Students, like adults, need to feel as if their talents and interests are valuable to the community in which they live. Have you ever sat in a staff meeting or community event and thought, “I am really not needed here. My talents are a waste.”? It’s a really frustrating feeling. Many of our students feel that way every day about their schools and communities. Students are more likely than ever before to report feelings of disenfranchisement and disillusionment when it comes to civic engagement. Yet now, more than ever, as our world becomes ever more connected, we need engaged students who see their roles as global citizens.
My favorite way to get students thinking about how they can take action within their communities is a four-part activity regarding community issues and changemakers.
Part 1: Group Brainstorm
In groups of three to four, have students brainstorm a list
of “problems” they see in the world and then share those problems with the
larger group. Next, ask who is in charge of “solving” those problems. Often,
students will start with the big changemakers they see in their communities,
the country or the world: “The President!” “The principal!” “The governor!”
Their responses give you a really good idea of student conceptions of power
structures and political procedures and can help you direct the discussion
toward how power branches off from major decision-makers.
Part 2: Top-Down Effects Chain
One of my favorite ways to address change is to ask students
to create an Effects Chain, starting with decision-makers at the “top,”
and continuing down with the effects as far as they are able, using a “who does
what” format. For example, if the “problem” is homelessness, and students begin
at “the President,” the chain might look like this:
Part 3: Bottom-Up Effects Chain
If students stall out, ask them to flip the chain and start
from the bottom. Ask students to assume that none of the actions listed in the
above chain had happened. How might an average person in the community begin to
take action? If this is tough, try to start from a lower-level community leader
and branch down from there. Ideally, students will come up with ideas like,
“people can donate to homeless shelters” or “someone could give out food in the
park.”
Part 4: Using Your Talents
Post the Margaret Mead quotation, “Never doubt that a small
group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.® Indeed,
it is the only thing that ever has.” (Used with permission.) Give students a minute to reflect on
this quotation and share what they think the quotation means with a partner.
Next, ask students to generate a list of all the major social movements they
can think of (e.g., the civil rights movement, United Farm Workers) and then to
identify the leaders or actors who were associated with these movements.
(Students may not be terribly familiar with a wide variety of movements,
depending on their previous history studies, so direct students to the events
with which they are the most familiar.) Point out to students that Martin
Luther King Jr. was a preacher, Cesar Chavez was a farm worker and Gandhi was a
lawyer. They will realize that all of the people involved in these movements
were just “regular people” like themselves who used their natural talents to
contribute to their communities and, ultimately, the world.
At this point, the key is to connect students to how they can use the talents they already have to create change in their communities. Encourage students to think as broadly as possible in terms of their talents. Does Lavonna love to write? Perhaps she could write a letter to a local representative. Is Adalberto in a band? Maybe the band could play a benefit concert. Does Rachel draw manga? She can draw manga that address issues of homelessness and share them with her peers.
This kind of creative thinking about using student talents as they exist now can be a stretch at first, but it is just the kind of thinking that both validates student experiences and reinforces the role of student talents within communities. Additionally, it allows students to feel empowered to contribute to change now instead of in the distant future. If we desire that our students become engaged community members, we must remember that the way to engage them is to validate who they are at their core and use those interests and talents to drive that action toward becoming engaged global citizens.
For more ideas of how students can take action in their communities, check out the following resources:
Glenn serves as the Director of Programs at New Global Citizens, a non-profit committed to empowering students to become leaders, change agents and advocates to solve the world's greatest challenges.
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