Companion Guide → Book Manuscript Plan

Purpose

This page turns the existing CHANGE! A Companion Guide to Teaching Social Action into a book manuscript plan. The Companion Guide already has a full five-chapter structure, multimedia examples, assignments, worksheets, and campaign artifacts. The book version should convert those web-based resources into a coherent, readable manuscript for faculty and staff who want to teach social action.

Working title

CHANGE! A Companion Guide to Teaching Social Action: A Practical Book for Faculty and Staff

Book concept

The book should be a practical, example-rich companion to CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action. Instead of functioning primarily as a website/database of videos, links, assignments, and examples, the book should guide readers through a full semester arc:

1. Why social action belongs in the classroom.
2. How to design a social action course or co-curricular workshop series.
3. How to launch student campaigns early enough for students to experience real action.
4. How to support planning, implementation, evaluation, and final presentations.
5. How to sustain social action across semesters, campuses, regions, and careers.

Recommended book structure

Front matter

• Title page
• Copyright / permissions note
• Dedication or acknowledgments
• Preface: Why a Companion Guide became a book
• How to use this book alongside CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action
• How to use the online Companion Guide resources

Introduction — Teaching Social Action by Doing It

Source page: CHANGE! A Companion Guide to Teaching Social Action

Book purpose: Introduce Teaching Social Action, explain the relationship between the Companion Guide and the two CHANGE! books, and orient faculty/staff to the Institute model and Community of Practice.

Convert from web to book by:

• Turning the current web introduction into a polished preface.
• Moving video links into “Watch Online” resource boxes.
• Creating a short “What you will learn in this book” section.
• Adding a “Before you begin” reflection prompt.

Possible chapter-opening claim:

Social action is learned by doing. This book helps faculty and staff design courses where students do more than study change — they organize campaigns to change a rule, regulation, norm, or practice on campus or in the community.

Part I — Why Teach Social Action?

Chapter 1 — Social Action: An Overview

Source pages:

• Chapter 1 — Social Action: An Overview
• 1A & 1B — Social Action's Role & US College Social Action
• 1C & 1D — Benefits of TSA & Bring It Into the Class
• 1E — Overcoming Challenges of TSA

Book argument: Social action has a long history in democratic life and higher education. It benefits students, campuses, and society, but faculty must also be prepared to address political, institutional, safety, and pedagogical concerns.

Proposed chapter sections:

1. What is social action?
2. Social action’s role in democracy
3. A brief history of U.S. college social action
4. Benefits for students, campuses, and society
5. The vision: bringing social action into the classroom
6. Overcoming challenges and fears
7. Reflection questions

Book treatment:

• Convert videos into short summaries with links/QR placeholders.
• Turn discussion questions into “Reflection for faculty” boxes.
• Put legal/political/safety concerns into a practical FAQ.
• Include a short “What administrators need to understand” sidebar.

Sample boxed feature:

Faculty Reflection: What makes you most excited — and most nervous — about teaching social action? What institutional supports would help you move from interest to implementation?

Part II — Designing the Course

Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class

Source pages:

• Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class
• 2A & 2B — Course vs. Co-Curricular & Prerequisites
• 2C — Creating a Social Action Syllabus
• 2D & 2E — Teaching Style & Class Norms
• 2F — The Students
• 2G — Building Campus and Community Allies
• 2J – Maintaining Momentum

Book argument: Before the semester begins, faculty need to decide the course format, student audience, syllabus structure, teaching style, classroom norms, allies, and pacing.

Proposed chapter sections:

1. Academic course, co-curricular series, or hybrid model?
2. Prerequisites, level, and student recruitment
3. Creating a social action syllabus
4. From “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”
5. Classroom norms for an engaged social action course
6. Building campus and community allies before the course begins
7. The role of place, campus culture, and local context
8. Maintaining momentum in a fast-paced course
9. Course planning worksheet

Book treatment:

• Convert syllabus material into a sample syllabus chapter.
• Include checklists for “30 days before class,” “first week,” and “before campaigns launch.”
• Reframe online worksheets as reproducible book worksheets.
• Add “common design decisions” tables: upper vs. lower division, one campaign vs. many campaigns, campus vs. community campaigns, academic vs. co-curricular.

Sample table to include:

Part III — Launching Student Campaigns

Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns

Source pages:

• Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns
• 3A — On Your Mark: Preparing Students
• 3B — Students Choose Their Issue
• 3F — Campus Tour
• 3G — Research
• 3I — Strategy & Tactics
• 3J — Campaign Kickoff (1st Action)

Book argument: The core teaching philosophy is “On Your Mark, GO, Get Set.” Students should begin moving toward action early, then develop the group dynamics, research, power analysis, strategy, tactics, and campaign plan needed to act effectively.

Proposed chapter sections:

1. The “On Your Mark, GO, Get Set” teaching philosophy
2. Preparing students for the road rarely traveled
3. Students choose their issue
4. Group dynamics, part 1: setting the tone
5. Change theory
6. Building power
7. Campus/community tour
8. Research: history, power map, target analysis
9. Group dynamics, part 2
10. Strategy and tactics
11. Campaign kickoff: the first action

Book treatment:

• Use a running case study: Students for Filipino Farmworkers.
• Convert campaign artifacts into figures, exhibits, and appendices.
• Keep URLs/online materials as a companion resource list.
• Add “teacher moves” throughout: what the instructor says, asks, prompts, and does when students get stuck.
• Create a “Campaign Activities vs. Campaign Actions” explanation early in the chapter.

Key concept box:

Campaign Activities vs. Campaign Actions

Campaign activities build power: tabling, fliering, recruiting, researching, mapping power, meeting allies, drafting materials. Campaign actions publicly display power and place pressure on a decision-maker through events such as rallies, delegations, public meetings, press conferences, or other tactics.

Part IV — Implementation, Evaluation, and Final Products

Chapter 4 — Campaign Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation

Source pages:

• Ch 4 —Planning, Implementation, & Evaluation
• 4A — Campaign Plan & Timeline
• 4B & 4C — Implementation & Execution
• 4E — Day of Final: Campaign Binder & Group Presentation

Book argument: After the campaign kickoff, students need a clear plan, a timeline, a series of actions, evaluation practices, and a final product that documents what they built for future students.

Proposed chapter sections:

1. Why the campaign plan matters
2. Building a timeline after the first action
3. The “series of actions” begins
4. Public narrative and campaign execution
5. Evaluating campaign activities and actions
6. Final campaign binder/notebook
7. Group presentations
8. Passing the campaign forward

Book treatment:

• Convert campaign plan/timeline materials into templates.
• Include a sample campaign binder table of contents.
• Use student presentation examples as exhibits.
• Add an instructor checklist for the final month of class.
• Include “what to do if the campaign wins,” “what to do if the campaign loses,” and “what to do if the campaign continues.”

Sample final binder structure:

1. Campaign name and members
2. Issue statement
3. Demands
4. Target and decision-making structure
5. Power map
6. Allies and opposition
7. Timeline
8. Campaign activities
9. Campaign actions
10. Media and public narrative
11. Evaluation
12. Recommendations for next semester

Part V — Sustaining and Mainstreaming Social Action

Chapter 5 — Where Do We Go From Here?

Source pages:

• Chapter 5 — Where Do We Go From Here?
• 5A & 5B — Next Semester & Mainstreaming Social Action
• 5C & 5D — Internships & Pipeline to Jobs/Grad School
• 5E — Status of Current Campaigns / 5F — Impact of Social Action on Former Social Action Students

Book argument: A social action course does not end with the final presentation. Campaigns can continue, internships can sustain the work, alumni can move into jobs and graduate school, and institutions can mainstream social action across disciplines, campuses, regions, and nations.

Proposed chapter sections:

1. What happens next semester?
2. Continuing campaigns across semesters
3. Mainstreaming Teaching Social Action
4. Social action internships
5. Pipeline to jobs and graduate school
6. Status of current campaigns
7. Impact on former social action students
8. The 2030 vision: every college, every semester

Book treatment:

• Use alumni stories as narrative case studies.
• Create a “sustaining campaigns” framework.
• Include internship application materials in the appendix.
• End with a call to join the Community of Practice and Institute network.

Appendices

Appendix A — Course Planning Worksheet

Source: TSA Course Planning Worksheet

Convert into a polished reproducible worksheet.

Appendix B — Sample Social Action Syllabus

Source: 2C — Creating a Social Action Syllabus

Include one full sample syllabus plus notes on adaptation.

Appendix C — Campaign Implementation Worksheet

Source: 4A — Campaign Plan & Timeline

Include campaign plan, timeline, strategy/tactics, and implementation templates.

Appendix D — Final Campaign Binder Template

Source: 4E — Day of Final: Campaign Binder & Group Presentation

Include binder template, group presentation rubric, and final reflection prompts.

Appendix E — Student Campaign Artifacts

Include selected flyers, commitment cards, power maps, press releases, sample presentations, and campaign documents.

Appendix F — Online Companion Resources

Create a consolidated list of:

• Videos
• PDFs
• DOCX templates
• Slides
• Campaign examples
• Community of Practice links
• Institute application links

Hyperlink and image preservation rule

When converting the Companion Guide into a book, do not remove or flatten any hyperlink. Every video, website, PDF, document, slide deck, campaign example, Institute link, Community of Practice link, resource page, and external reference should be retained in one of these forms:

1. An in-text hyperlink in the digital manuscript.
2. A footnote or endnote URL.
3. A “Watch Online” or “View Online” resource box.
4. A QR-code placeholder paired with the full URL.
5. A consolidated appendix of online resources.

Also, leave all images from the Companion Guide in the new book manuscript unless there is a specific permissions, privacy, or image-quality reason to flag one for review. Images should be preserved as figures, chapter visuals, examples, exhibits, or appendix items, with captions added where helpful. When an image comes from a campaign artifact, student work, flyer, screenshot, book cover, photo, or external source, keep the image in place and add it to the permissions tracker rather than deleting it.

For print, include both a short descriptive label and the full URL or QR-code placeholder for linked resources. For digital/PDF versions, keep links clickable and preserve the images at the highest available quality.

Editorial conversion rules

Keep

• The five-chapter arc.
• The alignment with CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action.
• The practical examples from Scott’s Sociology 164 course.
• Faculty reflection questions.
• Campaign artifacts and worksheets.
• The Institute and Community of Practice orientation.
• All hyperlinks to videos, websites, PDFs, DOCX files, slides, campaign examples, and other online resources.
• All images from the Companion Guide, including photos, book covers, screenshots, flyers, campaign artifacts, student work images, charts, and embedded visuals.
• The exact destination URLs for embedded videos and website links, even when the book version converts the visible presentation into a citation, QR-code placeholder, footnote, appendix entry, or “Watch Online” box.
• The placement and purpose of images wherever possible, converting them into numbered figures, exhibits, or appendix visuals with captions rather than removing them.

Convert

• Videos → “Watch Online” boxes with summaries, while preserving the original video hyperlinks.
• Web links → numbered resource list and QR-code placeholders, while preserving the original hyperlinks.
• Page-by-page database entries → continuous chapter prose.
• Short discussion prompts → reflection boxes.
• Repeated explanations → single polished explanations.
• Embedded files → appendices or downloadable online resources, while preserving any images or visual artifacts from the original Companion Guide.

Add

• Chapter introductions and conclusions.
• Transitions between sections.
• “Teacher moves” sidebars.
• Checklists.
• A glossary of key terms.
• A permissions tracker for videos, images, student work, and campaign artifacts.
• A manuscript production timeline.

Proposed production sequence

Phase 1 — Manuscript architecture

• Confirm title and audience.
• Confirm whether this book is a print book, PDF, Notion/public web book, or publisher-ready manuscript.
• Decide how much of the online Companion Guide should be reproduced versus referenced.
• Create a permissions tracker.

Phase 2 — Chapter drafting

1. Draft Introduction.
2. Draft Chapter 1 from overview, benefits, vision, and challenges pages.
3. Draft Chapter 2 from course development pages.
4. Draft Chapter 3 from campaign launch pages.
5. Draft Chapter 4 from planning, implementation, and evaluation pages.
6. Draft Chapter 5 from sustainability, mainstreaming, internship, and alumni impact pages.

Phase 3 — Pedagogical apparatus

• Add reflection questions.
• Add faculty checklists.
• Add worksheets.
• Add case study boxes.
• Add online resource boxes.
• Add end-of-chapter “next steps.”

Phase 4 — Review and design

• Review for flow, repetition, accessibility, and permissions.
• Decide what images/artifacts can be included.
• Create final PDF/print layout.
• Create a companion online resource page.

Immediate next step

Create five manuscript draft pages — one for each chapter — and begin converting the Companion Guide sections into continuous prose, starting with the Introduction and Chapter 1.