Step 1: Do Now

Duration: 5 minutes

Purpose: The purpose of this short Do Now is to have a formative check-in of student political awareness, along with a quick cursory check-in of the topics that pique these student’s interests, so that your lesson may also be adjusted to accommodate those topics for the future.

Implementation:

Students will be asked to think about a political cause they care for. It is ok if students can’t think of any political cause, as this activity acts as a way to formatively check on their current understanding of politics and political issues.

Resources/Materials: Slides 1-2

Assessment: N/A

Step 2: Lecture

Duration: 15-20 minutes

Purpose: The main point of this relatively short lecture is to provide a refresher of the differing political parties and the major political views of these parties. By providing these brief overviews, the hope is to also give case studies of how political opinions and positions have shaped the course of social action. Hopefully this insights a level of agency for students, as students begin to understand how the government around them deeply impacts them significantly more than just a vote for a president and/or state official.

Implementation:

Students will be given a short lecture of polarities between liberal and conservative viewpoints, so that there is an understanding of how political points emerge and how one systemic issue can have two vastly different ways of approaching it. As such, they will be looking into case studies of various topics that might hit closer to the students’ homes, challenging them to think about the issues they might care about from this list.

Resources/Materials: Slides 3-7

Assessment: N/A

Step 3: Interview Analysis Pt. 2

Duration: 10-15 minutes

Purpose: By now narrowing down on the specifics of case studies, the goals are to see real examples of people being involved in government in some way, shape, or form, to advocate for the problems they see in society. The goals of these case studies are to also set inspiration for these students, and invite them to begin to stay curious about how they might be positive change-makers in society. What is their unique role in impacting society at-large?

Implementation:

Students will once again look over two interview clips (may seem familiar to them), however, this time, they will analyze and learn from how their lives have been shifted due to political decisions and based on their thoughts and narratives, what kind of political position/party they might be leaning towards.

After that, students will be asked to also reflect on how this had made a positive impact on the Asian community in their opinion. How have their actions directly resulted in the benefit of their local, state, or national communities?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 8-10

• Connie Young Yu Oral History 2

• Ash Kalra Oral History

Assessment: Interview Analysis

Step 4: Personal Sharing

Duration: 5 minutes

Purpose: The goal of this point of the class is to offer one last example, a personal testimony over how you have impacted your society for (hopefully) the better. In doing so, taking time to encourage students to think about how the people around them everyday are considering political advocacy, social change, and an overall pursuit for justice.

Implementation:

Take a moment to consider how you, as an educator, are related to systemic and social change. What inspired you to be an educator? How have you utilized this profession to impact your community?

This step is optional, for it is a difficult thing to share in a lesson; however, there are benefits of this sharing, as students are able to listen to a tangible member of their community.

Share out how they plan and continue to plan on shifting society and the difficulties of our political government in the present day.

Resources/Materials: N/A

Assessment: N/A

Step 5: Preparation

Duration: 15 Minutes - End of Class

Purpose: The purpose of this section is to invite students into considering how they might begin political advocacy. As the goals of the next class are to begin brainstorming and creating a form of political advocacy for themselves and their own communities, the goal id this part is to have them begin to brainstorm either a topic related to their future profession that they are passionate about advocating for or a social issue they are passionate about participating in.

Implementation:

For their exit ticket today, students will be asked to brainstorm at least 3 specific political issues that they care for, for the betterment of their community at-large. The exit ticket will also ask them why they chose these issues and how these topics might have a personal stake in their lives.

Resources/Materials: Slide 12

Assessment: Exit Ticket