I'm teaching a course on social activism and need suggestions for group activities! (details inside)
Hey all! Been a while since I last stopped in here. Life's been keeping me busy. I'm finally back in school studying education, I recently got a promotion and a couple of further job offers in my company, health insurance(!), and I'm also teaching a class on social activism!
The class is once a week for about an hour at our local community center, and I've got a small group of middle-school age kids that I'm working with. It's been a great experience (it's the first class I've taught that I'm actually getting paid for) and I've been blown away by the kids' understanding of the world around them (as I always am). So far the class has covered the basic ideas of social activism, critical thinking, self-awareness, anti-bias thinking, marginalized voices, empowerment, and solidarity.
For the next class, we'll be discussing the importance of local activism. I'm looking for a couple of activity suggestions that will help them understand the importance and value of "thinking globally and acting locally". If there's any teachers or activists out here (and I know there are), do you all have any suggestions? I've found a couple of good resources and activities through a couple of anti-VAW groups and ecological justice communities, but I haven't found much that can be adapted for younger kids. We're looking at around 15-30 minutes per activity, though I can adapt a longer suggestion.
Here's an overview of what I'll be covering in the next lesson, if that helps:
The local community is more accessible.
It’s a lot easier to hold meetings, conferences, trainings, establish groups, and contact people.
When we spread awareness about local issues, its effects are twofold:
- First, it makes the threat more immediate in the local community. A good example would be fracking or pipelines. Most people do not care until these things are in their metaphorical backyard. Spreading awareness of new developments helps to involve those people.
- Second, spreading awareness locally makes large problems (e.g. climate change) small and accessible for local people (e.g. standing against pipeline development). This inevitably leads to a deeper understanding of the larger issue even if the local issue is only loosely related. It also helps to demonstrate the interconnectedness of these issues and makes it apparent how involved all local communities must be when fighting these issues.
Local activism provides activists with the best shot at actually changing things.
- We have access to local government, political groups, citizen leaders, and other people with power. While it’s almost impossible to change Obama and Congress’ mind on something, it’s relatively easy to change your local city council member’s mind. Our words are more likely to carry farther and be more influential.
- Local activism is predicated on the idea that real, effective cultural and political change is made by everyday people speaking up in their everyday lives. Big protests and demonstrations are necessary for us to experience our power as a group, but it’s the small conversations in the home and workplace that actually change community norms. We are also presented with fare more opportunities to participate and create change when we our activism is in our daily lives in our own communities
People are a lot more likely to participate in a community meeting, film screening, or other event that’s developing community interdependence and support than they are in a protest with no visible changes for them or others. Every person we bring into the conversation locally also helps to create the critical mass of people needed to change things on a broader scale, something that large-scale activism isn’t particularly good at.
Finally, the most important aspect of local activism and the strongest reason to participate in and encourage it is making connections with other community members and creating trust and support between groups and individuals. We’re a lot more likely to solve racism by having regular supportive, honest, and challenging conversations with a diverse group of the community then we are by donating to the ACLU or showing up to a couple large demonstrations a year.
(Lastly, we'll be going over what is necessary for local activism; e.g. a strategy, a purpose, who/what/when/where/how, etc.)
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