ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

scroll through the page for some suggested activities for teachers and students

Since it began, MY LOGO has adapted to changes in curriculum and scope and sequence to meet the needs of today’s educators and schools.  Teachers/schools wanting to teach about local government can work with MY LOGO to create a program that best fits their curriculum. 

TEACHERS CAN . . .

  1. Attend a workshop on local government.

  2. Learn how to integrate the MY LOGO into their school, or district.

  3. Implement the program in their classrooms through the use of the handbook and other resources, and facilitate the development of student projects.

  4. Plan student site visits to City Hall, Historic Buildings, Police Departments, Courthouses, and other government sites.

  5. Invite local government officials to participate - Include officials such as the City or County Manager, Mayor, Councilperson, Alderperson, Police Chief, Sheriff, Commissioner, local Judge or County Clerk.

    Classroom Dialogues - Local officials may meet with students in class and discuss what they do and why it's important.

    Team Teach for Local Government—In this approach, a local government official would be teamed up with a class to teach one or two of the lessons included in the MY LOGO Handbook. Some of the most popular lessons taught have been in local government financing and community development.

  6. Take part in a local projects fair or forum where students "showcase" their research & solution of a local government problem or issue. Ideas for fairs and forums may include:

    A Local Government Awareness Event---this might be a one-day or month long activity to learn about local government and demonstrate how important local government is to one’s community. 

    Meet Local Government Forum---This option is an introductory approach to local government education. Students attend a ½ day forum whereby they meet local government officials, debate current local government issues, and engage in a Mock City Council Meeting.

    MY LOGO Local Government Projects Fair—teachers and students would utilize the MY LOGO Handbook in teaching students about local government. After spending time learning about local government in the classroom, students would then identify a problem in their community and create an action plan to solve that problem. Students would then participate in a 1/2 day Local Government Projects Fair to present their findings. The culminating activity would be a Mock City Council Meeting.

KIDS CAN:

EXPLORE their COMMUNITY

The purpose of this unit is to help students get to know their community better. All communities have certain social, economic, physical, environmental, and governmental features. In exploring your community, you will learn what it is that makes your community unique and what can be done to make it a better place to live.

  1. Take a "mental" walk from your home to school. What things do you see? Of the things you “see,” how many have to do with local government?

  2. Next, with your class or parent/guardian, go on an actual field trip in the neighborhood around your school. Videotape parts of your field trip. As you take your field trip, ask these questions: Who lives there? (Are there families with children? Are there "singles?" Is the neighborhood racially mixed?) How do people travel around the neighborhood (walk, car, bus, bike, other)? Where do people go for entertainment? Where do people work? What kinds of places and services exist (such as health facilities, day care centers, senior citizen centers, parks, libraries, businesses)? What signs examples of local government do you see?

  3. Create a Resource Book, Collage, or Video to tell others about your community.

  4. Find out about the functions of local government. What are the email addresses and phone numbers for local government offices in your city or county? (You can access this information by going to your city or county’s website.) (Police and fire protection o Sanitation o Education o Streets and sidewalks o Financial operations o Health o Welfare o Planning and zoning o Traffic and parking)

  5. In order to learn more about your city and county, locate the following information and share with your classmates. (You can access this information by going to your city or county’s website.)

    • the history and growth of your community and/or county

    • the population, size and make-up o major plots of land and businesses, organizations, and institutions that occupy these plots

    • the city charter

    • the budget revenues and expenditures o organizational chart showing the positions of elected and appointed officials;

    • job descriptions;

    • job requirements;

    • the names and backgrounds of the people currently occupying these positions

    • current services provided

    • recent census reports and population trends

    • the planning department's map of the community

    • minutes from your local government's council meetings

    • a schedule of upcoming public meetings

DISCOVER COMMUNITY HISTORY

When you look at a community, you can see its physical history in the buildings, parks, street designs, and traffic patterns. You can learn about its social history when you talk with long-time residents, visit museums, and search old records. History helps describe why a community is the way it is.

The information is important to have, because decisions made today about what we want for the future are often based on past experiences.  Below are some activities that help you uncover your community history.

  1. Organize a history hunt or scavenger hunt in which you bring back information about the city. You might interview a city official about a particular local issue or an elderly person about his or her childhood in the city; bring back a flyer from a local museum or a picture, photo, or drawing of some local site; write a report about a civic event, place, or official.

  2. Interview long term residents or family members to find out some of the history of the community. Publish these stories in a newsletter, circular, school newspaper, or on-line school newspaper.

  3. Visit with the local historical society, preservation board, or planning commissions. These groups each have a different way of looking at the physical, social and cultural history of the community.

  4. Find out if there are there any famous people who grew up in your community? Invite several current residents to class to share stories about what the community was like in the past. Ask these people how the community has changed and what has caused these changes.

  5. Have there been larger events taking place locally, statewide, or nationally that have influenced the way your community has changed?

  6. How has the development of the Interstate highway system changed your community?

  7. Does your community have a town square? If so, what is the history of the square? You might want to visit the square and study the buildings. What kinds of businesses are now located on the square? Compare today's businesses to the businesses that were there in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980s, and 1990’s. How did the automobile change the square?

  8. How many churches/synagogues/mosques does your community have? How have these religious institutions influenced the community's development? Is there a main religion in the community or are there many different religions in the area? Does religious diversity help a community? Explain.

  9. Many older communities or neighborhoods have an ethnic or racial history that has changed over time. Often that history can be seen in the type of architecture that is there. Does the architecture in your community show a particular ethnic heritage? If so, is that ethnic group still strong in the community? How has its influence changed?

Links to discovering your community history can be found through the archives of newspapers and historical societies.  Here are a few websites that might help you in discovering some aspect of your Community History. Many cities and counties in Missouri also have their own Historical Societies.

ANALYZE COMMUNITY ISSUES

Information by itself is not useful unless you know what it means and can use it to make better decisions. You should study and compare different sources of information to try to find certain issues that will influence current and future development in your community.

Tools for Community Analysis There are many ways that a “picture” of the community can be taken. What is important is that the “picture” is correct. Some of the tools available to you include:

Data Collection Gather data about the community, including data on population, employment, housing, and businesses.

Public Meetings Public meetings are good places to find out about community plans and the reasons behind them. Attend a public meeting, such as a meeting of a city council, neighborhood association, Chamber of Commerce, or other civic organization. Report back to your class on what you saw and heard. Pay special attention to who participates and how decisions are made.

Surveys A survey using a questionnaire to ask people about an issue or about themselves is a good way to find out about a community. A survey can tell you things about a community that "raw" numbers, such as census data, cannot.

Interviews Oral interviews with residents, leaders, and businesses will often uncover features of a community that do not show up in data and surveys.

Focus Groups Focus Groups bring small groups of people together to present their views on various topics. The information collected helps planners and policy better understand how certain issues affect different parts of the community. It is one way of making sure that all parts of the community have a chance to contribute and for getting an explanation for something that has happened. 

Census data Census information can provide valuable population, demographic and political information. This information is provided online by the U.S. Census Bureau.

ESTABLISH AN ACTION AGENDA

Identifying the most important issue facing your community may be easy. But the most important issue may not be one that you and your classmates are most comfortable dealing with. The issue may be too big, costly, or emotional to successfully deal with in class. It is more important to identify an issue in which you and your classmates are interested and which you can do something about.

There are many ways to identify an action issue. One way is to talk to the mayor, city council, or other government leaders and ask them what issues they would like to see addressed. Based on the answers, your class can then develop a project around one of those issues. 

Another choice would be for you and your class to create its own vision of the future and develop a project that will help make that vision come true. The class can identify what it wants to do and then contact local officials to find out how to work on the vision. The following are suggestions to help get you started: 

Part I: The Purpose - Start by talking about the purpose of the community. Why does it exist? Draw on what you have already learned. The purpose is not the community's history or why it was established. It is a statement that describes what role the community has in people's lives. Generally, the purpose will be described as a place to work, go to school, live, and/or raise a family.

Part II: Vision - Once you have decided on why the community exists, start thinking about what you want your community to look like in the future. For example, imagine that your family has just moved to another community, and 20 years from now returns home. What would members of the family see if everything happened just the way they had imagined? This vision might include statements like: § Safe and affordable housing for all residents § A new Community Center § A new baseball or soccer park § A recycling center that meets all community recycling needs § Activities for youth § Living without crime

Part III: Theme - Once a vision has been established, talk about the different themes that might be part of the vision. Themes might include housing, recreation, and the environment. If more than five to six themes are identified, try to combine them so that there are no more than five or six themes to choose from. The themes are what projects are built on.

If the class wants to deal with only one issue in the community, then it needs to select a single theme (like the environment). If there is interest in developing projects in several different areas, then more than one theme should be picked. Just remember that the theme(s) will become the basis for project development.

Once a theme has been selected, then identify all the vision statements that have to do with that theme. The class now has a focus for its project. In addition, it knows clearly what it wants to see take place within that theme in the form of the vision statements. The class can now start developing action plans that will bring it closer to the vision it has for the future.

The following are some possible project ideas for students:

  1. Research their community's history and write/publish a book or video

  2. Study the impact of a proposed business development for their community

  3. Design and construct a 3D model of an 'ideal' community—students might want to use Legos to build their “Ideal City.”

  4. Design and build a 3D model of an 'ideal' school—students might want to use Legos to build their “Ideal School.”

  5. Research and write a school constitution

  6. Investigate traffic conditions outside their school and report their findings with recommendations to their city council

  7. Study their community's planning and zoning policies

  8. Serve on a local government youth task force or youth council; if there is no task force or youth council, find out how to start one.

  9. Study public safety issues in the community such as juvenile crime and curfews and present their proposals to the city council

  10. Establish a school and community recycling program and create a marketing plan to ensure that students and community members actually participate in the recycling program.

  11. Restore a local playground

  12. Identify a local park that needs a little bit of help, i.e., painting of park benches, planting flowers or plants and work with the local park department to actually help do the work. This could be done as a community service project.

WRITE AN ACTION PLAN

Begin with a Vision or Dream

  • To solve community issues or problems it is best to start with an action plan.

  • Action plans are easier when you identify a problem or issue to solve by asking a question. An example would be “Should schools be allowed to monitor cyberbullying from any computer in school and at home?”

  • To help you get started, first describe what you want to do that will bring you closer to your vision(s) or dreams for your community. Include in this plan, any individuals who might be able to help you.

Identify your Goals and Objectives

Create your Project

Implement / Carry Out your project

Review and Evaluate your project

  • Evaluating a project is a key part of action planning. Make a list of the things that you want your project to accomplish. What changes do you hope will take place in the community? What do you personally hope to learn? What people do you hope to meet and work with?

  • After the project has been completed, bring out your list and review it. Some questions to consider include: Has the project been successful? How do you know? What can you do to improve the project the next time you do it? What do you hope to learn from participating in the project?

Document the project

Keeping a record of the project is important. Here are ways to preserve the project:

  • Write articles for the school newspaper, local newspapers, or on-line news sources

  • Produce a video.

  • Post on U-Tube, School Tube, Instagram, Facebook, or your school/class web site

  • Produce a public service announcement (PSA) for radio or television.

 Reflect on what you have learned

  • What are you learning or what have you learned about your experiences?

  • What differences have these experiences made in your life?

  • What differences have these experiences made in your school and community?

  • What has happened to make you a more informed and more involved citizen?

CELEBRATE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS!