Introduction
A — Social Action’s Role & B – US College Social Action
C — Benefits of Social Action & D – Bringing into Classroom
Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class
A — Academic Course vs Co-Curricular & B — Prerequisites
C — Creating a Social Action Syllabus
D — Teaching Style & E — Classroom Norms
G — Building Campus & Community Allies
H —The Role of Place & I —Each Semester vs Every Year
Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns
B — Students Choose Their Issue
C — Group Dynamics, part 1D — Change Theory
G — Research: Historical Overview, Power Mapping, & Target Analysis
Chapter 4 — Campaign Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation
A — Timeline & Campaign Plan B — Campaign Implementation: "Series of Actions" Begins C — Campaign Execution & Case Studies D — Campaign Evaluation E — Day of the Final: Campaign Notebook & Group Presentation
Chapter 5 — Where to Go From Here
A — Next Semester B — Mainstreaming Social Action C — Social Action Internship Program D — Pipeline to Jobs & Graduate School E — Status of Current Campaigns F — Impact of Social Action on Former Social Action Students
CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action
- Chapter 3, A On Your Mark: Preparing Students for the Road Rarely Traveled (p. 52-56)
DISCUSSION: On Your Mark: Preparing Students for the Road Ahead
On Class 1, Scott introduces his syllabus and discusses how in this course, students will be doing action, and not just talking about it. SML discusses how the course readings have been reduced by about 1 1/2 hour of reading for the week, so that they can do 1 1/2 hours of week of campaign work.
On the first day, it would be good to ask your students to begin thinking about things that “piss them off” and that they would like to see different, whether that be on campus, in the community (city/county), in the state or nation. They then can bring these ideas to Class 2, when the Issue Identification process starts.
Two questions to consider about the Silicon Valley Pain Index, which Scott is the co-author of.
- Do the problems highlighted in the Silicon Valley Pain Index exist in your community? If so, which social problems?
- How can you use the Silicon Valley Pain Index, or a similar report for your community, to get the students to begin thinking about social solutions and problems from Day 1?
Please note that everything done in the first 10 days of the Soci. 164: Social Action class is to get the students to believe that social action is possible. I do everything from the students being in a circle (to encourage participation), to inviting student alums into class who have won campaigns to talk to the new students (sometimes on Zoom), to reading about former student social action campaigns that have been victorious.
Scott also gives them specific examples of change that have happened on the campus. This video clip was in the last section, but it is worth watching again!