Introduction
Chapter 1 — Overview
A — Social Action's Role in U.S. Experiment in Democracy B — US College Social Action C — Benefits of Social Action for Students, Campuses, and Society D — The Vision: Bringing Social Action into the Classroom E — Overcoming Challenges of Teaching Social Action
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 F — The Students G — Building Campus Allies and Community Partners H —The Role of Place & I —Each Semester vs Every Year (or Other Year) J — Using Mural Board (option)
Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns
A — On Your Mark: Preparing Students for the Road Ahead B — Go! Students Choose Their Issue C — Get Set: Setting the Tone D — Change Theory E — Building Power F — Walking Tour G — Research: Historical Overview, Power Mapping, & Target Analysis H — Group Dynamics I — Strategy & Tactics J — Campaign Kickoff
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
Read CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action
- Chapter 2C: Creating a Social Action Syllabus (p. 32-42)
Discussion
Most syllabi include the below five areas. Please take a few minutes and begin filling out each area; this will help you draft your syllabus. At some point, you will want to transfer the below information to your university template.
- Course Description: you may want to include a discussion of campaign activities & actions
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Required Texts/Readings (see below for more info)
- Assignments and Grading Policy (see below for more info)
- Readings schedule (you may want to use the Course Plan Template under Session 4: Class Format to begin to think about how the readings, assignments, and reading schedule flow together).
As you create your syllabus, feel free to borrow from the Sociology 164: Social Action syllabus.
About one-half of the Institute participants have used the basic format of this syllabus for their classes. Feel free to do this, or you may want to create your own format. In addition, you might want to review other social action syllabi from over 30 courses in a variety of disciplines.
When creating your syllabus, the key things is to have the students start their campaign activities (i.e., naming their group, refining their demands, tabling, meeting with stakeholders, etc) by the 2nd or 3rd week of the class. This is in line with our overall teaching social action philosophy of On Your Mark, GO, Get Set. This will make sure that students have the opportunity TO DO action, rather than just talk about change.
Remember, a social action course must at a minimum explore:
- issue development (i.e., demands and a target),
- building power,
- tactics, and
- campaign launch & implementation.
And while your course can explore other topics as well, the above four topics are required for it to be considered a social action class..
Readings
"CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action" was written for faculty and staff to use in social action classes. You can use this text, or you can use some other social action book:
Also, feel free to use the readings from the Sociology 164: Social Action course reader, which include case studies of previous student social action campaigns, student reflections from previous social action courses, as well as readings about social action and various case studies (ACT-UP, NRA, Parkland students, Occupy, BLM, Green New Deal, and more). Click here for the reader.
Lastly, you may want to use articles that you know about as well.
Assignments
a) Portfolios
Students in Scott's Social Action 164 course submit written responses to ten portfolio assignments over the semester. I collect them in sets of three and four. The introduction to each portfolio assignment reads:
This portfolio evaluates your knowledge of the text, and how well you can apply it to your campaign. For each question, you should address two areas: (1) ideas and concepts from the readings (book and reader), and (2) how these ideas and concepts connect to your campaign. This integration of text and action provides an in-depth analysis; thus, do not respond with 1 or 2 sentences to any question. There are no exams in social action, so the portfolio is where you demonstrate your knowledge of the reading, and your ability to apply it. Lastly, you can discuss the Portfolio questions with your group members, but you must use your own words when writing up responses
Portfolio Questions 1-10 from Sociology 164: Social Action
- Portfolio 1 Questions: Issue Development in Chapter 1 of CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action and Reader.
- Portfolio 2 Questions: Setting the Tone in Chapter 2 of CHANGE! & Reader.
- Portfolio 3 Questions: Change Theory in Chapter 3 of CHANGE! and Reader
- Portfolio 4 Questions: Building Power in Chapter 4 of CHANGE! and Reader
- Portfolio 5 Questions: Research in Chapter 5 of CHANGE! and Reader
- Portfolio 6 Questions: Group Dynamics in Chapter 6 of CHANGE! and Reader
- Portfolio 7 Questions: Strategy & Tactics in Chapter 7 of CHANGE! & Reader
- Portfolio 8 Questions: Campaign Kickoff in Chapter 8 of CHANGE!& Reader
- Portfolio 9 Questions: Campaign Plan in Chapter 9 of CHANGE! and Reader
- Portfolio 10 Questions: The Hero’s and Shero’s Journey in Chapter 10 of CHANGE! and Reader
Portfolio Examples from Students
Below are portfolio examples from two students. The first set is for Portfolios 1-3 and the second set is for Portfolios 4-7.
Portfolio 4-7, A Good Example copy.pdf
Portfolio Grading Rubric
Below is a grading rubric developed by Dr. Patricia Gibbs at Foothills College to grade her portfolios in her social action class.
b) Campaign Log
I use a social action log to keep track of hours. I collect it every three weeks along with their portfolios.
c) Sample Quizzes
Quizzes: (20% of total grade): 8 quizzes total, and I throw out three
QUESTION 1: BOOK- Choose 1 question to answer (either a, b, or c):
- Chapter 4 of CHANGE! starts off by discussing 2 people and their thoughts about power. Name 1 or both of those people.
- What are the 3 types of power?
- What are the 3 ways power manifests itself?
QUESTION 2: READER: Select 1 question to answer (either a, b, c, d):
- What was the social problem that made the Chicana/o students so frustrated?
- What was their solution?
- What action did the students take at the 1968 SJSU Graduation?
- Describe something from the reading that happened at the 2 Chicano commencement in 1971
d) Participation
See below for my grading expectations for participation for Sociology 164: Social Action's (20% of final grade):
e) Campaign Binder and Final Presentation
See below for my the directions to the Campaign Binder and Final Presentation in Sociology 164: Social Action (20% of the final grade).