Small Strokes Big Oaks

It has come to my attention that my so many people either don’t know what “activism” is (“It’s like we need to be active to be healthy?”) or that it is for “other people” (“Angelina Jolie is an activist, right?”).  For some, it is a dirty word (“Those animal rights activists throw blood on people!”).  They do not understand the importance of everyday activism, or just doing what is right.

I was inspired by a recent Gender Across Borders article about Miep Gies which touted her as an “example for all activists.”  I’d like to take that a step further and posit that she is an example for all people and, as such, I felt my students needed to know about her extraordinary acts during the Holocaust, and they needed to understand activism as something that isn’t just for other people.

I began my two-day lesson with my sophomores by asking them to write a journal entry defining activism.  Many students responded to this as stated above.  We discussed activism and what it means, and then I put the following list on the board:

Which of these are “activism?”
1. Donating money
2. Writing an article
3. Discussions
4. Signing a petition
5. Writing a letter
6. Protesting
7. Creating a petition
8. Blogging
9. Risking your life for someone
10. Going against what people think
11. Being a lawyer
12. Being a teacher
13. Being a doctor
14. Volunteering
15. Starting a group
16. Adopting a pet
17. Adopting a child
18. Making a speech
19. Making a sign
20. Talking to a friend

We spent some time talking about each of these, and the students selected which they considered activism.  Then, the students wanted to add a few to the list like voting, recycling, and participating in a club.  When this was finished, I asked the students if they remembered Anne Frank.  Of course, they all did, having read her diary in 8th grade.  Inevitably, one student asked me if Anne Frank was an activist, which sparked a few minutes of debate about whether or not she was (“What was she fighting for?  She was hiding because she had to!” “But she was fighting for rights for the Jewish people!” “But she didn’t mean to be!  She wrote her diary because she was bored!”).  After this died down, I said “What about the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family?” The students almost unanimously agreed that she was an activist, even though her activism was very different than the types of activism we discussed on the list.

I then handed out the Gender Across Borders article and we read it aloud and I asked them questions as we read.  When we were finished with the article, I asked them what the difference between her activism and the activism on the list was.  They came up with answers like: “Now, people want to be famous and make money, which is their only reason for doing good things” and “Now, in the United States, people don’t have to risk their lives for others.”  Then, I left them at the end of day 1 with the question: What cause are you passionate about?

The next day, they entered the room, and written on the board was “What cause are you passionate about?”  Most students came in and sat down, looking puzzled.  A few told me they couldn’t think of a cause the night before.  A few others asked me what I meant by cause, or if standing up for a friend being bullied was a cause.  I put the list back up on the projector and said: “How many of you have done at least one of these things?”  They read over the list again and, gradually, their hands started raising one by one, until every single hand was in the air.  “OK!” I said, “Why did you do these things?”  And causes started flying around the room.  Cancer research, school violence, cleaning up a park, speaking out against racism, human rights, feeding the hungry, giving clothes to the homeless, working at animal shelters, fighting genocide around the globe… and the list went on and on.  When we had talked about a few of these in depth, I asked them to each write a journal about what cause they were passionate about, why they cared about it, and what they have done or want to do to make a difference because of it.

They were silent and writing furiously for the last 20 minutes of class.

Were they inspired to be activists?  I don’t know.  But are they more socially conscious now than they were before?  I’d venture to say yes.