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Global Feminisms Project Educational ToolkitHow I Became an Activist Lesson Plan47628152940Driving Question What makes someone become an activist? Supporting Questions What is the relationship between personal and political lives?What is the relationship between activism and leadership?What impact does an activist practice make on the community and the broader society? What are different types of feminist activism? How are feminist activisms similar and different between different countries and sociohistorical contexts? Enduring Understandings How certain life experiences in women’s lives can lead them to become activists. Relationship between personal and political lives.Relationship between activism and leadership.Impact of activism in the community and the broader society. Different types and expressions of feminist activisms across countries and sociohistorical contexts.Develop an activist campaign around an issue pertaining to the women’s movement. OverviewIn this lesson, the students reflect on how particular life experiences in women’s lives lead them to become activists and what a feminist activist practice means in different countries and sociohistorical contexts. The students start from their own background knowledge on activist practices and experiences to consider relations between activism and leadership, activism and community, and the impact that activism can have in broader society. The students work with activist women’s narratives to identify turning points in life and the relationship between personal and political lives in activist practice. In the final assignment, the students build on the work done during the lesson to build hands-on skills to create a social media campaign on a topic pertaining to the women’s movement and aligned to the International Women’s Day on March 8. Learning ObjectivesReflect on how certain life experiences in women’s lives lead them to become activists. Understand connections between personal and political lives.Identify connections between activist practices and experiences and the surrounding community.Reflect on the impact that an activist practice can have on society. Identify different types of feminist activisms across countries and sociohistorical contexts. Identify the impact of an activist practice on women’s lives and the women’s movement. Reflect on the connection between activism and leadership.Build hands-on skills by producing a creative projectIdentify some of the characteristics of feminist social media activism. Understand and apply the basic principles of presenting and exposing an argument in a digital project Key ConceptsActivism Feminist Activists Life StoriesPersonal and Political Lives CommunityLeadership Social MediaInternational Women’s Day Teacher Preparation and Instructional Resources In preparation for the class and Activity 1, the instructor will divide students into four groups and each group will read one complete interview (Brazil, Nicaragua, United States, and Nigeria). Students from each group will individually read the interviews outside of class.Additionally, in preparation for the class, the instructor can ask the students to read the written introductions to the different countries (available on the Global Feminisms Project website and linked below), and/or listen to the podcasts discussing the interviews (see links below and on the Global Feminisms website). In Activity 2 the students will be using the countries’ timelines to inform their work so it is recommended not to assign them in preparation for Activity 1. Activity 1 seeks to introduce the students to the practice of activism and the relations between different types of activism, advocacy, and leadership. There is an optional introduction of the concepts of activism and advocacy including different types of activism that the instructor may want to offer before the start of the activity. The activity begins by asking the students to discuss these relations based on their knowledge of activist practices, then later asks them to reflect on their answers in light of the interview they have read in preparation for the class. The activity is divided into two parts and includes both whole-class discussions and group work. In preparation for the class and Activity 2, the instructor will ask the students to look at the countries’ timelines available on the Global Feminisms website (links available below). Each group will look at the country from their assigned interview (Brazil, Nicaragua, United States, Nigeria). Activity 2 continues work with the interviews and focuses on these women’s life stories and experiences. Particularly, the activity aims to identify the turning points in these women’s lives that led them to pursue an activist practice. The activity is divided into two parts. In Part One, the students begin by connecting the information that they learned from the countries’ timelines to questions about the impact on the community, the broader society, and the relationship between personal and political lives. Next, the students work with the interview to discuss women’s experiences, turning points, and the impact that their activist practices have had in their lives, their communities, and the broader society.The final Assignment asks the students to create a feminist activist campaign on social media for International Women’s Day. The students will be introduced to the history of International Women’s Day and to different definitions of its goals, as well as to different examples of visual images created to celebrate International Women’s Day by different organizations. The students will choose a topic or issue to focus on and create a post that can be circulated on social media. Along with it, they will write a brief statement explaining their goals, why it matters and how they are envisioning to bring awareness on this issue. They will be working in groups and each group will present their final product in class. Following the presentation, there will be a whole-class discussion including reflection questions on the results of the assignment. Activity 1: Print or electronically distribute copies of Handout 1 among students in preparation for the class. In class, print or electronically distribute copies of Reading Guide 1 among students. You can also choose to share access to Handout 2 or solely present it in class before the beginning of the activity. If you choose to introduce some of the concepts that will be discussed in the lesson plan, you will need to present Definitions Handout before getting started with Activity 1. They will be working in four groups; however, it is recommended that each student have access to all the materials. If the class is held virtually, the group work part of the activity can be done in breakout rooms. Furthermore, if the class is held virtually, Part One of Activity 1 can be done using Jamboard. For additional instructions on how to use Jamboard, you can see Jamboard – Digital Whiteboard Application and Google Jamboard, including a 20 minutes video that introduces the tool. Reading Guide 1 also includes a quick tutorial for students on how to use Jamboard. Activity 2: In preparation for the class, ask the students to review the countries’ timelines available on the Global Feminisms website: Timeline for Brazil, Timeline for Nicaragua, Timeline for the United States, Timeline for Nigeria). Print or electronically distribute copies of Handout 4 among students in preparation for the class. In class, print or electronically distribute copies of Reading Guide 2 among students. Handout 3 is instructor use only so you will not need to share it with the students (you can also find and use the Complete Model Interview in case you need to look for additional examples). As in Activity 1, students will be working in four groups (these groups are the same as those in Activity 1). However, it is recommended that each student have access to all the material. If the class is held virtually, the group work part of the activity can be done in breakout rooms.Assessment: Print or electronically distribute copies of Handout 4 among students. The assignment will be presented in class, along with a presentation of the International Women’s Day and resources for students to work on their assignments available in Handout 5. It is recommended to electronically share Handout 5 with the students so they can use it when working on their digital presentations. The assignment will be done in groups (students can keep the same groups from Activity 1 and 2 or you can form new groups). The assignment will be completed outside of class and after it is finished, it asks the students to share and present their final products with the rest of the class along with a written description and a statement that explains their goals and how they envision to circulate the social media campaign. Following the presentations, the whole class is encouraged to reflect on a series of questions included in Handout 4. DurationEstimated as ~ 3 class periods (Activity One + Activity Two + Assessment introduction ~ 130/150 minutes)Lesson Handouts/MaterialsActivity 1Activity 2AssessmentHandout 1Timeline for Brazil Handout 4Handout 2 Timeline for Nicaragua> Handout 5 > Reading Guide 1 > Timeline for the United States > Definitions Handout> Timeline for Nigeria> Handout 3 (instructor use only) > Complete Model Interview. Optional. (instructor use only)> Reading Guide 2 Proposed Lesson SequenceOpeningStudents have already read the assigned interview and may have also read the country’s written description as well as looked at the country’s statistics, maps, and podcasts. You may want to begin the lesson by telling the students that the interviews that they have read belong to feminist activist women from different countries and sociohistorical contexts and that this lesson is designed to dig deeper into the particular life experiences and stories that led them to pursue an activist practice. In other words, you may want to tell them that it is not that these women were born activists, but that there were specific moments and experiences in their lives that made them become activists. You can also tell them that the work on this topic will begin by drawing from their personal experiences and knowledge of activist practices and the connections between activism, leadership, communities, and impact in society. Before starting with the first activity, you may also briefly reintroduce the interviews, drawing from the materials that help to contextualize them available on the Global Feminisms Project website (see the list below). If desired, you can also introduce some of the concepts that will be discussed in the lesson plan by presenting the Definitions Handout to the class. The slides in this handout define activism, advocacy and offer a description of different types of activism. This is an optional resource and it is intended to be instructor use-only. Additionally, you will be presenting them a set of images available on Handout 2 that will help them to start discussing the topic of activism. Guided InquiryAfter the first part of Part One in Activity One has been completed, students start thinking about the connections between activism, leadership, and advocacy. You may want to introduce -if you haven’t done so already- these different concepts to them using the Definitions Handout resource or pose some examples. Likewise, you can ask them to offer some examples based on their own experience. Part One of Activity One provides the base for the work that will be done in Part Two when they start working with the interviews. It is encouraged that you use whole class follow-ups as moments of reflection about the differences between countries and sociohistorical contexts, particularly during the work with the interviews. Before Activity 2, students will be looking at the countries’ timelines and you may also want to ask them to re-read the interview if there’s some time in between the two classes in which the activities are completed. In Activity 2, students dig deeper into the connections of personal and political lives and consider the particular experiences and life stories of these women that led them to become activists. Before the second part of Activity 2, you are modeling the assignment to the students by using a model interview (Shahjehan Aapa - India). It is important that you present some examples from this interview to the students so they can help them to better identify those passages in their interviews. You can also use the model interview to model other parts of the activity, or even Activity 2 if desired. The complete interview with Aapa is available in this packet and the interview is rich in examples for every part of the lesson. As in Activity 1, whole class follow-ups are important to draw connections among the different concepts and ideas presented, as well as to reflect on the differences and similarities between the different types of activism that these women practice. Since each group is focusing on one country, it is necessary to use the whole class follow-ups to raise awareness about the different contexts. If needed, you can draw some ideas for further contextualizing feminist activism from the list of additional resources for lesson plans on feminist activism and the additional readings on feminist activism provided below (Additional Resources for Lesson Plans on Feminists Activists and Additional Readings on Feminist Activists). Independent PracticeBoth activities are designed for students to work with the sources independently in four different groups. At the end of each segment, there are whole class follow-ups in which the students will synthesize their findings and share them with the other groups. Whole class follow-ups are important since each group is working with a different country and they are asked to consider the differences and similarities between geographical and socio-historical contexts. It is also important that each group takes notes of their answers to share with the class in a summarized form. If the class is held virtually, it is recommended to pop up in the breakout rooms to provide the chance for students to ask questions if they have them. AssessmentBefore the assessment, it is recommended to use Handout 5 to present the students information about International Women’s Day and additional resources that will help them to work on their assignment (such as social media accounts of different organizations and feminist groups, some examples of themes chosen to celebrate the International Women’s Day, etc). It is also recommended to share this Handout with the students so they can use it when working on their digital projects. You can also give some time for students to ask questions about the assignment before they start creating their social media campaign. Finally, you can also encourage them to use Canva to design their social media post since the platform has several templates for creating social media posts that the students can use and modify. If they sign up with their .edu account, they will have access to an educational account that includes most of the features from the platform. Students will develop hands-on skills by working collaboratively in producing a creative project. Furthermore, during the assignment, students not only will be organizing main ideas and arguments on topics concerning the feminist movement and translating them into a creative project but will be understanding and applying the basic principles of developing and presenting an argument in a different format. Sharing and ReflectionIt is recommended to conduct a whole class follow-up once the assignment is completed by the students. Students will be sharing and presenting their social media campaign projects and discussing them with the rest of the class. In this presentation, students will be asked to explain their process and to describe their goals on choosing the topic or theme and how they are envisioning to circulate this campaign on social media. After each group has presented their digital projects, Handout 4 includes a series of questions for the students to consider as a whole class. The goal of these questions is to make them reflect on the work that they have done, how it connects to issues and topics that are relevant to the women’s movement and how the medium -social media- informs their language and design. Likewise, they are encouraged to consider the impact that their campaign can have on society and the women’s movement. Additional resources available on the Global Feminisms Project websiteBrazil Site of the Global Feminisms ProjectUS Site of the Global Feminisms Project India Site of the Global Feminisms ProjectNicaragua Site of the Global Feminisms ProjectNigeria Site of the Global Feminisms ProjectAdditional Resources for Lesson Plans on Feminists Activists Women on the March: A Lesson Plan on Imagining the Future of FeminismTeaching About FeminismCelebrate Women's HistoryBLACK WOMEN'S ACTIVISM AND THE LONG HISTORY BEHIND #METOOThe ongoing feminist revolutionCelebrating women activistsTHE REVOLUTIONARY PRACTICE OF BLACK FEMINISMSAdditional Readings on Feminist ActivistsDutt, A., Shelly Grabe. “Lifetime Activism, Marginality, and Psychology: Narratives of Lifelong Feminist Activists Committed to Social Change.” Qualitative Psychology 1:2 (2014): 107-122. (On-line version.)Frederick, J., & Stewart, A. J. (2018). “I became a lioness”: Pathways to feminist identity among women’s movement activists. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 42(3), 263-278. Lal, Jayati, Kristin McGuire, Abigail J. Stewart, Magdalena Zaborowska, Justine M. Pas. “Recasting Global Feminisms: Toward a Comparative Historical Approach to Women’s Activism and Feminist Scholarship.” Feminist Studies 36: 1 (Spring 2010): 13-39. (On-line version.)McGuire, Kristin, Abigail J. Stewart, Nicola Curtin. “Becoming Feminist Activists: Comparing Narratives.” Feminist Studies 36, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 99-125.Savas, O., & Stewart, A.J. (2018). Alternative pathways to activism: Intersections of social and personal pasts in the narratives of women’s rights activists. Qualitative Psychology. onlineStewart, Abigail J., Jayati Lal, Kristin McGuire. “Expanding the Archives of Global Feminisms: Narratives of Feminism and Activism.” Signs 36:4 (Summer 2011): 889-914.Optional: Module on Activism and LeadershipIt is possible to teach a whole module on activism and leadership by using this lesson plan in conjunction with the Feminist Approaches to Leadership lesson plan (2-3 class periods) available on the Global Feminisms website. 10 Optional: Combining How I Became an Activist Lesson Plan with Representing Life Stories Using Digital Tools Lesson PlanAlternatively, this lesson plan can also be taught in conjunction with Representing Life Stories Using Digital Tools Lesson Plan available on the Global Feminisms Project website (3 class periods). This lesson plan focuses on activist women’s narratives and life stories and how they can be transformed into an interactive timeline using the digital tool TimelineJS. The life stories analyzed by students in this lesson plan can similarly serve for creating interactive timelines on these women’s stories and turning points in life. Furthermore, timelines can be created as a combination of key moments in the women’s movement and activism available on the timelines in the Global Feminisms website with individual events in these women’s path to activism. ................
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