celebration
4 Elements: Preparation, The
Design
&forImplementation,
S.I. (C) 2014
Develop Your Own Action Plan
• Start a list of possible “Social/Political
Action” opportunities in your community.
• Begin an action plan for implementing
social/political action into your
curriculum.
• Be ready to share your work with your
Learning Club/partner/group.
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SPA Share
• Person teaching the MOST number of years
starts first.
• Then go in a clockwise direction and share
your thoughts.
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Reflection
Revisit the agenda
Check your goals
Think of any new goals
you have
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Final Piece of the Puzzle:
Reflection
The following are some effective and easy strategies for
implementing reflective assessment across content areas:
• "I Learned..." Statement: At the end of a class session, ask
students to write down "I learned…" and then complete
the sentence. Teachers can use these written reflections
to assess whether students have a firm grasp on the
content.
• Percolating: There are several variations on this
approach, but try posing a “SPA Question of the Week"
with the class. Throughout the week, students should be
given time to record or share their thoughts about the
question. Encourage students to show their thinking
through writing, charts, diagrams, or drawings.
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Final Piece of the Puzzle:
Reflection
• Talk About It: Students give self-feedback, meaning that
students can talk themselves through a problem or a
question. (Think of watching a golfer talk to himself as he
lines up a shot.)
• Pyramid Discussions: This variation on a class discussion
opens up opportunities to maximize student participation.
The teacher poses a question to smaller groups that
become gradually bigger as students exchange ideas with
various partners before bringing the full class together for
a large group discussion.
• Jigsaw Learning: Students are broken into a number of
groups—each group focusing on a particular element that
ultimately everyone will need to learn.
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RESOURCES
• Kid’s Guide to Social Action: How to Solve the
Social Problems You Choose and Turn Creative
Thinking Into Positive Action, Barbara Lewis,
Free Spirit Publishing, 1998
• The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects: Over 500
Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to
Make a Difference, Barbara Lewis, Free Spirit
Publishing, 1995
• Kids with Courage: True Stories About Young
People Making a Difference, Barbara Lewis, Free
Spirit Publishing, 1992
• Green Teacher: Education for Planet Earth
(magazine) www.greenteacher.com, paper and
electronic subscriptions
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Theme Songs
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We’re All In This Together
What Kind of World Do You Want?
I Can See Clearly Now
Lean On ME
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We’re All In This Together
• Together, together, together everyone
Together, together, come on lets have some fun
Together, were there for each other every time
Together, together, come on lets do this right
Here and now its time for celebration
I finally figured it out (yeah yeah)
That all our dreams have no limitations
That's what its all about (yeah yeah)
• Disney-High School Musical
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WORLD
• What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let's start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now...
• Five for Fighting-group
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Rubrics for Evaluation:
Project/Collaborative Skills
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sch
rockguide/assess.html#rubrics
• Rubistar: Create rubrics for projectbased learning activities
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sch
rockguide/assess.html#rubrics
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FREE RICE
• Go to www.freerice.com
• For each correct answer a student gives, 10
grains of rice are donated through the World
Food Program to help end hunger.
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Subjects
Humanities
• Famous Paintings
• Literature
Math
• Multiplication tables
• Basic math
Language Learning
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Italian
Sciences
• Human Anatomy
English
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
Chemistry
• Chemical Symbols
Geography
• World landmarks
• Country ID
• World Capitals
Test Prep
• SAT
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Choose a Reflection
• Read and think about the
following three reflections.
• Choose the one that “speaks” to
you and write how it will inspire
you to lead your class to practice
social/political action.
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REFLECTION
“The world is not dangerous because of those
who do harm but because of those
who look at it without doing anything.”
~Einstein~
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REFLECTION
“Social Change can only happen when we
not only realize that we need to change, for
ourselves and those we love, but become
willing to take action. Belief in our ability
will follow.”
~Kimberly Bock~
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REFLECTION
“Never doubt that a small group
of thoughtful, committed people
can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
~Margaret Mead~
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The Final Piece to the Puzzle
“We live in a world in which we need to
share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s
not my child, not my community, not my
world, not my problem.’ Then there are
those who see the need and respond. I
consider those people my heroes.”
Mr. Fred Rogers
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