A Proposal for Change

1. A Proposal for Change Mrs. Libertucci

2. “Every generation needs a new revolution.” –Thomas Jefferson

3. Sometimes I feel frustrated when… • I don’t like… • I wish I could change…

4. Brainstorm • What are some problems you see in our school? • What are some changes you would like to see made?

5. Brainstorm • What are some problems you see in our community? • What are some changes you would like to see made?

6. Purpose • To inspire and to empower you to elicit change in your life, your school, or in your community. • To help overcome the feeling of powerlessness • To show that change can happen • To make people listen to you and your concerns

7. “If you don’t like something, change it.” –Maya Angelou • Proposal for Change Project • Pick a problem or something you think should be changed • Create a solution • Make a short term plan (days, weeks) • Make a long term plan (months, year)

8. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank

9. Excerpts from My Proposal for Change • Our building looks more and run-down each year. School environment does affect how students feel about learning and coming to our high school. Currently, we are showing students, some from an already dismal background, that they have a dismal future in education. This message needs to change.

10. Excerpt Continued • My high school is very run-down and outdated. Classrooms have panels falling out of the ceiling, rain coming in damaging new equipment, graffiti in the hallways, garbage around the building, overgrown courtyards, small trees growing on the roof, and a dilapidated college bulletin board. Most hallway bulletin boards are empty and teachers put little effort into their classrooms. I believe that the environment affects how students feel about school. What message are we sending to our students?

11. My “Solution” Short Term and Long Term • Create an inviting, and interactive classroom décor to enhance learning and positive expectations • Spread through example to other areas of the school and to other teachers • Fix dilapidated college bulletin board and other boards • Start a school spirit/advertising club • Add proposal for change project into my curriculum

12. How can you transform your world? • “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” –Robert F. Kennedy

13. Your Proposal for Change • 3+ page typed paper • Introduction paragraph should introduce the problem • Subsequent paragraphs explain the problem in detail • Subsequent paragraphs explain your proposed solution in detail, giving both short term and long term goals • Conclusion paragraph highlighting your proposal

14. Where the research comes in… • Research statistics related to your problem • Research solutions to the problem that other people or places have been trying • Use your research to propose the best possible solution to the problem (you may end up merging several ideas you found in your research)

15. How the research helps… • People are more likely to listen • You have proof to back up your solution • You have read about the problems and pitfalls, so you know how to avoid those and actually make your plan work. • You have created the best solution to your problem by taking the best of all the ideas you found.

16. Where to research • Use books in the library • Use databases in the library • Use approved internet sources • Make phone calls • Interview people • Post a question on a message board • Email people • Conduct a survey

17. Stuck? • Check out this website: www.dosomething.org • Click on projects to see what others are doing!

18. “Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.” – John Steinbeck