Cross-curricular lesson about SOCIAL CHANGE & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
OCTOBER 2020
- each school will have a lesson on this topic and will write a lesson plan to be published in the Handbook.
Liceul Tehnologic Octavian Goga Jibou, Romania
Teacher: Melinda Nagy
Social change and civic engagement RO.docx
Aims:
-to learn how to create a difference around themselves
-to iIdentify major social changes and their influence on society
-to understand the importance of civic participation and the tools which allow individuals to engage in the process
Activity 1:
-defining social change – brainstorming activity
“Social change, in sociology, the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behaviour, social organizations, or value systems.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-change
Activity 2:
-examples of social change during history
Examples of significant social changes having long‐term effects include
-the industrial revolution
-the abolition of slavery
-the feminist movement
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/social-change-and-movements/social-change-defined
Activity 3:
Choose one of the social changes and present it to the class.
Activity 4:
-defining civic engagement
“Civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”
1 Civic engagement includes both paid and unpaid forms of political activism, environmentalism, and community and national service.
2 Volunteering, national service, and service-learning are all forms of civic engagement.”
https://youth.gov/youth-topics/civic-engagement-and-volunteering
Activity 5:
Were you involved in civic activities? Give examples of civic engagement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNiUDvfKl1o
Activity 6:
Create a campaing to invite youth to get involved in civic engagement in your community.
Social Change and Civic Engagement Lesson Plan
Agrupamento de Escolas de Idães, Portugal
Teacher: Luís Pereira
Social change and Civic Engagement READINGFLIFE and CLIL.pdf
Hilstad skole, Norway. Siri Nepaas
Hilstad - operation day`s work.docx
Osnovna šola Litija, Slovenia
Lesson Plan.Slovenia
INSTITUT CONSELL DE CENT - SPAIN
Social Change and Civic Engagement Lesson Plan: CALL OUT DISCRIMINATION!
Objectives:
- Help students identify discriminatory language and increase their attentiveness to social justice
- Make students think of ways to speak up and respectfully call out racism, sexism and classism, thus becoming non-discrimination activists.
- Make students aware of how the idea of social justice has changed throughout time
Participants: 2 teachers and a class of 20 students, divided into five groups of four students.
Materials: Photocopies. A projector
Time: 3 1-hour sessions
1) Students from each group will take it in turns to read these remarks aloud. On the dotted lines at the end, you must write “familiar” or “not familiar” according to whether you hear sentences like that in your closest environment (family, relatives, friends) or not.
- “You are a nice handsome boy and have done lots of things for her, and still she doesn’t want to become your girlfriend! How can she be so ungrateful?” ......................
- “Why are you saying you can’t afford going to the club with us tonight? Can’t you ask for money to your parents?” ……………………………
- “How strange! She is an Indian, but she can’t dance to Bollywood tunes” ……………………………
- “I won’t clean this mess! This is for mom/the cleaning lady to do” ……………………………
- “You speak Catalan too well for a person who has studied at a public school”. ……………………………
- “From all my children, she is the most beautiful because she looks paler/whiter”. ……………………………
- “She cut her hair too short. No boys are going to like her!”. ……………………………
- "Those homeless people like being homeless. They choose to be that way, and they love living under the bridge and not working at all" ……………………………
- “I never got to touch a black person’s hair before. Can I touch your hair?” ……………………………
- “Are you still nervous about tomorrow’s competition? Come on, man up! Don’t be such a girl!” ……………………………
- “White privilege doesn’t exist! All lives matter!” ……………………………
- “When are you going to have children? A woman without children is like a garden without flowers” ……………………………
- Everyone can succeed in this society if they work had enough. Poor people are just lazy. ……………………………
- How can you be so good at math? You are very smart for a woman! ……………………………
- I see a Pakistani/black man coming this way. He must be the driver of the taxi you have requested. ……………………………
- Do you still want to accept that secretarial job? You’re a man, and you can do better than that! ……………………………
- From your features I can tell you’re not European. Where are you from? ……………………………
2) Can you identify whether each of the remarks is RACIST, SEXIST or CLASSIST? Can any of them belong to more than one category? Write R, S, C (or two letters if the latter occurs) next to each sentence’s number.
3) Let’s focus on the sentences that are said in your closest environment. Which generations say them? Do you, or people your age that are close to you, say any of them?
4) For every remark, write at least one or two sentences explaining why they are discriminatory.
5) SPEAK UP! Now let’s become non-discrimination activists and let’s learn how to call up sexism, racism and classism. A member of your group will read one of the remarks above, and you’ll answer them by using the explanations you have provided on number 4, introducing them with these beginnings:
“I know you don’t want to sound discriminatory, but in fact…”
“I know you mean well, but…”
“Can I suggest you not to speak like that? You see, what you said implies that…”
“Excuse me, but that contradicts my experience. I know for a fact that…”
“Maybe you are not aware that you are invading my/her/… personal space, …”
Not everyone will welcome what you say, but you can teach many others to be fairer to the other members of their community. Battling discrimination is a group effort that takes time. Remember that doing nothing changes nothing. Rather, it can perpetuate racist, sexist and classist behaviour and reinforce mentalities of superiority. Speaking up always helps!
6) Muslim Activist Blair Imani’s “Do the Right Thing” philosophy.
Blair Imani talks about the importance of activism to include everyone in society, no matter how diverse they are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlHAFmsgH4
Blair Imani and her mom, on the importance of education to create a more inclusive world.
Are their messages optimistic or pessimistic? Do you agree with them? Why? Give reasons to justify your answer.