United States Government: Democracy in Action

Unit 8: State and Local Government

Big Idea Activity — Lesson Plan

Can ordinary citizens really be part of the political process?

Assignment: Grassroots Reform
Students will implement a grassroots campaign for a local or state issue.

Assignment Task List

Step 1: Have students brainstorm ideas for a change in your community or state. Organize them into small groups to form ideas about issues to promote in a grassroots organization. What do they feel strongly about? The issue may be statewide or localized. The activity sheet provides these examples:

Promoting a new park or improvements in an existing locale
Providing publicity for the county humane society
Promoting the distribution of a classic novel to every senior in the state upon high school graduation
Promoting foster care or Big Brothers and Big Sisters organizations
Promoting stricter pollution regulations

Differentiated Instruction To jumpstart ideas, have students browse through local newspapers for problems in the community or state that need to be addressed.

Step 2: List each group's ideas on the board. Have the class discuss and narrow the issues to one issue that most students feel strongly about.

Step 3: Work with students to help them clearly state the issue and its solution(s). Explain that they need to describe what they want to change regarding this issue and the people who would benefit from the change. Give them class time to gather and summarize online and print information relevant to the issue/problem and solution. Emphasize that in order to effectively promote their issue to local or state legislatures, the public, and the media, they must be clear on their goal and ways to meet it.

Differentiated Instruction On the whiteboard, project Writing Process Transparency 10: Decide on a Solution (34.0K) . Have students come to the board to draft possible solutions to their issue.

Step 4: Steer students to consider various tactics they may use to promote their issue:

Attending local council meetings
E-mailing local officials
Preparing leaflets highlighting the issue/solutions and distributing them door-to-door in teams
Posting information online
Writing editorials for the local newspaper

Encourage students to check online and in the phone book to see whether other grassroots organizations with a similar goal exist in your area, and how they can work together or get ideas from them. Remind students that an organized demonstration requires a local permit.

Differentiated Instruction To help students plan and write leaflets, project the Writing Process Transparency 14: Elaborate Your Argument (34.0K) . Have students in charge of this tactic come to the board and focus on how to present the information.

Step 5: Discuss with students the correct behavior they must follow when implementing their tactics. Explain that a successful grassroots organization is run on skills similar to business skills even though the goal is not personal gain. These skills include effective communication, following through on responsibilities, staying informed, sticking to facts instead of opinions, and keeping egos in check. Remind students that grassroots organizations are not about one person—they are successful because everyone works together professionally even when the issue is emotional.

Step 6: Help students organize themselves into subgroups to implement the tactics they decided upon in Step 4. Point out that successful grassroots organizations are extremely well organized in terms of who will do what, when, and where. Students need to identify who will be responsible for various actions, and keep track of everyone's responsibilities on a chart or Excel sheet. They must include details such as who called or e-mailed which officials and when, or who prepared and distributed leaflets to which neighborhoods and when. Explain that they must not duplicate their efforts, but they should be prepared to expand their tactics if people they contact also want to become actively involved.

Differentiated Instruction To help students create an Excel file, project Skill Activity 12: Building a Database (65.0K) . Have students who will oversee the tracking of responsibilities come to the board and discuss how they can best organize this information.

After your grassroots campaign, discuss this question: Can ordinary citizens really be part of the political process?

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