Activity 2: Taking Action Project

(Several weeks)

 

If you are interested in engaging your students in an in-depth action project, you can draw on the activities laid out by Matthew Colley, a high school teacher from Oakland, CA. In describing the project, Matt writes: “In my ninth grade English and History block class, the year ends with a six-week-long Taking Action Project. This project asks students to research a contemporary problem in our society that concerns them, develop an action step to address the problem in some way, implement that action step, and then reflect on the whole process and share their work with their classmates.”

 

In these lessons, he leads students through the following process:

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• Step 1: Historical Research

• Step 2: Contemporary Research

• Step 3: Action Plan Brainstorm & Presentation and Oral Defense

• Step 4: Implementation

• Step 5: Individual Reflection

• Step 6: Group Presentation

 

To learn more and find links to some of Matt's lesson plans, worksheets, and handouts, visit Educating 4 Democracy here. 

 

You can also watch a video about one piece of this project where students are reflecting on their contemporary research and wrestling with the root causes of the issues they are focusing on: