Lesson 3:

RESEARCH: Researching Your Goal

About the Lesson:

Every person and community has unique social needs and assets. Mapping defines "community" and evaluates where service can be most useful. It helps students guide their research and determine whether their project will focus on one key personal or community issue or several similar topics. For more information about the topics addressed in this lesson, please refer to Chapter 3 of the RYP/National Youth Service Day Tool Kit. The Appendix also provides Curriculum Connections for this lesson.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:

Students will:

Identify community and individual assets
Identify community needs
Identify the NYSD Project they will be conducting

Related Books - Kids With Courage: True Stories about Young People Making a Difference By Barbara Lewis

CURRICULAR CONNECTION:

English/Language Arts: Reading, writing, communication, critical thinking skills
Social Studies: Understanding of culture, analyze conditions to develop understanding, apply geographic skills and knowledge; understand mechanisms to meet needs of citizens; problem solving
Visual Arts: Understand and apply art media

"If you don’t have a clear idea of where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."

-Lewis Carroll, Author, Alice in Wonderland

Aubyn Burnside, 15, from Hickory, North Carolina set a goal of starting "Suitcases for Kids" in response to her discovery that most foster care children move frequently and often carry their belongings in garbage bags. She determined the need for her program through conversations with her sister, a social worker, who told her about the problems foster care children face. "When I started out I thought it was just my county that needed suitcases, but I learned that there was a need in other counties as well," she explains.

Aubyn tapped into her community’s assets by "involving church groups, 4-H club members, scouts, youth groups, Kiwanis Clubs and more." Aubyn says, "I found out about these groups by asking my parents, friends and other community members." Aubyn’s project gave greater visibility to the plight of foster children and agencies and individuals donated clothes, shoes and supplies in response.

Now in its seventh year, Suitcases for Kids has representatives in all 50 states and nine foreign countries. Aubyn has personally collected, cleaned and distributed over 25,000 suitcases. The project, which initially involved just Aubyn and her friends, now has a formal relationship with the local Department of Social Services.

"Mapping Oneself and one’s community"

Materials Needed:

Blackboard or overhead projector with the words "MY COMMUNITY" and "MYSELF" as the headers
Large sheets of construction paper
Paper, markers, crayons, and supplies for drawing

Facilitating the Lesson:

A goal-setting project begins with defining the needs and resources of oneself and one’s community. Students will then be able to identify the potential for change within that area.

Directions:

Break the class into small groups of 3-4 students.
- Remind students of the definition of community and which community they are focusing on.
Pass out a large piece of chart paper to each group. (You can give a different color paper to each group.) Have each group put a line down the middle of their chart paper. At the top of the paper, on one side students should write "Assets" and "Needs" on the other side.
Define community "assets".

Define assets as the things that are good or positive in your community.
Have students come up with a list of assets in their small groups. Have them draw those assets on one side of the sheet (they cannot write them down).

Define community "needs."
- Define "needs" as things that NEED to be improved, NEED to be made better, or NEED to change.
- Have students come up with a list of needs and draw them on the other side of the sheet.
After the allotted time, reconvene students and ask each group to present their community lists to the class. (To help stimulate students, provide local newspapers for "needs" ideas.)
Generate a discussion by asking students to consider the following question: What were some common things that showed up in everyone’s drawing?
Broaden the discussion to include additional questions - have students discuss in small groups:
- What kinds of things would you like to see on the asset side of your community list that are not there now? (More flowers, cleaner streets, etc.)
- Would you be able to make some of these other things happen within the community? How?
Give each group a piece of paper and have them individually draw or write how they could provide a service to the community to make one of the missing positive assets happen.
Report out. Keep the charts for the next lesson.

Reflection

To accommodate multiple learning styles, select several of the following suggested reflection activities.

WRITING

* Go to www.ReachYourPeak.org and research some issues of interest to you as well as learn about challenges faced by youth in other countries. Write a short analysis of what you learn.

*Respond to some of the following questions in a journal:

How did you choose to define community?
How did you choose to define yourself?
How did your community definition compare to the others?
What community need do you feel is most important?
How can you set a goal to address your community’s needs?

*Write a poem about one community asset, one community need, and one goal.

READING

Read articles about how to address the personal and community needs you identified. Go to the www.ReachYourPeak.org web site and other sites and books to research more about your topic.

TELLING

Create a three-minute presentation about the community goal and personal goal you feel is most important.
With a partner, choose two community needs and goals and debate which one is most important.

DOING

Create a picture of your ideal community.
Make a collage that illustrates your community’s greatest assets