Introduction
Chapter 1 — Social Action: An Overview
Social Action and Its Role on Colleges
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?
Introduction
Once the students get into the their groups as part of your Issue Development process, you will want to discuss with them some of the key parts of Group Dynamics. This is extremely important to do, as the group dynamics can either help or hinder the groups success. In the CHANGE book for the students, this is called "setting the tone".
The setting of the tone includes a discussion of: what the group values will be; the roles and responsibilities of each group member, the various ways the group can make a decision, conflict resolution strategies, and meeting times for the group. Scott would put these questions up on Mural Board, and have the students respond to them. TSA has taken those questions, and put them into the below Campaign Implementation Worksheet (p. 2) to help your students explore Group Dynamics. Scott recommends that Group Dynamics (part 1) should occur in the early part of the first third of the course. In Scott’s course, it occurred on Class #4.
As can be seen from the below worksheet, students are asked about facilitating, note-taking, vibes-watching, and decision-making, which are actually discuss in detail in part 2 of Group Dyanmics. For this reason, some faculty have combined parts 1 and 2 of Group Dynamics and teach it all together. Scott has decided to keep them separate, since there is value to raising them early, but waiting until later to have a more in-depth discussion on these topics. Also, this makes sure that the student teams get two opportunities to support their Group Dynamics. However, these kind of decisions are totally up to you.
Pam Saylor, at Purdue NW University in Indiana, took the ideas discussed in CHANGE, and created her own Group Contract.
To create a culture of accountability, Dr. David Harkins at Belmont University in Tennessee, has created a Team Operating Agreement.
As part of the discussion on Group Dynamics, Scott reminded his students that the campaigns are quite fluid in the beginning, and they can switch groups easily. SML also reminded them that they can switch groups at anytime in the semester, particularly if there is a problem in the group dynamic that cannot be easily resolved.
In this section on Group Dynamics, Scott discussed his definition of leadership, which for him meant “someone who thinks about the group and helps it function effectively”. This definition is very empowering for the students, and it is worth spending some time exploring. In addition, Scott also spends time on some of the key leadership skills to be developed when working in a group. By identifying what these skills are, it helps the students be better team members. These leadership skills include:
- Actively listening
- Talking in a small groups/public
- Awareness of how the group is feeling
- Having integrity
- Understanding one’s privilege
- Being Persistent
- Saying “no, with a smile” (see CHANGE: Student Guide, p. 23-26)
It should also be noted that Group Dynamics discussion might take 45 minutes of the class, the other time is spent helping the students select their specific 1-3 campaign demands, as well as identifying who is the decision-maker who can meet their demands. In addition, Scott had his students read “The Allegory of the Cave”, as it helped students explore whether humans are truly free, who is controlling society (and its images), and for what purpose, what is the process to liberate our minds, and what will happen to us once our minds are liberated and we engage with others in society (see p. 25 of CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action).
Click here for the questions for Portfolio #2, and see below to see a response to these Portfolio #2 questions from a SJSU student.
Questions
- The textbook discusses an inclusive and empowering leadership model: how might you use this model to encourage engagement, where everyone in the group is participating?
- What might you use from the two CHANGE books, as well as other sources, to improve the setting of the tone for your students (developing a culture of accountability, active listening skills, etc.), ? What other ways things might you include in setting the tone for the road ahead?
- What are the ways you might teach how privilege, and lack of privilege, play out in a group?
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