Intermediate
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
+50 XP
Teacher-led from the board. Pupils do not need a device, but can follow on one.

Choosing Our First Action

Students move from discussing rights to planning a real citizenship action in their school or local area. They learn to test ideas against criteria like creating change, involving outsiders, and completing it within time, before committing to one shared plan.

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    1 - Start ~4 mins

    Illustration for StartToday the class stops only talking about rights and starts planning something it will actually do.

    You already have Our class charter: the rights and responsibilities you agreed to hold yourselves to. An action is the next step: real work in the school or local area that leaves something different afterwards, and that somebody outside this room notices.

    Key point

    By the end of the period the class will have chosen one action, named who does what, set dates, and written down what counts as done.

    2 - What Makes an Action Real ~6 mins

    A real citizenship action has three tests. Your teacher will put them on the board as they are named; that header stays for the rest of the lesson.

    First, something is different afterwards. A poster that goes up and is forgotten is not enough on its own. A survey whose findings are handed to the student council with one clear ask is different, because somebody who can decide has new information.

    Second, somebody outside this class notices. If only the people in this room know it happened, it stayed a class exercise.

    Third, the class can actually finish it with the time it has. A plan that needs six months and a budget the school does not have is a wish, not an action.

    Key point

    Raising awareness and changing something are not the same. Telling people a fact can matter, but only if it is aimed at a decision, a habit, or a rule that can shift. In a moment you will judge every idea against those three tests, and check it still connects to Our class charter.

    3 - Choose, Test and Commit ~22 mins

    Work in groups of three or four. Your teacher will reveal one panel at a time: Generate, then Test, then Commit.

    Generate (about 5 minutes)

    Each group writes two candidate actions rooted in the school or the local area, each linked to a right or responsibility from Our class charter. Keep each idea to one sentence. If you are stuck, start from one of these seeds and change it until it fits your school:

    1. Survey first years on whether they know who to go to if they feel treated unfairly, then present the findings and one clear ask to the student council.
    2. Write a formal class letter to the principal proposing one change that would make a charter right easier to live by at school, with short evidence from classmates.
    3. In pairs at lunch, with staff permission, walk one ordinary school route noting access barriers a person using a wheelchair or crutches would meet, then share the map with the student council or board of management.
    4. Run a two-week lunchtime session where older students explain the charter and the school's complaint routes to younger students, then record how many came and what they asked.
    5. Write to a local representative about one rights issue that affects young people near the school, using evidence the class has gathered (letter co-signed by the teacher before it is sent).

    Test (about 6 minutes)

    Three tests

    For each of your two ideas, answer the three tests in writing:

    1. What is different afterwards if this works?
    2. Who outside this class would notice?
    3. Can we finish the main work in the next couple of lessons plus a little homework time?

    A filled example for seed 1 is on the board or on your slip so you can see the pattern. Cross out any idea that fails two or more of the three tests. Star the strongest survivor, then say aloud in your group (not numbered on the board): which right or responsibility in Our class charter it connects to, and whether it is somewhere in the school or local area you can actually reach.

    Commit (about 11 minutes)

    Only three groups read their starred idea and a thirty-second pass of the three written test answers (teacher picks three strong sheets, or groups hand up starred slips for a quick scan). The class chooses one shared action by a quick show of hands. The teacher freezes that action sentence on the board the moment hands go up; it is not reopened.

    Role titles and a one-line Done means stem are already on the frame. While hands are still up, volunteer names under each role (several names per role are fine, especially drafting and evidence) and add one whole-class job line so more of the class has a named part (for example who answers a survey, who proofreads, or who helps count). After that, write-up is names and dates only:

    • Roles: who drafts, who collects evidence, who speaks to people outside the class, who keeps the date list (several names allowed under each)
    • Whole-class job: one short line so more of the class is on the frame
    • Dates: when the main work happens, and when it must be finished
    • Done means: finish the one-line stem already on the frame (a letter sent, findings presented, a map shared, a lunchtime session completed and counted)
    Key point

    Once the frame is filled, that plan is what the class runs next lesson: roles, dates, and what done means stay as written.

    4 - Make Sense of It ~5 mins

    Look at the plan on the board.

    Discuss, out loud only:

    • Which of the three tests was hardest to meet for the action you chose, and how did you fix that in the plan?
    • What would make this action fail, and how will you spot that early?

    Leave the plan where the class can see it next time. The next lessons are for running it and keeping honest evidence while you work.

    5 - What You Covered ~3 mins

    You can now:

    • Tell the difference between raising awareness and an action that leaves something different afterwards
    • Test a candidate action against whether it changes something, reaches somebody outside the class, fits the time you have, and connects to Our class charter
    • Commit to one shared action with roles, dates, and a clear line for what done means

    Next time you run the action and keep evidence while it happens, including the parts that do not go to plan.

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