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Expanding Understandings: Youth Participation, Engagement, and Activism

Emily Plummer

Introductions

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Civics “Mural”

• What is civics education? What “counts” as civic engagement?
• Please write any words and/or phrases that come to mind.

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theeducatorsroom.com

commons.bclibraries.cac

How does this article fit in with our own understandings, as seen in our “mural”?

Digital Tools and Expanded Engagements

Participatory Research

Student-Led Mural Project

Student-Led Mural Project

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Is this project a form of civic engagement? Why or why not?

Consider how the students discuss their own project.

Student-Led Mural Project

Tool

Implications

• How could this app be used in other educational contexts?
• What could students learn from hyperlapse footage of their work?
• How could hyperlapse relate to notions of students as change agents?

Social Media: Pushing Toward Civic Engagement

Youth Digital Activism

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

Tool to Explore

Considerations

• How could this activity be extended into civic engagement and/or activism?
• What potential does social media hold in educational contexts for activism, civic engagement, and/or “change”?
• In what ways could Flipagram or other social media outlets be used for these ends in your own classrooms?

Social Media and Civic Engagement: Your Turn!

• Working in pairs or small groups, use a social media app (or apps!) to create a representation of civics education and/or civic engagement
• Think about how to incorporate our discussions of digital activism

adlibbing.org

Writing Across Contexts and

for Change

Journalism as Activism

Philly School Media Network Journalism Summer Writing Camp

Areas of Research

• In- and out-of-school contexts (Alvermann & Moore, 2011; Ghiso, 2016; Haddix, Everson, & Hodge, 2017; Hull & Schultz, 2011)

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• Youth digital activism (Jenkins, 2012; Stornaiuolo & Thomas, 2017; Thomas & Stornaiuolo, 2016; Williams, 2015)

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• Civic engagement (Conner & Slattery, 2014; Garcia, Mirra, Morrell, Martinez, & Scorza, 2015; Kahne, Hodgin, & Eidman-Aadahl, 2016; Ito et al., 2015)

When students push back against politicians via tweets, what they are doing is utilizing the shifting journalism genre to enact activism—to write for change.

Considering Activism and Engagement

Contexts: Journalism Program

• Philly School Media Network
• “University/community partnerships” (Mirra, Garcia, & Morrell, 2016, pp. 140-142)
• 20 students from across SDOP and surrounding area will attend journalism summer writing camp
• Journalism as a way to engage in activism
• Camp organized around YPAR principles (Mirra, Garcia, & Morrell, 2016, p. 2)
• Research cycle
• Social-scientist mentors
• Publication about social issues of personal relevance
• Students will work in school-based teams, or student “inquiry communities” (Waff, 2009)
• Camp extends to school year through bi-monthly, cross-school meetings

2017 Summer Camp

Contexts: Write4Change (W4C)

• “social network for adolescent writers (ages 13-19) to share their writing with others, to collaborate with global peers similarly engaged in using writing to effect change, and to learn from and with one another” (Write4Change, n.d., para. 1)

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• Students will connect and publish during camp and throughout the school year

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• The “local” and the “global”

Journalism: Engaging in and Unpacking Activism

Headline Omissions Activity

Considerations

• What issues do the headlines raise? How might you address these issues in your classrooms?
• What is the relationship between student journalism and activism? What are teachers’ roles in that relationship?
• How might this activity be extended to other topics, content areas, etc. while remaining attentive to civic engagement and/or activism?

hopecity.com

Extension Activity:

Write your own headline about the Summer Institute today.

Student Journalists and Activists

Read the student journalism published at the above sites. Write down one question, one connection, and one surprise.

Collaborations

eplummer@gse.upenn.edu

• Philly School Media Network
• W4C
• Penn GSE R/W/L

grasshopper.com