Activity: I Love My People Who…

Summary

This is the sixth section of our Workshop Series: Educational Justice Campaigns. Activity: I Love My People Who… is meant to help students appreciate each other within the movement and begin capturing how their schools contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline and school pushout.

Objectives
  1. Finish conversations around school-to-prison pipeline
  2. Continue discussion on the Game of K-12 Life
  3. Acknowledge and appreciate the identities in the club
  4. Relate the Game of K-12 Life to school life

Materials Needed: “I Love My People Who” script and PPT; Poster paper; Markers; Scissors; Pens & pencils; Visions & Values statements

Recap: the Game of K-12 Life (0:10)

TRAINER 1 OPENING STATEMENT: Welcome to the I Love My People Who workshop. This workshop is about the identities we hold as members of the GSA, and connecting those identities and the identities of those who have been pushed out of school to our work as a social justice club.

TRAINER 2 SAY: Before we begin the next portion of the workshops, let’s do a recap of what we last discussed and finish up those conversations around the Game of K-12 Life.

TRAINER 1 SAY: Can I have everyone get into groups of 2-3 and discuss these questions? Take about 5 minutes.

Powerpoint Slide

What was your character in the Game of K-12 Life? What was your experience like? • Can your experience in the game be the same or similar to your or a friend’s experience ? • How did the game overall make you feel?

TRAINER 2 SAY: Would anyone like to share their answers with the whole group? (take about 3-4 responses. If no one raises their hand call on someone to share what the group discussed.)

TRAINER 1 SAY: Thank you all for sharing! It’s crucial to reflect on our experiences to help us decide what outcomes we want in the future and prevent these issues from arising again.

Activity: I Love My People Who (0:10)

TRAINER 2 SAY: We are going to do a quick activity to get a sense of the experiences had around the school and to recognize that these issues we are talking about are daily realities for people.

ACTIVITY DIRECTIONS (for Trainer 2)

  1. Get participants in circle
  2. Instruct everyone that you will read a series of bullet points, and if a statement applies to them, they must leave their spot and trade places with another person who it also applies to. (Provide an example of what the game can look like)
  3. Read the bullet points below and play the game!
I LOVE ALL MY PEOPLE WHO…
  • Ever ditched a class, or whole day of school
  • Ditched or ditches school regularly because they were unsafe
  • Currently feel unsafe in school
  • Go through metal detectors to get inside school
  • Have campus police or school resource officers stationed on campus
  • Travel more than a hour to get to school
  • Have material things lacking with their school, like missing bathroom doors or textbooks
  • Have ever been bullied
  • Have bullied someone else
  • Have ever spoken up for LGBT rights in class
  • Have been written up for defiance or insubordination
  • Have ever gotten detention
  • Have been to in-school suspension
  • Have gotten an out-of-school suspension
  • Have ever been expelled
  • Have ever been stopped by the police or arrested
  • Have ever been in a fight
  • Are in or have ever been in foster care or family services
  • Have ever had to defend themselves
  • Have been told their school couldn’t protect them
  • Transferred to another school
  • Have ever been transferred to another school against their will
  • Tried to go see a school counselor but found they were too busy or not able to help
  • Have ever been treated differently then other students by teachers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity

What’s Going on in our Schools? (0:10)

TRAINER 1 SAY: Even these hypothetical situations and a made-up game can have some realities that hit close to home, so let’s talk about the STPP and how it relates to OUR school and OUR experiences in OUR school. In this next section, we will begin exploring exactly what is going on in our school, and identifying the issues that come with it. TRAINER NOTE: Put up a piece of poster paper next to both the Vision Statement and the Values Statement (created in a previous workshop) and title the poster paper top “OUR SCHOOL.”

TRAINER 1 SAY: When we look at both the visions and values statements, we see exactly how we envision our schools. But what from these drawings and writings are missing in our school and how do they relate to the STPP and school pushout? TRAINER NOTE: Write down what people say on the paper. This may be a slow process, be patient and try to facilitate conversation based on the drawings and statements. The point will be to get them to recognize what exactly is happening in our school and to begin identifying the issues we want to focus on in the Educational Justice Campaign.

TRAINER 2: Of these examples of what is missing in our schools, which ones can we organize around and work on for our Educational Justice Campaign? TRAINER NOTE: Put a star next to the examples stated.

TRAINER 2: Thank you for sharing! We will be using these examples to develop our campaign in the next workshop.


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