Curriculum for Units 1-3 (Weeks 1 – 9) provides guidance for conducting after-school activities over the course of a nine-week program cycle. To reflect site-based realities, as well as student input, periodic staff meetings allow for on-going collaboration that should foster a responsive program culture. A significant goal of this work is to support schools in developing their capacity to create an engaged school culture that grooms critical thinkers and student leaders.
While the general schedule remains the same for each after-school session, site leaders and teachers should adjust time spent during all periods, as groups will have varying tasks and activities that might include presentations from speakers, field trips, and other information collection and action planning activities. Work during the entire program should be site responsive, as the curriculum provides a general outline of activities and conversations that move groups through a process that requires students to identify a problem or issue, research options for addressing it, define their own action steps, take action, document the action, and report the results.
To increase group cohesion, before or after the Ice Breaker, in Week 5, groups might recite the adopted affirmation. If a logo is adopted by the site or individual ones by each group, these might be displayed in the meeting room. Each site decides how to use both the affirmation and logo, if either or both have been adopted.
Again, site leaders and teachers should use the provided lesson plans as general guidance. Group work should proceed in a logical fashion based on site and group planning.
As early as week 2, introduce the final week’s major activity which will be presentations on the work that is achieved during an ending celebration. It is important for the students to know that the work ends with their parents and important community members listening to them. Remind them that they will execute an action to help the community and report on it during the final week of the program.
For many students this will be their first learning experience of this kind. All should enjoy the journey.