TEACHSOC: Re: social change movements

[Pat Scheib]

Hi Sunny,   I don't know if this can effectively be adapted into a brief 4 weeks, with little time to prep, but I am using social change and social movements as the focus for the final group projects in my college Intro to Soc. class.  This is a new project I just started last semester and it is definitely still a work in progress, so I would welcome any comments, critiques or suggestions from anyone on the list.    Students form small groups and choose a social issue they care about.  I will be giving them a list of social issues we've discussed in class, topics mentioned in the textbook and current events from the news to give them some ideas.  I ask to them to identify something in our society that they think is "broken" and needs to be fixed, and to begin thinking of themselves as agents of social change.  After they have chosen their social issue, we discuss some of the theory and sociological perspectives on social change, types of social movements, etc. (I think this will be more effective to do this after they have adopted an issue, as they will more easily be able to then apply this "textbook material" to their particular issue, giving the theories a bit more relevance).    For the final project, students must:   -Thoroughly research their issue so they can present a convincing argument, backed up with empirical data, to educate the public about their issue and convince us to care about it.  -Formulate a detailed plan for how they will educate the public and get the word out about their issue (public speaking, media events, PSAs, etc.).  -Create a detailed plan for change (contacting legislators, focus groups, demonstrations, support groups, whatever) which clearly outlines how they will tackle the problem.  -Present all of this as a group presentation to the class during finals week.  -Submit a final paper describing all of the above and include any documents, flyers, slide shows, or other publicity items they have created.    Many of them don't believe they could have the power to bring about social change, so I use my own experiences to illustrate for them how a small group of individuals can actually start a grassroots organization to bring about social change.  In 1985 (while I was still a college student) my 16-month-old son was abducted by his father (my ex-husband), and remained missing for four years before he was finally found in another state and safely returned to me.  I explain to them how I discovered that my personal experience was really part of several larger social issues (custody laws and ineffective procedures for enforcing them, addiction, domestic violence, divorce, gender bias, parental rights vs. childrens rights, etc.).  I briefly outline for them how I got together with two other parents of missing children to form a non-profit group for parents of missing children.  Our agency worked to establish better relations between our parents and law enforcement (who didn't have time or resources to effectively look for missing kids), informed parents of their legal rights and taught them how to actively and legally find their own children, provided a support group to help parents deal with the grief and frustration, created media events to publicize the agency and local missing children, lots of public speaking, media interviews, etc.   After my son was found in Texas, our custody case was used to set new precedent for how Texas handles interstate parental abductions and recognizes jurisdiction in custody cases ( I will print out a copy of the caselaw to show to them).  I explain to them how this has influenced other custody cases that have happened since.  My personal experience seems to illustrate to them that social change is often precipitated by everyday people as a result of some personal experience, so they have as much potential to be an agent of social change, as anyone else.  Hopefully, this makes the assignment seem more realistic for them, and not just a hypothetical exercise to get a grade.  My first attempt at this assignment went pretty well last semester and I am very excited about the changes I plan to implement to tighten it up a bit this semester.    Perhaps the group project, without the heavy written paper thrown in, would be a good way to modify this for a high school class.  In the future, when you have more time to prep for it, maybe your class could actually do some type of service learning project for real, instead of this hypothetical one.  I hope you find this helpful.   Pat   >>> Sunny Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 1/2/2006 5:02 PM >>> I've got two weeks (4 90 min class periods) left in the semester and I've decided to teach social change and social movements to my high school kids.  This is a new one for me and I was wondering if anyone had activities, ideas.  My kids respond best when they are doing somthing.  Does anyone have a project of some sort that has worked for them?   Thanks, Sunny Allen Tooele High School Tooele, UT 435-833-1978 Yahoo! for Good - Make a difference this year.