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Lesson 1 & 2 Combined: Civic Identities & Action Framework

Lesson 1 & 2: Our Civic Identities and a Framework for ActionOVERVIEW In this lesson, students will introduce themselves to one another to root the course in their own stories and senses of self. Students will then define and reflect on their own civic experiences and attitudes before reviewing the action civics process they’ll participate in within the GC program. Students will read a article about a GC student project and analyzing it according to GC’s framework for action, the Advocacy Hourglass.

OBJECTIVESBy the end of this lesson, students will have...

Assessed their own level of civic engagement and examined their attitudes toward government Created a set of guidelines to promote a safe and democratic classroom community

Analyzed examples of community change projects utilizing the Advocacy Hourglass framework for action

AGENDA Do Now: My Civic Participation (10 minutes) Action Civics (5 minutes) Four Corners (20 minutes) Classroom Constitution: Our Class Democracy (5 minutes) Advocacy Hourglass (5 minutes) Story Analysis (10 minutes) Exit Ticket: Name Tents and Homework Assignment – Community Issues (5

minutes)

MATERIALS Student handbooks Construction or printer paper to make name tents to put on desks (1 per student) Four Corners activity signs (“Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” “Strongly Disagree”) Tape to post signs Markers Poster paper for “Classroom Constitution” Advocacy Hourglass poster, with blanks for terms to be written in Printed labels for each term of the Advocacy Hourglass (can also write in instead) 1 printed article about student-driven action (1 per student) Printed copies of “Exploring Community Issues” page (1 per student), if you’d rather

students don’t tear them out from their handbooks for their homework assignment Markers

PREPARATION BEFORE CLASS Ensure student handbooks have arrived and are ready to pass out to each student Create “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree” signs for use in

Four Corners activity Title one piece of poster paper, “Classroom Constitution”

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Determine which of the articles and/or videos offered in the supplementary pages for this lesson you will assign to your students; print one copy per student

Design and bring in a poster of the Advocacy Hourglass or find a space on the board to draw it

Consider reviewing and editing the language of the “Learning Goals” for middle, English Language Learner, or special education students - if you’re a Democracy Coach, ask your teacher about this.

Print out copies of “Exploring Community Issues” page (1 per student), if you’d rather students don’t tear them out from their handbooks

GETTING STARTED (10 minutes)DO NOW: My Civic Participation (10 minutes)Welcome students to their first day of Generation Citizen! Inform students that today they will learn more about what Generation Citizen is and begin the process of making change in their community.

Introduce yourself if you are a Democracy Coach or guest classroom facilitator (see sidebar tip).

Explain that each Generation Citizen class will start with a “Do Now” activity of the lesson. This activity will be posted on the board as well as be in their Student Handbook. When students arrive to class, they can begin the “Do Now” as soon as they enter the classroom. This activity is designed to draw students into thinking about that day’s content. Typically, these activities will last no longer than 5 minutes.

Pass out and introduce students to the GC student handbook. Invite them to review the list of activities on page 2.

Put a checkmark (√) next to any activities you or your family and friends have done before.

Debrief: After three minutes, invite or 2-3 students to share a story about one of the activities they’ve participated in or observed. What was it like? Why did they or their friend or family member do it? Express appreciation for the incredible level of community engagement that students already demonstrate in the room.

Tell students that each of them brings unique contributions to the class through things they already know or experiences they have already had. This will be essential to the GC program and project they’ll be working on together. That is the way citizenship works as well. Each of them has a unique voice and set of experiences they bring to civic engagement that can make their community, nation or world a better and more interesting place.

Acknowledge that there is a lot of language they will be using to describe this range of community activities and civic engagement process. To begin learning this language, in their student handbooks they will see four different words that are important to understand moving forward.

Stop and Jot: Ask student to take two minutes to stop and jot definitions for

A NOTE ABOUT THIS SIDEBAR: Throughout the curriculum, this sidebar is a place where you can find lesson modification suggestions, sample language, glossary definitions and other tips for enacting each lesson.

TIP: If you’re a Democracy Coach or guest classroom facilitator, briefly greet the class, introduce yourself and explain that you’ll be working with students twice a week throughout the Generation Citizen program, which you’ll talk about more later this period.

When introducing yourself, consider including the following information:

Name Where you are

from College Fun fact Why you are

excited about being a Democracy Coach

TIP: If students do not readily volunteer to share answers, ask them to spend 1

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Lesson 1 & 2 Combined: Civic Identities & Action Framework TWO of the five words based on their own understanding and experience

with these words in their life (citizen, civic engagement, government, and politics). Note that there are no right answers.

Debrief: Invite a student to offer their definition for each term. Invite another student to look up the word in their Student Handbook Glossary on page 61 in their handbooks to discover GC’s definitions. Explain that this Glossary is a place to find the GC definitions of words, but that they will also have their own definitions for these words that are important to include as well. Invite a third student to discuss if they see any differences between the two definitions offered and reflect on this.

If students do not raise this point when discussing the word citizen, consider drawing attention to the point below.

Citizen – Notice how broad the GC definition is of ‘citizen’. The GC definition does not reference a legal status of citizenship. In Generation Citizen, the word ‘citizen’ includes to anyone living in the community who is affected by the way that community functions and can play a role in making their local, state and national community better.

Framing: Explain that you’re going to spend the rest of the period discussing briefly what the Generation Citizen program is about, and getting to know what experiences, beliefs, and opinions students are bringing into the program.

DURING CLASS (35 minutes)

Action Civics (5 minutes)Explain that in Generation Citizen, students will be practicing some of the most important skills and learning the most important strategies of civic leaders. They’ll be doing this through undertaking a project as a whole class that will help solve a community issue, and just as importantly learning a process they can use throughout their lives to address future issues they care about! This is “action civics”. Review the definition of Action Civics and the sample sentence.

Read Aloud Invite 5 students to read each stage of Action Civics aloud on page 3 of their handbooks. Ask the group the following questions

1. What do you believe is the most important step in the Action Civics process?

2. What do you believe is the most challenging part of the Action Civics process?

3. What part of the Action Civics process are you most excited about getting involved in?

Four Corners (20 minutes)Explain that a central part of GC is that students express their voice and bring in their thoughts and ideas to the process. The next activity will begin the process of students expressing their voice by sharing their opinions and experiences.

minute sharing their answers with a partner. Listen in to a few conversations as they discuss in small groups and publicly celebrate an insightful example or story when you call the class back together.

GLOSSARY TERMS:Citizen : A person who lives in a specific placeSample Sentence:She was an active citizen in her community, attending every neighborhood meeting and speaking up on important issues.

Civic Participation: Individual and group actions that try to improve a community and the lives of its membersSample Sentence:Voting is one form of civic participation.

Government: The political institutions, people, and laws that organize and control public lifeSample Sentence:Fernando wanted to get involved in local government so that he'd have a say in the rules impacting his daily life.

Politics: The web of activities and relationships which influence an individual’s or group’s powerSample Sentence:Akiya knew that she needed to have good relationships in politics in order to help her legislation get passed.

Action Civics: The 15


Assign one label to each corner of the room (“Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” “Strongly Disagree”), and have students practice recognizing each corner when pointed to. Explain that when you read aloud each phrase, students should walk silently to the corner of the room which represents their opinion, and you’ll invite a few students to share their thoughts during each round.

Pose one prompt at a time to the class. (Use a timer! Three minutes per question.)

I believe that cats are better than dogs. I believe that most adults know what’s best for youth. I believe that decisions made by politicians affect my daily life. I believe that my elected officials (people who are voted into office)

care what I think. Lasting change happens only once laws are changed. Student-choice! (Invite a student to make one up of their own)

Invite 1-3 students from each corner to explain their responses to each question, varying the order in which you call on corners. Encourage students to start statements with “I” and to listen carefully to their peers’ remarks. They are welcome to change corners after listening to a convincing argument.

Debrief: Back at their seats, ask students to “Turn and Talk” to discuss each question with a partner. Then solicit 1-3 students’ responses for each:

What’s one thing that stood out to you as we did this exercise? Why do you think we did this activity? How did you feel about how people spoke to each other when they

disagreed? What did you see that went really well in terms of how everyone

interacted? What did you see that you want to improve on as we continue to

discuss and negotiate important issues in class?

Explain that in GC the content of their ideas in not only important, but how they express their ideas and treat each other during discussions is equally important.

Classroom Constitution: Our Class Democracy (5 minutes) Explain that in this class, during this process, you’re going to be co-creating a democratic community that allows all voices to be heard. Ask if anyone can define “democracy,” and write all ideas on the board. After brainstorming the definition, ask one student to read the definition in the Glossary and add this definition to the board.

Explain that today they will create a ‘Classroom Constitution.’ Just like the U.S. Constitution that outlines the fundamental laws and principles we live by, this will be a set of principals or guidelines that all members of this classroom will follow each day during GC.

Pose to students the questions: How can we create a classroom environment that looks like a

practice of learning about the political process through taking local action on specific community issues.Sample Sentence: During the course of this program, we will participate in action civics as we work to tackle issues.

TIP: Add these words to a Word Wall or consider asking students to create a visual display of each term to post publically.

SAMPLE LANGUAGE: In this activity and for our entire time together, your participation is key to making Generation Citizen work. This is about your voice and you advocating for something you believe in.

TIP: Write, or have a scribe write, students’ reflections on the board as they contribute. This helps reinforce the discussion for visual learners and demonstrate interest in students’ opinions

TIP: Jump into the rotation yourself so you demonstrate interest in your students’ stories!

GLOSSARY TERM:Democracy: A government in which power is with the people and is used by them directly, or indirectly through

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democracy? o Probing question if stuck: Think about a country that does not

have a democracy. Are those citizens asked to participate and have a voice? What do we as citizens of a democracy ‘get to do’ that other may not elsewhere?

How must we treat each other and behave? o Probing question if stuck: Reflect on last class when we did the

Four Corners Activity. What were some of the really positive ways you all interacted during that discussion?

Give students one minute to think, and then invite suggestions for the class to adopt while they’re collaborating together this semester. Write these, or use a student scribe, on poster paper to be referenced moving forward with the title “Our Democratic Classroom” at the top.

Suggested norms include: Everyone has a voice and should express their ideas Everyone should be a part of decision making Everyone should listen to each other - Take turns talking (“One mic”) Question and debate each other to bring about new and improved

ideas Participate and allow others to do the same (“Step up, step back”) Assume best intentions in each other’s comments Use “both/and” thinking to build on each others’ ideas

Encourage students to refer to their Classroom Constitution throughout the program and to applaud their peers and themselves when they see these norms in action. They can also add to it if new ideas arise in future classes.

Advocacy Hourglass (10 minutes)Explain that GC has created a framework to help guide them in their growth as strategic change makers. It’s called the Advocacy Hourglass. Have students refer to the definition of advocacy on page 61 in the glossary of their handbooks.

Explain that the Advocacy Hourglass organizes for advocates, or those who advocate for issues, the process of constructing an effective action plan, and that’s the process they’ll be following in GC.

Ask volunteers to look at the hourglass on page 5 of their Student Handbook. They will notice a word-bank at the bottom.

Ask

students to unscramble the order of the words in the word-bank and put them in order of which word goes with which definition in the Advocacy Hourglass. As students unscramble the words, write or tape a poster of the correct label in sequence on the board. Students should write in the name of each step next to its definition.

elected officials.Sample Sentence: We all have the chance to make our community better by actively participating in our democracy.

TIP: If your classroom has already created a class contract or set ground rules, don’t recreate the wheel! Instead, see if students would like to add anything to their list with the fact in mind that they are creating a democratic classroom.

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Community Issues: A range of public problems impacting a population

Focus Issue: The specific community issue you will address through collaboration with your peers and your community

Root Cause: A main reason why a problem exists Goal: What you are trying to do or achieve Targets: Influencers and decision makers who can help accomplish a

goal Tactics: Actions that are planned and used to achieve a goal

Story Sharing (10 minutes)Invite students to take turns reading aloud the article you selected sharing a GC story. As they listen, ask them to think of each part of the hourglass in the story and work to identify each part of the Advocacy Hourglass in the GC project they read about on page 6 of their handbooks. They may now know the correct answers for every level, so they should take their best guesses and identify questions they still have which you’ll explore and answer throughout the coming weeks.

WRAPPING UP (5 minutes)Required Homework for Next Lesson: Foreshadow that in the next lesson, students will actually start working through the Hourglass themselves, beginning with brainstorming issues affecting them and their community. To do that, for homework they’ll need to reflect on issues that matter to them and to interview at least three community members to get a broader sense of important local public issues. Emphasize that they’re seeking to get a better sense of what’s important for people in their local community – the school, neighborhood, city, or potentially state. National issues might be top of mind, but the class will be digging into a local topic this semester.

Review students’ note taking template for interviews on pages 7-8 of their handbooks and have students tear out the template to complete for homework (unless you printed extra copies).

Exit Ticket –Name Tents (3 minutes)Pass out full-size sheets of colored paper to students. (Let them select their colors, if possible.) Instruct students to fold their papers in half, hot-dog style/length-wise, to make a tent, and model folding your own. Have students write their name (given name, the name they are called, or the name they wish to be called one day) on both sides of the tent.

Ask one student to answer a BONUS Exit ticket question before they leave: What is the name of your Democracy Coach? Collect the name tents and student handbooks as students leave class.

TIP: If you’re a Democracy Coach or guest to the classroom, invite students to use their name tents during every GC class period to help you get to know them more quickly, and to remind themselves to bring their own selves and stories to this work.

TIP: Collect the name tents at the end of class, read each name as they leave and tell them it was nice to meet them using their name to begin the very important process of learning names.

Quiz yourself on their names when you hand them back at the start of your next lesson.

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Worth their salt: Malden students present ice

melt

alternatives to mayor

Wendall Waters, Published Wednesday April 20, 2016 at 2:28 pm

Concerned about the health and environmental state of their community, some Ferryway School 8th-graders sent Mayor Gary Christenson a strong message as they focused on the issue of the impact of salt used on Malden’s roads in the winter. Student felt that the cause of this issue is that the city is salt-addicted, using it extensively, and they gave him several alternatives to explore.

The students of teacher Tim Stratford’s class gave a presentation to the mayor and Public Works Director Bob Knox, who has the power to alter the use of salts on roads, Friday, April 15 as part of Generation Citizen.

Students Josandy Jeune, Jenny Nguyen, Darrius Phillipe and Nilcianny Ortiz took the lead presenting the data. Assisting them was Jaya Khetarpal, a Tufts student working with Generation Citizen.

Road salts, the students said:

● Can be fatal to birds if ingested● Draw deer to roads, causing more vehicle

accidents● Corrode steel in cars and bridges● Are harmful to pets who walk on it

And, they said, salt costs the city a lot of money, not just up front in clearing ice from roadways but on the back end in damage repair.

They have set a goal to get the Public Works committee to use other options for snow removal. The other options they suggested include sugar beet juice, cheese brine, firewood ash, and mixing salt with sand, and they gave examples of cities in Washington State, Pennsylvania and Indiana that have had success with them. They also suggested that if the city continues to use salt, it would be more effective and economical if it were applied before a storm.

These options, they said, will save money in the long run. Beet juice, brine and ash, they said, are biodegradable and won’t harm animals or the environment.

“We have always thought our best way forward is through you,” Mayor Christenson told the students.

The mayor, who supports their proposal, said he appreciated the work the students put in and he acknowledged the downsides of road salts.

But, he and Bob Knox also challenged the students by asking if they had tested any of their ideas out or if they had found other cities in New England that had tried the salt alternatives. Had they considered how an alternative program would be administered and what equipment would be required? Are the suggested products even available in large quantities in Massachusetts?

Bob Knox gave the students a bigger view on the issues the city faces in winter. The city, he said, uses a mix of salt and calcium chloride. Two winters ago, when the city was pummeled with storm after storm, Malden spent $2 million on snow removal, and 30 percent of that was for salt, he said.

“It’s destructive, and it’s something we have a challenge with every year,” Knox said.

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However, he told the students that his highest priority is safety. The city has to keep the roads clear not only so people can get to work and school safely, but also so

emergency personnel can do their jobs safely and effectively.

Knox and Mayor Christenson said they are willing to look at the other options.

“Maybe we can do all the school lots to test it out,” Christenson said.

http://malden.wickedlocal.com/article/20160420/NEWS/160429312/?template=printart

Opinion > Op-EdActive Approach to Bullying IssueBy Raylynn Nguyen on July 13, 2015 5:06 pm

A few months ago, a program called Generation Citizen came to my school, the Alice Fong Yu School. Generation Citizen is a program that helps students take action in what their school needs improvement on. Our class of 31 students voted on the topic of bullying. We thought that bullying was a big issue because we all have witnessed bullying and have been bullied.

Every year, 3.2 million kids get bullied, and 10 percent of all bullied kids drop out of school. Bullying has linked to 75 percent of school shootings. Bullying ruins self esteem and learning. Before taking action, we had to make a plan. We know that in reality, it’s impossible to eliminate bullying completely, but we will try our best to reduce it as much as possible.

The root cause of why bullying is such an issue is that we don’t have a way to anonymously report bullying. Our goal is to build a physical dropbox and ebox online to be able to report bullying. Our Democracy Coaches and the class decided an online survey should be made to see if bullying was in fact an issue. We used the website builder Weebly to build the ebox, which sends an email to the school counselor, Mr. Tim English. Our school’s vice principal, Ms. Cate

Hanrahan, agreed, but we had to get the opinions of the whole middle school. A week later, a few students in our class created a survey to hand out to the middle schoolers.

The results from the bullying survey turned out to be different than we expected. More students were experiencing unjust treatment than we thought. Then we decided that having an anonymous drop box or website would have a huge impact for those who are too shy or embarrassed to contact our counselors. The drop box and website will really help make all the counselors’ jobs easier.

Other tactics we used to accomplish our goal was we wrote a reflective essay and sent it to Mr. English, and we held several meetings with him to talk about the anonymous reporting box. We then decided to buy our own dropbox, but how would we get the money? In order to have enough money to buy the two dropboxes, we needed to start a fundraising program. We decided to have a bake sale at school during lunch.

Our first bake sale was on May 14, and we earned $46.78! The outcome was so successful, we decided

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to have more bake sales throughout the week. Our last steps to our goal were to buy the box from a hardware store, set up posters around the school to encourage students to participate.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to fully achieve our goal. But our group is planning to

continue throughout next year as eighth graders. We hope that we can make a huge difference in our school. Bullying comes in many forms, and all of them have negative effects. No student should ever run away from bullying. I feel that all students can make a difference at their school no matter what.

Raylynn Nguyen has been a student at Alice Fong Yu since kindergarten and will be in eighth grade this fall.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/active-approach-to-bullying-issue/

Brooklyn Tech Students Seek Voice In Police-Youth RelationsBY HEATHER CHIN ON JANUARY 19, 2015

On Tuesday, January 20, Brooklyn teens from six high schools will begin the first in a series of “Digital Youth Dialogues” about the issue of police-community relations in New York City, bringing students and off-duty cops together for online video chats via Google Hangout, sharing personal experiences, gaining understanding, and brainstorming solutions.

Brooklyn Technical High School is not a participant, but dozens of its students have already begun their own efforts to reach out and collaborate with the NYPD, even joining with students from across the city on December 8 to meet with officials at One Police Plaza with the goal of creating a Youth Division within the new Office of Collaborative Policing (OCP).

“I heard about Susan Herman, the deputy commissioner of the OCP, and thought it would be cool to meet her because [police-student relations] is always on my mind,” said Sterling Walter, a Tech senior who attended the 1PP meeting. “I see it around me every day; it’s the world I live in.

“We need a Youth Division so that students feel comfortable in reporting things to officers. Right now, they’re targeting kids, looking for drugs, which they don’t find, while there is so much going on elsewhere,” Walter, who commutes to school from Bed-Stuy every day, said. “On Classon Avenue, I was almost run down by a driver while on my bike. They’re misusing their resources.”

The root issue of lack of trust is a big one, said Matthew Mort, a senior from Park Slope.

“We handed out a survey to classmates and one of the questions was: how likely would you be to go to a police officer with safety concern,” said Mort. The result was that “out of 50, 37 people said they were unlikely or would not go to police officer with safety concerns. That’s a problem. If we have a say in how things are handled, we feel we’ll be more willing to talk to the police and have the police help us.”

In addition to asking for a Youth Division, the Tech students also made a case for “putting officers by train stations and moving peace officers inside so that the police officers can be outside patrolling around the block,” explained Courtney Claycomb, an NYU student volunteer with nonprofit political leadership group Generation Citizen who, along with Tech teacher Jacqueline Manduley, helped the Tech teens organize their ideas and presentations.

“Inside, Brooklyn Tech is a fairly safe school, but getting to and from school from the subway station can be a problem with bullying and being targeted by others [because] they’re known to have laptops on them,” said Claycomb. “We have specific incidents of a student being robbed at gunpoint at 8:20am on his way to school. It’s rare, but it doesn’t happen and it’s scary.”

So what did the OCP think? Will there be a Youth Division?

“[Herman] seemed to agree with us,” said Chowdhury. “But she’s working within her limitations,” noted Walter.“So they’re taking us seriously, but can’t immediately enact changes,” Chowdhury observed. “She explained that she does like our ideas, but doesn’t know yet how to implement them.”

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Still, the students are continuing to follow-up on this and will draft a set of guidelines for how a Youth Division would work, submitting them in the near future to OCP.

The creation of more town halls, youth dialogues, and rallies also gives them hope.

http://fortgreenefocus.com/blog/2015/01/19/brooklyn-tech-students-seek-voice-police-youth-relations/

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Boost educational support for teen momsBy Po Sei, Zahraa El Saidi and Gabreilly Braga de Oliveira, Special to The SunUPDATED: 05/16/2016 11:23:30 AM EDT

Teen pregnancy is the primary reason girls drop out of high school. Out of 39 cities in Massachusetts, Lowell ranks ninth as the city with one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy.

As Lowell High School students, we are working to create change in our community and think it is really important that the issue of teen moms having the support to graduate is focused on. Multiple studies show that many teen moms don't want to drop out of school but would rather continue their education so they can provide a better life for their child.

In the past, Lowell has provided a number of supports for teen moms, including day care and parenting classes, but some of these supports have gone away and more are needed. We've spoken with many teen moms at LHS and they described feeling overwhelmed, particularly when they have to miss school when their child is sick. They worry about grades, the inability to finish schoolwork on time, and being too tired to study. Many said it is very hard to concentrate since they are worried about their baby, grades and finances. Because of these problems, many thought about dropping out of school.

Our goal is to implement a Graduation Action Plan for teen moms that will help them stay in school and get their diploma. We have four specific ideas.

* First, we think the school should have an "Expectant and Parent Student Liaison" -- a point person who will meet with and advise teen moms on a regular basis about their health, their baby's health, schoolwork and success.

Chelsea High School has a very successful liaison program, and Lowell High could develop a similar program.

* Second, we want to develop a Student-Parent Handbook that will provide teen moms with information they need to support themselves and their child. It will include information about day care, school programs and health-care options.

* Third, we believe there should be flexible school hours for teen moms. This would allow moms to avoid trouble for coming late to school and make time for them to check in on their child in daycare. Also, they should be given excused absences for when their child is sick.

* Finally, we would like to help teen moms to do their schoolwork and communicate with teachers online. This is important when they cannot come to school because their child is sick or has a doctor's appointment.

We realize that new programs need funding, but only the liaison position would require funding. The other ideas could be created with school policy changes or, in the case of the handbook, volunteer time. We believe the liaison is such an important role that it should be considered -- perhaps even a current staff member could support these efforts and fill this role as well as receive a small stipend.

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http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_29895272/boost-educational-support-teen-moms#ixzz4EgXXVHVq http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_29895272/boost-educational-support-teen-moms - ixzz4EgXXVHVq

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http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_29895272/boost-educational-support-teen-moms#ixzz4EgXXVHVq

http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_29895272/boost-educational-support-teen-moms#ixzz4EgXXVHVq

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SEARCH AND DESTROY: BOSTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PUSH FOR AN END TO RACIAL PROFILINGMay 12, 2016 BY DESEAN BEY, GENERATION CITIZEN, AND ROTC PERIOD 5 CLASS AT BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOO

My name is Desean Bey and I am a senior at Brighton High School. One day a few months ago, two friends and I were sitting in our car near the basketball court where we had just finished playing. Suddenly, we saw bright lights; a police car approached and pulled up next to us. A police officer stepped out and walked towards our car. He motioned for us to get out, and the next thing I knew, he had slammed us to the ground with our hands behind our backs. He then proceeded to search the vehicle. But there was nothing to be found; no drugs, no weapons, no illegal items whatsoever. The officer freed us and drove away, unaffected by the incident. We, on the other hand, will remember that day vividly for the rest of our lives. We aren’t alone. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, 63 percent of police-civilian encounters from 2007 to 2010 have targeted blacks, even though blacks make up less than 25 percent of Boston’s population. The root cause is that the police give no reasonable justification for 75 percent of these encounters; they simply warrant these searches by citing them “investigations.” Over 200,000 of these encounters have led to no arrest, and only 2.5 percent of them actually resulted in taking away illegal items. As a class, we believe that this issue must be addressed immediately, as these experiences are serious violations of the civil rights of minorities in Boston. For this reason, our goal is to end racially-motivated traffic stops as part of the Generation Citizen action civics program that works in our

school. The primary way that we think this issue can be resolved is through the passage of House Bill 1575. This bill focuses on data collection and fair treatment of drivers, and is currently undergoing review by the state legislature. There are two aspects of this bill that are especially important to us. The first is the fact that it requires police to provide documentation in the form of receipts to any civilians they stop and frisk. We believe that this will hold the police more accountable for the stop/searches they conduct, because it requires officers to provide specific reasons for their actions. The other aspect of the bill that we especially support is its call for data collection on traffic stops. Bill 1575 would require all police departments in the Commonwealth to record information in a reviewable database. Data collected would include race, gender, location, and reason for the stop, and can be reviewed by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. We firmly believe that this legislation will lower the amount of racially-motivated traffic stops in Massachusetts. Our goal is not to antagonize Massachusetts police officers or to make them less effective at doing their jobs; rather, we hope to prevent civilians from being stopped, searched, and potentially arrested based on their race alone. As a class, we have used many tactics to advocate for the passage of Bill 1575. We have discussed it with our peers, with community police officers, and even members of the state Senate. We have contributed to a meaningful dialogue on police-community relations, but we need your help if we are to successfully turn this dialogue into legislation.

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Student Handbook PagesGive Students a Voice So They Can Improve Their Own SchoolWednesday, 3/25/15, By Julia SteinyRegina Winkfield, Principal of E-Cubed Academy in Providence, went into a minor tailspin when district budget cuts eliminated her Student Resource Officer (SRO). Of course, SROs are a double-edged sword. As police officers, carrying guns, they’re sworn to arrest anyone engaged in illegal doings, including fighting. SROs contributed to America’s soaring suspension and expulsion rates. But even if her SRO wasn’t a great solution, Winkfield wondered how she’d cope with the rough student behavior besetting her urban high school minus that help.

The answer to that question turned out to be the kids themselves. But not according to any intentional strategy. While learning about civic engagement and advocacy, E-Cubed students found their “voice.” As Junior Roxanne says, “everyone is getting along better because we have more voice now. We’re empowered to talk to the adults.”

In the fall of 2013, when her students began the Generation Citizen program in class and were debating an issue to tackle, Ms. Winkfield encouraged the students to focus on the issue of the school's high suspension rate. The kids’ did, and their research found that in 2011-2012, their small school of fewer than 400 students had nearly 300 suspensions, or an average of 1.65 suspensions every day – the third highest rate in the district.

I spoke with a group of these newly-engaged citizens about their accomplishments. Now a University of Rhode Island student, Garren Jansezian took time off his spring break to crow with his younger colleagues about their impact on the school. “We wanted to know what the reasons were for those suspensions. Was there a cycle of delinquency? Were the problems of home being carried into the school? We wanted to work on a system that would help [troubled] students stay in school, but be accountable to themselves and the community.”

Furthermore, after surveying their fellow students, they found the root cause was that many had been suspended, mostly for petty vandalism, class disruptions, or tardiness.

The Democracy Coach gave them articles about other schools using restorative justice and peer mediation programs. The students settled on the goal of starting a peer jury system designed to interrupt the zero-tolerance approach put in the district’s Code of Conduct. They used tactics like developing a research paper, a process, and several forms.

With their respectful voices and advocacy skills, they sold the idea to the principal, the faculty, and their fellow students. They got the green light, but more impressively, 30 students applied to be peer jurors.

Angela, now a senior, took one of the first cases. “(The student) had talked back to a teacher. We all knew he’d done what he’d done. Guilt was already determined. But then the student was allowed to tell his side of the story. We determined that the offense was not so severe that he should go to Ms. Winkfield for suspension. Then we told him what he had to do to make it right. At the end he said thank you. I liked helping my peers not get suspended.”

In another case, a kid who trashed the bathroom avoided suspension by working with the janitor to get it cleaned up. Yes, he was reluctant and resentful at first, but sucked it up and let himself be held accountable. As Jansezian says, “Second chances are powerful things.”

Winfield concludes, “We needed a shift. It’s easy to suspend a student, but it’s a lot harder to change a mindset. For the students, it’s not about snitching, it’s about working together.”

Diana, a senior, says, “My mindset changed. I look at people who do bad things over and over again, people I used to think of as bad. Now I think, what’s happening to them that they’re getting in trouble?”

Fatoumata, a Junior, says: “Voice is everything. No matter how small, your voice has a deep meaning.”

http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/give-students-a-voice-so-they-can-improve-their-own-school/

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Student Handbook Pages

Students Veto Campos’ Moratorium Plan and Win BigBy Beza BeneberuPosted May 17, 2015 9:00 am

At a Civics Day hosted by the non-profit organization Generation Citizen high school students from John O’Connell High School argued that David Campos’ push for a housing moratorium in the Mission was all wrong. And it won them an award.

The high school students said they used their knowledge of economics to come in handy when they promoted an affordable housing plan to address the issue of homelessness.

The students presented their action plan and emphasized that the root cause was that there was not enough housing for low-income members of the community. Their goal (through a better understanding of the housing market) was to increase affordable housing.

Their ideas included raising the height limit for housing units in the Mission, pushing for the city to buy abandoned buildings to refurbish into affordable housing on, and to increase the 7% minimum affordable housing requirement for new developments.

And not to “rat out” David Campos, but Velasco added that when Campos came to their class to speak and they asked him how the moratorium would help with affordable housing, they were not satisfied with his response.

“Time is crucial,” said Velasco, “And a moratorium is just a waste of time, [Campos] said if the moratorium went through, then the plan would come after.” But the students agreed that if the moratorium continued for two years, as his proposal suggested, it would only put them two years behind on a solution to affordable housing.

That was the reasoning, along with their comprehensive plan, that earned the group the “Grassroots Change” award presented by Generation Citizen founder Scott Warren.

“Certain topics – housing – you can’t fix that in one semester, the city hasn’t been able to fix housing in years,” said Jessica Rojas, Democracy Coach for John O’Connell High School. Rojas said it’s just about understanding what’s happening. “They know their neighborhood is changing, but they didn’t understand the specifics. Now, they’re looking at it from an economic perspective.”

David Moren, Bay Area Site Director for Generation Citizen said it’s less about the finished product.

“It’s not whether they caught a fish or not, it’s did they learn how to fish?”

http://missionlocal.org/2015/05/students-veto-campos-moratorium-plan-and-win-big/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter http://missionlocal.org/2015/05/students-veto-campos-moratorium-plan- and-win-big/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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http://missionlocal.org/2015/05/students-veto-campos-moratorium-plan-and-win-big/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

http://missionlocal.org/2015/05/students-veto-campos-moratorium-plan-and-win-big/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


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Josiah Quincy School seventh graders take their homelessness advocacy to the StatehouseSAMPAN News By Web 2015/12/10

Seventh grade students from Josiah Quincy Upper School, a Boston Public School located in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood, are working to address youth homelessness in Massachusetts as part of the Generation Citizen action civics educational program that partners with their classroom.

As part of their project, the students have identified is MA Bill H119 – An Act to End Child Homelessness (H.119), sponsored by Representative Denise Provost (D-Somerville), as a promising solution to child homelessness.

The students are using the tactic of lobbying their Massachusetts state representatives and senators, as well as members of the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, to advocate for the passage of the bill, and will be organizing a Lobby Day on

Dec. 10 at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

Delaney, a seventh grader in the Josiah Quincy class explains, the bill would “make sure the family has a place to move to that is up to code to stay in before they get evicted.”

Another student, Sabrina, describes the importance of the bill: “We want to stop low income families from getting evicted. Families are breaking apart in the homeless shelter system, and they are being separated. It’s unhealthy for the homeless to stay outside in the winter.”

Adds Kevin, another student: “this bill is important because it will give children, like me, a home to call home.”The students identified youth homelessness as a major problem in their community because they personally knew several young people afflicted.

While Massachusetts’ homelessness population has seen a 45% increase from 1997 to 2010, Massachusetts’ population of homeless children has increased by 72%.

Bill H119, sponsored by Representative Provost, would require the development of housing plans for families with minor children that are being evicted from publicly subsidized housing.

http://sampan.org/2015/12/josiah-quincy-school-seventh-graders-take-their-homelessness-advocacy-to-the-statehouse/

Josiah Quincy Upper School seventh grade students met Dorchester state Rep. Dan Hunt on Dec. 10 at the Statehouse.

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Bushwick Students Give City's Street Cleanliness Scorecards An

Incomplete March 10, 2015 | by Casey Tolan

Walk down a typical street in Greenwich Village or SoHo. It's likely to be clean of debris and garbage — in fact, there's a 93 percent chance the sidewalk is "acceptably clean," according to city records.

Now walk down a typical street in Bushwick. According to the City, it's not all that different — there's an 89 percent chance that the sidewalk is clean.

To some young Bushwick residents, that's a finding that doesn't match reality.

Fed up with having to walk around discarded soda bottles, plastic bags, and dog droppings on their way to and from school, a class of seniors at Bushwick's Academy of Urban Planning, a high school, decided to focus on the issue of how the City assesses street cleanliness. They found what they say is outdated policy that masks a 'Tale of Two Cities'-esque reality.

And they are pushing city officials to take notice.

They found that the root cause of the issue is called the scorecard system. Each month, employees from the Mayor's Office of Operations observe a sample of streets in every city neighborhood and rate them on cleanliness, assigning scores to both the sidewalk and the street surface. A 1.0 means perfectly clean, and a 3.0 means a lot of litter. "Acceptably clean" is anything below a 1.5. Percentages of acceptably clean streets are released by community board district and can help the Sanitation Department decide its street-cleaning policies.

The rubric for making the determination of clean or unclean, based on example photos, hasn't changed since the scorecard program began in 1974, a city spokesperson confirmed to Gotham Gazette. What was acceptably clean in the New York of the 70s, of graffitied subway cars and financial crisis, might not be all that acceptable in today's Big Apple. City officials argue, though, that the consistent standards means ratings reflect cleaner streets.

These days, a vast majority of city streets and sidewalks are rated acceptably clean, which critics say prevents sanitation department crews from prioritizing neighborhoods that actually have a lot of litter.

In November 2014, the most recent month available, 93.1 percent of city streets and 94.7 percent of city sidewalks were rated acceptably clean. 56 of the city's 59 community board districts had 85 percent or higher ratings of acceptably clean sidewalks, and 52 out of 59 had 85 percent or higher ratings of acceptably clean streets.

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In Brooklyn Community Board 4, which covers Bushwick, 88.5 percent of sidewalks and 89.5 percent of streets were scored acceptably clean in November.

"We live here, and we saw that it's not true," said Jorge Santamaria, an Academy of Urban Planning student. "There's a lot of garbage on the street."

Santamaria and his classmates in Jose Ortiz's third-period "Participation in Democracy" class decided to do something about it. Tasked with solving a problem in their neighborhood, students researched how the scorecard system worked.

They requested the specific scores for their district through a Freedom of Information Law Request and took photos of litter-covered streets that the city claimed were clean.

In one report, "Manhattan was scored with a 2, us with a 1.5," Santamaria said of ratings suggesting Bushwick had cleaner streets. "Whenever I go to Manhattan, it's not dirty at all. We think we should get more resources.""Of course, people there want their community to be clean, but I think our community should be as clean as Manhattan," added student Maritza Zeron.

Over the years, New York "definitely has gotten cleaner, and our class' position is not that the city as a whole isn't better," Castellano said. "But there still is a diversity in how dirty neighborhoods are...there are still some that are much worse than others, and it's being misrepresented."

City officials say the program provides valuable data on street and sidewalk cleanliness. The fact that the rubric hasn't changed shows how dramatically average cleanliness has improved, they say, from roughly 70 percent acceptably clean in the 1970s to over 90 percent clean now.

"With a program's history as long as ours, we understand the importance of providing our City stakeholders and the public with useful information that impacts the cleanliness of our neighborhoods," said Mindy Tarlow, the director of the Mayor's Office of Operations who can make a policy decision, in a statement to Gotham Gazette.

But the student’s goal is to see action on the part of the City to raise standards of what is considered acceptably clean. That might mean a City Council hearing or a change in policy at the Office of Operations.

City Council Member Antonio Reynoso, who chairs the council's Sanitation Committee, represents part of Bushwick, and can influence policy changes, met with Castellano earlier this month to discuss the students' research.

In addition to advocating for change at the city government level, the Academy of Urban Planning students are hoping to help fight litter themselves, through social media and by giving out t-shirts or stickers urging people not to litter. "In order to make our community cleaner, we need our whole community involved, not just our class," said student Kimberly Goris. "Our community is our home, it represents us — it's our identity."http://gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5611-bushwick-students-give-citys-street-cleanliness-scorecards-an-incomplete

Do Now: My Civic ParticipationPut a checkmark (√) next to any activities you or your family and friends have done before.

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http://gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5611-bushwick-students-give-citys-street-cleanliness-scorecards-an-incomplete

http://gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5611-bushwick-students-give-citys-street-cleanliness-scorecards-an-incomplete


I Have… (√) Family or Friends Have… (√)

Volunteered for an organizationWorked to solve a community problemWent to meetings of a group or clubDonated to a charity (money, clothing, food, skills, time…)VotedShowed support for a political candidateDonated to or volunteered for a political campaignPersuaded others to be for or against an issueContacted an elected officialContacted the media about your opinionTook part in a protestSigned a petitionTalked about current eventsRead or watched the news

Offer your own definitions of the terms below, or take a guess at what they mean. Jot down your feelings toward the word or term.

CitizenMy Definition:

Civic ParticipationMy Definition:

GovernmentMy Definition:

PoliticsMy Definition:

YOUR VOICE!How does your definition compare with the GC definitions?

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Action Civics

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Story AnalysisRead a story about student-driven action. Work together to answer the questions below.

Article Name:Location:

1 - What issue did the class care about (or what was one issue, if several), and why?

2 - Were students “successful?” Why do you say that?

3 - What knowledge or skills might students have developed while working on this project?

Advocacy HourglassA Framework for Action

WORD BANK

Targets Root Cause Goal Community Issues Tactics Focus Issue

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The Hourglass in Action

Review the levels of the hourglass by writing in the correct terms below. Then, analyze your story of student-led action and describe their action plan In the boxes at right. (Note that your article might not give you the answers for every level. Take your best shot.)

YOUR VOICE!A. Which levels of the hourglass did you have a hard time filling in?

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Student Handbook PagesB. What questions do you have about the hourglass at this point?

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Exploring Community IssuesInterview Template

Talk to people to figure out their perspective on what could be improved in your local (school, neighborhood, city, or perhaps state) community! Interview at least three people with different levels of familiarity to you and different ages, jobs, family situations, and roles in your community.

EXAMPLE: Name Carolyn Merriweather Description Works at library, fifties, mother of college kids What issues do you think are the most pressing to solve in our community? Curfew rules, public transit dependabilityWhy? People are trying to get to jobs and school, can’t do so without reliable transit and a good night’s sleep. Schedules have been getting worse recently.

Do you know if there’s any work being done to address these issues?There was a community meeting a few weeks ago held at the church. Organized by the District 9 Council.

PERSON 1

Name Description

What issues do you think are the most pressing to solve in our local community?

Why?

Do you know if there’s any work being done to address these issues?

PERSON 2

Name Description


Why?

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Student Handbook PagesDo you know if there’s any work being done to address these issues?

PERSON 3

Name Description


Why?

Do you know if there’s any work being done to address these issues?

PERSON 4 (Optional)

Name Description


Why?

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Student Handbook PagesDo you know if there’s any work being done to address these issues?

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advocacy hourglass (10 minutes)generationcitizenca.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/8/4/4884795… · web...

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