Lesson video

Hello, welcome to citizenship.

My name is Mrs. White.

And today I'll be your teacher.

Today's lesson is the fifth lesson out of six, and it is all about what can we do as active citizens to improve our community.

And this is where you are going to take part in a project of your choice.

So let's go on and see what the lesson's all about.

So before we start, make sure that you are in a nice, quiet place, and you've got the following equipments ready for the lesson.

So you need some paper, a pen and colours, and as usual, your enthusiastic learner head, make sure that's there as well.

So what are we going to learn today? Well, this is the fourth lesson out of a unit of six lessons.

And today we're going to find out about the ACTive citizenship award.

We're going to be looking at choosing the action that you're going to be taking, and then planning your action today.

And then at the end, as usual, there's a takeaway task.

But before we start today's lesson, I'd like us to reflect on what we've learned over the last four.

And the first lesson, we looked at, what a community was.

And we talked about what a good neighbour is.

You remember that? Then we looked at how our schools linked with the wider community and also about something called community cohesion.

Community cohesion is really about people living and working together happily.

Next, we talked about charities, non-government organisations and groups in our local community.

And we looked at some case studies including Weyforward, which is a community interest company.

We looked at STEPs club for young people, which is a charity.

And then, we had looked at the work that ShelterBox does to provide aid to communities in times of disaster.

Remember that ShelterBox was started by a group of rotary club members in a house, in Cornwall.

So a small team with big ideas and a huge impact.

We also thought about the different issues that charities deal with and investigated our own local charities.

So in general, we can say charities deal with human, environment or animal issues.

So if it's say for example, it's cancer research, then that would be human.

Greenpeace's the environment and animals could be the SPCA.

We also invited Isaac Codjoe in, and we had an interview about his work as a member of the youth parliament.

It was inspiring to hear about his work in setting up the youth council for Ipswich.

Along with his role as a member of the youth parliament.

Then we investigated Armika George and her campaign #freeperiods.

And that meant that girls who are entitled to free school meals, can now also get free period products, so they don't have to miss school.

Both of these young people were 17 when they started their campaigns.

Both of them care greatly about the impact of different issues on young people, Catherine support to make their campaigns successful.

Now, I want you to spend a few minutes now reviewing what we've done over the last four lessons.

So just go over the notes and refresh all that learning in your brain and boost your memory.

And you can resume the video when you've finished.

So now it is the best part it's action project time.

So you are going to think about what you can do citizenship action and what you can do to campaign or to advocate an issue, or to try and make a change.

Of what is an active citizen? I'm going to read the slide but you can read along with me.

So let's all look at this.

The UK is a democracy, which means that most adults living here, the citizens, have the right to vote in elections to choose people, to represent us in parliament.

And these representatives are known as members of parliament or MPs.

They do lots of things, including making rules and laws for the country.

And we talked a bit about this in lesson three, when we looked at who has power.

You can't vote until you're 18, but you can have a say and help make a change before this because in a democracy, every citizen young and old has a voice.

Being an active citizen is about you taking part in democracy by having your say and making a positive difference.

So let's have a look at the big question here.

What are the FirstNews ACTive Citizenship Awards? Well, the ACTive Citizenship Award is about recognising how you can make real positive changes.

It's also about finding an issue that makes you go, "what? This isn't right!" Or, "we can make that better!" and taking action to change it.

It's about you, working with others to make a difference.

You can submit your project to the Association for Citizenship Teaching that's ACT, so that you can receive your award when you've finished your project.

Make sure you ask an adult to do that for you after next lesson.

So the ACTive Citizenship Award is organised into three stages.

So on the top right hand side, the sort of pinky colour is get planning.

It's all about working out what you're going to do, choosing the issue and getting ready to take the action.

The next one is take action the purple at the bottom.

And that is actually putting that plan into action till something happens, the change is made or the campaign happens.

And then the last one is to measure impact.

So it's time to reflect on what you've done, evaluating, report your story.

In the next two lessons, what I've done is split into two, into kind of two halves.

So the planning is in the first, and then the taking action and the measuring the impact is in the second lesson.

So the next task that I would like you to do is the most important task of this lesson.

And what it is is you are actually going to focus on the issue or the project that you'd like to do.

To do that, I want you to get as many different ideas down onto paper, as you possibly can, and we're going to create a mind map.

You might spend a bit more time on this mind map after you've done it, going to talk to people in your household as well and asking them what you could add to it and getting their ideas down too.

Because this is a really good opportunity for you to kind of focus and think, what is it I'd like to do? What action would I like to take? And this is the bit that will lead you into the whole of the rest, of the lesson and the project, where you are then saying, right, this is what I'm going to do.

And I'm going to plan this and I'm going to carry out this action because it's this issue that I want to deal with.

So this is the most important bit.

Let's watch this little video of me making a mind map.

So when I start my mind map, I put the title in the middle.

And so I'm going to put active citizenship in here, in the middle.

And I'm going to say my community, because what I'd like you to do is to mind map local things.

So we talked earlier about the sort of three main things that we could think about.

There's lots of, sub things, but this is, this is what we can think about.

So I've got a human, I've got environment, and then I've also got animals are quite like that.

I know young people like that, lots of my students support animal charities and things like that.

So I'm going to focus on humans first.

So things that happen in my local area, well, the food bank is, it's really busy at the moment.

So that's a definite issue.

The mental health of teenagers and young people, mental health of teenagers.

That's really important.

And also it's not just teenagers, is it? You know, we've got lonely elderly people as well because of coronavirus.

And they're trying to stay safe in their shielding.

That's due to lock down.

There we go.

So that's three human things.

Now what about animals? What I'm thinking about my local area here too.

And I know that our local children's farm, which is a really nice place to go is actually at risk of closure.

Because people can't go there anymore, and they're not getting any money.

So they're going to have to think about closing up, But what's going to happen to all those animals? Another thing that's happened is that puppy farms have increased.

There's been a massive increase in people wanting to buy puppies.

And this meant that people are breeding poor animals in really bad conditions.

Another thing that I know I've seen where I live, it's a local badger sett.

And that's with two Ts badger sett.

Is at risk from a local development.

And they're thinking about building a housing estate, which people need, but also there's, you know, there's a risk to animals as well.

Now, environment, lots of fast food restaurant litter.

I wonder whose responsibility that is.

I think it's the people that buy the fast food, but also the restaurants themselves may be.

Where I live the nature reserve needs cleaning.

There's fishing gear and things like that.

Other litter that's in there.

Also the town centre it's been a bit neglected recently.

So maybe that's an environmental issue as well.

Clean up I'm going to say needed.

Okay.

And then the last one, is local beach.

I live near a beach, live near the coast.

So we're going to save the beach from marine pollution.

Lots of this is plastic that breaks down into tiny pieces of plastic and then fish eat it and then it gets into the food chain.

So that's my plan so far.

And I'd like you to draw your own mind map that, you know, does things to do with your local area.

So you might not be able to do it instantly.

It might be something you build from, going to talk to friends and family, and also going on to local newspaper websites and things like that to find out what other issues are going on.

And then you can produce your mind map lots of different places we can go there.

As you think of different social issues, try to find out some information about the social issue using the internet, or local newspaper.

For example, can you find out the numbers of people sleeping rough in your area? Can you find out where your local food bank is? Think about local organisations, people, and what might help you turn the issue forward.

How might you do this whilst at home? What else could you do once you're back at school? So I want you to use your notes from previous lessons as well, any takeaway task that you've done, when you've gone to research charities, for example, and the worksheet to help you.

Now I'd like you to create a mind map create a mind map of some of the different social issues that you can think of, that might be affecting your community right now.

And then I'd like you to start the video again when you've finished that.

So you've got lots of different issues in front of you on the mind map, and you know, you've gone off in different directions.

I want you to focus on the issue that interests you now.

So as you think of different social issues or groups, try to find out some information about that issue using the internet or the local news paper.

Note these down by adding to your mind.

So let's sort of look at what I've added to my, my mind map.

You can see here that I've written lonely elderly people due to lock down, which is one of the things that I thought about to do with humans.

I thought about, they need to see a family, sorry.

They need to see a friendly face.

I found out that one in three old people live alone and I did some research on the internet and found out that data 25% of my town are elderly.

And that's another thing that you can look at.

You can say, what is the makeup of my town or what people live in my town.

You can find that information out.

And I also found out that some older people can go a whole month without seeking a friend.

And that's from a charity website called H UK.

So those bits of information, they're going to help me make a decision on my project.

But I want you to think about what information you need to know so that you can make a decision about your project.

please, though, talk to your parents or carers about your ideas I want them to be on board as well.

Because it's, much easier to do a project if you've got people helping you.

So talk to them as well.

Now this is for you to actually think, choose the issue you want to take action on.

So pause for a moment, take a nice breath.

Look at things that you've written down on your mind map, choose the one you want and let's get going.

So when you've decided what you want, I'd like you to write down the following sentences and finish them.

So the three sentences are, the issue I have chosen to focus is, sorry.

Let me say that again.

The issue I've chosen to focus on is.

The people affected by this issue are.

and then I chose this issue because.

So think about the issue you've chosen, and then answer those questions out or fill those sentences in about the issue that you've chosen.

So when you've finished, I want you to start the video again.

So pause it now and start when you've finished.

So this is a model answer that I have written, and I've got three sentence starters to start with.

So let's have a look.

You've created something similar to this.

If you're still stuck, ask your parents or carers to help and talk to them about the project you're about to start.

And this is a real situation.

This is my real neighbour.

When I'm not teaching you, or like, I am going to pop over and say hello to her today.

If you want to do something like that, then make sure you think about your safety and also don't approach strangers, make sure your parents are aware and stuff like that.

Maybe they can come with you.

So let's look at my model answer.

The issue I've chosen to focus on is, lonely elderly people in my neighbourhood.

The people affected by this issue are, people who live alone and have restricted mobility.

So they can't get out to see others.

I chose this issue because my 84 year old neighbour is living alone now her husband passed away last year.

Every day she sits on her porch to catch a glimpse of her neighbours and to wave, to say, hello.

I feel like we should do more.

As on some days, she doesn't get speak to people face to face.

I think there might be lots of elderly people in my community in the same situation.

So have a look at your sentences and add to them as well if you'd like to.

I'd like you to kind of go into quite lots of detail about why you chose the issue, because it needs to be real and needs to be important to you.

So if you can't think of a reason why you chose it, then may be you need to go back and have a look at what you've done.

Okay, we're ready to move on.

Now, I'd like you to stop at this point, because one of the key things about being an active citizen is that you are gaining skills.

You're actually learning new skills.

And a skill is something that you practise and practise again, until you can do it and do it really well.

So, you know, like riding a bike or swimming, you can't do it to start with, and then you have to practise.

And that skill becomes something that you can do naturally.

So it has key citizenship skills and knowledge that will help you in later life.

So which of these skills have you used so far? Let's have a look.

What I'd like you to do is just write down the ones that you've managed to do on your paper.

To be really good at a skill like I said, you've got to practise a lot, so let's have a look.

Communication, exchanging information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.

So you might have spoken to your parents or carers about this might have spoken to other people in your home.

Maybe your friends are doing the same project so you've spoken to them too.

Communication isn't just speaking out, it's also writing or use another medium as well.

Okay.

Research, have you used that skill at all? investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

So think about the research I did about elderly people.

Cause I found out that one in three people who are elderly and live alone.

So that made me kind of work out that there's an awful lot of people who are in my town who are potentially lonely.

It could be on the low.

And so that's a conclusion that I've come to.

So that's what research does for us.

It means we can find stuff out and then say, "Oh wow! I didn't know we had that." "Oh yeah, that makes sense." This might happen because of that.

Let's have a look at the next one's.

Analysis and that's a detailed examination of the elements or structure of something.

So statistical analysis or analysis of popular culture.

So I've done analysis of the data that I found about people who live in my town.

So that's my research.

I've analysed that research or the structure of my research, detailed the examination, and I've practised analysis.

And then the final one is problem solving and the process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues, problem solving it, be like, Oh, how do I find out about that piece of information? Where could I go? You know, you can come up with a few ideas of where you can search and then start looking for the information.

So finding solutions to difficult or complex issues, problem solving.

So write down the ones, the skills that you think you might have had a chance to practise.

You might not be amazing at them yet, but you've had a chance to practise.

So what have you used at this stage? Now we've decided what issue we're going to be working on and we need to consider different action that we could possibly take.

Okay.

So please make sure your parents or carers are aware of what you're planning and get them to help too.

Why not make your parents act as active citizens as well? So action ideas.

You're coming up with some ideas for an actual action that you can take.

So I want you to try to think of three different options for taking action to address your issue.

Three different options.

For each action, you've got to consider how effective you think that action will be.

I want you to be realistic about what you're able to achieve, but do challenge yourself.

And there are many ideas in the worksheet that is part of this lesson, it's a massive list.

There's about eight or nine different ideas that you can have a look at.

Different action that you could take and you don't have to reinvent them, you could take one of those actions.

And also think about who you trying to influence and persuade.

And that's one of the things about citizenship.

It is about, influencing people in power and people who have got, the power to change things.

And they're often the ones with the money as well, and things cost.

So who you try to influence and persuade as well.

Now I'd like you to think of three ideas, three ideas that will, could be possible actions for your project.

And for each idea, I want you to kind of break it down to say why you're doing it and the good and bad things about it.

So in your framework, and you can always copy the framework, if you like, you don't have to print off if you can't print.

I think this might help my issue because.

So explain why the action that you've chosen is a good idea.

The one of the three actions, why is it good idea? Say why I think this might help the local community because.

and explain about how that one action will help the community, the pros of this action, the positives suggest the positives of the action and then the cons of action.

The downside, everything's got downside.

Nothing is perfect.

So say what the cons are.

And then do that for each of your three suggestions.

So you can pause whilst you fill in the framework in the worksheet or write out a table on your paper.

And then when you're ready, we'll go on.

So now you've analysed each of your three action ideas.

What I'd like you to do now is to complete the following paragraphs.

The active citizenship action I have chosen to take is.

And then explain it.

And then I have chosen this action because.

And explain why you've the chosen the action out of those three that, you suggested to start with.

And I'd like you to keep the video paused and then resume once you're finished, So the next stage is really important.

You need to make plans, make your plans because if we plan, if we plan then we're going to succeed, we're more likely to succeed because we've kind of thought about the things that we need to do to make stuff happen.

Planning is really important.

It's a really important life skill.

So, when you're planning your action, I want you to think like, this is the action I've got.

Now I need to think about the different things I need to do to make it happen.

Okay? You will answer each of the questions systematically.

Then you can decide if you need to do that or not to make your action work, okay.

In the worksheet.

I've also got an example to help you see, you need to think about what you want, what you want to do, who else is involved, where it's going to happen, when it's going to happen and why you need to do that to make your project work.

Once again, if you can't print, don't worry.

Just write it down, but just pause the video, go to the worksheet and find this worksheet that goes with it.

So who do you need to contact? Do you need to be called? sorry.

Do you need to create a record sheet to write information down? Do you need to design something to communicate or persuade others? Do you need to create a message to send to friends, to organise a time for something to happen? When are these roles going to happen? Oh, I've messed that up.

Sorry.

When are these things going to happen? What is your role and who might help you? And there's a table in the worksheet to help you plan.

Once again, if you can't print just write it down on your paper that's fine.

Consider.

So consider what, who, where, when and why? When you plan.

What is it? who is involved? Where's it going to happen? When's it going to happen? Why are you doing it for each part of your plan? Okay.

So this is going to be a little while when you're just going to have it paused and you really need to think through what you need to do.

So you're planning that action.

So start again when you're ready to go.

Okay.

Now we looked at skills tracker earlier in the lesson.

You've actually moved on quite a long way from that part of the lesson, because you've come up with some ideas now and you've thought about the action that you might take and you've planned for action.

So which skills have you used? Let's have look, communication skill.

Have you used that? A bit more maybe.

Research.

You've probably researched more things now.

Analysis.

So you've done a detailed examination of the elements or structure of that research and the stuff that you found out.

And maybe a bit with problem solving now.

So all your skills getting better, be really proud of yourself.

Well done.

If you've reached this stage so far and you're ready to go.

You've got plans, ready to go, Then well done.

So think about this now.

What did we learn today? Well, we found about the ACTive Citizenship Award and that is an award for you that you can get from the association for citizenship teaching Once you submit your project.

So get your parents or carers to do that, or your teacher at the end of the project, you make sure they know where to go you have to file that form.

Choosing your action.

What action are you going to choose? You suggested three ideas and you came up with one.

And then plan your action.

So you were thinking, okay, I've decided to help my elderly neighbour, but I also want more elderly people to be helped.

So I'm contacting the council as well.

And we're going to talk about that.

And then we haven't started it yet, but we're going to do a takeaway task now.

So between now and next lesson, whenever that lesson might be for you, carry out your plans to get ready, to make your action happen.

So whether it's making poster, or it's writing tweets that your parents are going to tweet for you, or it's contacting people so to make things happen, you need to do the things to make that happen, to make that action happen.

And you think about, Isaac Codjoe and Armika Jordan, how they were pretty determined and they got lots of support and they got people to help them with their action.

What action do you want to take? And then I want you to get ready.

Okay.

So whatever you need to do to make it happen, get ready.

Keep the notes you make, ask lots of questions as you go and also enjoy investigating further.

And at the end of this lesson as usual, there's an exit quiz.

So you can test what you've learned today, because you're not just taking the action you're also learning about citizenship.

Learning about being an active citizen.

Your knowledge is increasing.

So that's the end of the lesson.

If you'd like to share your work with Oak, what I'd like you to do is ask your parents to either go on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter or all of them.

I want them to tag @OakNational and use the #LearnwithOak, and then you can share your work with all of us and we can see what everybody's doing.

Hope you are enjoying your lessons so far.

Happy planning.

Let's get ready to take your action next time.

Bye.