Introduction
Chapter 1 — Social Action: An Overview
Social Action’s Role & US College Social Action
Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class
Course vs Co-Curricular & Prerequisites
Creating a Social Action Syllabus
Teaching Style & Classroom Norms
Role of Place & Each Semester v Every Year
Chapter 3 — Teaching Social Action (TSA) Model
Chapter 4 — Where Do We Go From Here?
This sections deals with the Campaign Plan, which focuses on the planning of the second and third Campaign Actions, and all the actions that the students think will be necessary to win the campaign. Most change groups conduct a Campaign Plan before they do their first Campaign Action (kickoff) but since TSA’s philosophy is On Your Mark, Go, Get Set, and because the semester is so short, we jump right to the first Campaign Action, and then conduct a Campaign Plan to setup the Campaign Activities for the following Campaign Actions.
This section also deals with Campaign Implementation, which focuses on the execution of the plan, as well as an evaluation of the Campaign Activities and Actions. Lastly, this chapter discusses how the Campaign Binder created by the students can be used to continue a campaign from semester to semester.Students now turn their attention to developing a Campaign Plan, which focuses on the planning of the second and third Campaign Actions, and all the Campaign Activities necessary to pull off these upcoming actions. A Campaign Plan should include a step-by-step process of what things need to happen, and in what order, for the students to win their demands. By clearly stating what is the Campaign Plan, it will be easier and more straight forward for the students to logically plan out their campaign, and get through a series of Campaign Actions.
As stated earlier, most change groups conduct a Campaign Plan before they do the Campaign Kickoff (1st Action) but since TSA’s philosophy is On Your Mark, Go, Get Set, and because the semester is so short, we jump right to the first Campaign Action, and then conduct a Campaign Plan. TSA has found that this model creates more engagement.
To encourage students to create a Campaign Plan, please consider using the below worksheet. As with the other worksheets, please feel free to make any edits you think are necessary.
Timeline
Part of a Campaign Plan is to develop a Campaign Timeline. From the beginning of class, Scott asked his students to place the red balls (Campaign Activities) on the below Timeline he provided them. This allowed Scott to track the development of the student campaigns in real-time, and helped him to understand what the students were planning for the various weeks.
Now, Scott asked his students to add the upcoming Campaign Actions (green boxes) to the Timeline. As the class gets to the end of the semester, you may ask your students to look one year into the future, and add the various Campaign Activities and Actions to their Timeline. This Campaign Plan and Timeline should be included in their Campaign Binder. If the campaign is chosen to be "activated" by a future group of social action students, this 1-year Timeline will be helpful, as it gives the next group of students an idea about how to proceed.
Tabling: Petitions and Post-it-Notes
If the students get stuck about what Campaign Activities they can do, below is an example of students developing creative Campaign Activities that were at “low-level heat”, but was very successful: Tabling with Petitions and Post-in Notes and Cookie for a Call. As you can see below, the Student Homeless Alliance at SJSU held a tabling event, which drew a lot of attention as they had tents, signs, and snacks.
At the tent, students could fill out petitions both online and by hand asking the campus President to meet the students’ demands.
These Post-it Notes were shown during SHAs tabling events, and were posted, so all could see. They were also written down and presented to the campus President during their Target Meeting so she hear first hand the social suffering of the students (p. 122).
These post-it notes were also shared on social media.
Cookie for a Call
At their tabling events, students passed out the below flier, and if the students made a phone call while at their table, they gave the students a cookie. The students named this activity, Cookie for a Call.
Fundraising
Fundraising is also discussed in this chapter. Click here, and go to 9:47 of Walk the Walk, to see the students doing a “money bomb”. Below, Elisha St. Laurent, one of the CAFE J students is working with Dennis Raj from the South Bay Labor Council, to raise funds for the 2012 minimum wage campaign. There are other ideas discussed, including a serv-a-thon, perhaps one of the easiest and best ways for students to raise money.
Readings
When students were working on their Campaign Plan, Scott also had the students read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and FDR’s 2nd Bill of Rights“ in order to frame the issues that the students were working on. (Here is a section from Scott’s book on Social Solutions to Poverty on the Economic Bill of Rights). TSA recommends the use of the UN 17 Sustainable Goals to frame the student’s issues, as it is more universal. Also, it may be better to discuss these documents, and how they can be used to frame the campaign earlier in the semester; those decisions will be left up to you. Click here to see Portfolio 8, which asks the students to apply these possible documents to their campaign.
Questions
- Will you have your social action students create a timeline? If so, what will it look like?
Continue to Implementation & Execution