Lesson 4

EVALUATE:  Evaluating what you need to Achieve your Goals

About the Lesson:

Goal planning and project planning require structure that helps organizers define their mission, vision, goals, and strategies. It is equally important to then outline a clear idea of leadership roles in each step of the process.  This lesson guides students through a goal planning process that enables them to See it, Believe it, Build it, and Do Something.  For more information about topics addressed in this lesson, please refer to Chapters 2-4 of the RYP/National Youth Service Day Tool Kit. The Appendix also provides Curriculum Connections for this lesson.

Learning Objective:

Students will identify a project to complete for National Youth Service Day and will work together to identify the steps necessary to plan and carry out the project.

Related Books - A Kids guide to Service Projects and 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, understand mechanisms to meet needs of citizens; manage conflict
• Visual Arts:  Understand and apply art media
• Health:  Practice behaviors to support a safe environment in schools and communities.
• Mathematics:  Problem solving

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, say, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it."

-Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th President of the United States

"Path to Change" is Do Something’s strategic goal planning form that young people use to turn their ideas into concrete action.  It has four core components:

See It!

Have a concrete personal and community goal.
How do you want your school or neighborhood to be different?
What would you like to learn and accomplish for yourself?

Believe It!

Understand the importance of change.
How will achieving your goals make you and your community a better place?

Build It!

Make a plan,
How will you start?
What steps will you take?

Do Something!

Take Action!
Follow your plan, do not be afraid to change it as you learn lessons and believe you will make it happen.

"Path to Change"

Materials Needed:

• Two large sheet of construction paper or poster board for each group with the "Path to Change" layout copied on it. (See the sample at the end of this lesson)
• Paper and markers or crayons

Facilitating the Lesson:

Students will brainstorm and develop several possible community service projects during this activity.  Use ‘Path to Change" posters throughout the remaining lessons to helps shape their ideas and steps in the planning process. Then repeat brainstorming about Personal Goals.

Directions:

1. Post student pictures from the previous lesson.
2. Have students identify common themes from the pictures and group similar ideas together. 
3. Refer to the "Path to Change" poster hanging in the front of the room. Explain its purpose and components (as described in "Facilitating the Lesson"). Have students "walk through" the four steps using the classroom as their community in the following activity.
   Walk students through the process of carrying out the task using the "Path to Change" process. An example might be (Sample in Appendix A):
   
   See it!
   Our long-term goal is to keep the paperback resource area of the classroom organized.
   
   Believe it!
   We want to achieve this goal because we would like to use the space more effectively, and the     mess of the resources makes it harder to find information for research papers.
   
   Build it!
   We will break up into teams of 4 and at the end of each day one team will reorganize the resource materials area.  Each day will be a different team and the responsibility will be rotated amongst the teams.
   
   Do Something!
   Students reorganize the resource materials area.
   
4. Divide students into groups. Each group will now receive a "Path to Change" poster board and students should complete each section for one of themes that the class has identified from the pictures. Facilitate the assignment with the following statement: "Now we need to think about what steps we might take in order to determine which project we want to do."
5. Ask students to complete the "Path to Change" for their selected theme. (Note: The "Resource/Source" table should be left blank, as it will be completed later.)
6. Have groups present their paths to the class and post them around the room.
7. Hand out a sticker to each student. Ask them to come to the board and place their sticker next to the project they would like to participate in. A student facilitator can tally the results and announce the top project(s).
8. Based on the results of the voting, have class agree on a project or projects.
9. Once agreement has been reached, have students identify the learning objectives associated with the project  utilizing a "web" format with the project topic in the center and different curricular areas outside of the circle in their own circle with the objectives identified.  (See Appendix C)  This is what makes the service service-learning.

Reflection

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

WRITING

• Go to the www.ReachYourPeak.org web site and use the Project Plan-It! Tool to create your plan.
  • Respond to some of the following questions in a journal:
  • What skills will you be able to bring to meeting this goal?
  • What are your fears or concerns about meeting your goal?
  • Who in the community will be affected by your goal or project?
  • How can you personally prepare to meet the community goal your project will address?
• Write a letter to yourself addressing your hopes and fears about the goal.

READING

• Read articles about similar service projects other groups are doing around the world.
• Read about the goals of RYP and National Youth Service Day and the benefits of participating in them.

TELLING

• Create a presentation about service project ideas and share it with other students.
• Talk to different people in your neighborhood and find out how they feel about your goals and project ideas.

DOING

• Role-play possible reactions to your goal or service project by different community members.
  

Path to Change: SAMPLE

PROJECT TITLE: Local Park Clean Up Project

SEE IT! [MISSION]
Our long-term goal is...
To convene a group of young people to promote awareness about litter in the local park and to organize a clean-up day to remove the litter.
My long-term personal goal is:

BELIEVE IT! [VISION]
We want to achieve this goal because...
The youth in our community believe that a local park should be a clean, safe place for all neighborhood residents.
I want to achieve this personal goal because:

BUILD IT! [GOALS]
One-sentence description of your project:
We will break into teams and clean up the local park, using posters and trash barrels to promote long-term community awareness.
One-sentence description of your personal goal:

DO SOMETHING! [FOLLOW-THROUGH]
One-sentence description of your completed project:
We cleaned the park on our event day and used our posters and additional trash barrels to make sure that the park remains clean.
One-sentence description of your completed personal goal:

STEP 1:

Set your short-term objectives:

OBJECTIVE 1:
Recruit at least 50 young people and the appropriate local leaders to attend.

OBJECTIVE 2:
Educate youth and adults about park clean up issues before the event.

OBJECTIVE 3:
Create clear roles that youth and adults will play in organizing and running the event.

STEP 2:

Brainstorm strategies (repeat for each objective)
To achieve our first objective we need to...

OBJECTIVE 1:
Make posters to recruit young people
Advertise the clean up event through the local media
Send letters to local leaders

OBJECTIVE 2:
Invite guest speakers from non-profits, businesses and religious institutions to educate about park issues

OBJECTIVE 3:
Divide roles among youth and adults.

STEP 3:

Roles and Responsibilities (Repeat for each objective)

STEP 4:

Resource/Source Table

STEP 5:

Measurement [Evaluation]

We will know our plan is successful when...

We have a team of young people and adults at our meeting who are informed and interested in park clean up and who participate in the event. In addition, we have a plan to keep the park clean on an ongoing basis.

STEP 6:

Reflection/Troubleshooting

We will reflect on our plan by considering the following questions...
What could go wrong in our project?
What difficulties, pitfalls, or challenging people might we encounter? How will we deal with them?

Click here for a strategic planning form template.