Advocacy: Convince Someone!

Grades: 
3, 4, 5

Young people convince others to take care of the beach or protect the Earth. They write an essay or make an advocacy poster. 

Duration 
PrintOne 30-minute session
Objectives 

The learner will:

  • summarize the beach clean-up philanthropic experience in an essay, social media, presentation, video, or poster.
  • persuade others about the importance of giving time for the common good.
Materials 

Advocacy Poster project LINK

Instructions

Print
  1. Anticipatory Set:

    Show the Learning to Give video about advocacy.

    Talk about using your voice for something you care about to persuade others. Ask what they would like others to do because of their experience at the beach? It may be related to the clean-up, learning about issues, problem-solving, or the experience of taking voluntary action. Capture their brainstorming ideas on a chart paper. 

  2. Choosing one of the ways to encourage others to take action, the young people write a persuasive essay, make an advocacy poster, design a presentation or video, or create a social media campaign. They may write their rough copy following this form:

    • The introduction states your opinion clearly. Be sure to include a definition of philanthropy. 
    • The next three paragraphs give specific examples from the clean-up. This could include items found, how the beach looked when you arrived, dangerous items to people and/or wildlife, how you felt, how this environment should look, how and why we organized to meet a need, identify outcomes, and explain how other content areas were used as well.
    • The closing paragraph restates your position and convinces the reader to act or believe accordingly.
  3. The guidelines for making an effective advocacy poster are linked here. 

Assessment 

This persuasive essay is the assessment for the entire unit. It should be evaluated according to how well the student shows an understanding of philanthropy and gives examples from the cleanup and/or pieces of literature that were used. (You may choose to evaluate them on English mechanics as well.)

Philanthropy Framework

  1. Strand PHIL.III Philanthropy and the Individual
    1. Standard PI 01. Reasons for Individual Philanthropy
      1. Benchmark E.1 Describe one reason why a person might give or volunteer.
      2. Benchmark E.4 Give an example of how citizens act for the common good.
  2. Strand PHIL.IV Volunteering and Service
    1. Standard VS 05. Integrating the Service Experience into Learning
      1. Benchmark E.2 Evaluate progress on the service-learning project before, during, and after the project.
      2. Benchmark E.3 Identify outcomes from the service.