Learn
How to start a
change effort
When Elizabethton High (EHS) School board leaders scheduled a meeting about funding, students made it a point to ensure their collective voices were heard. After connecting with staff, students began to organize to learn how they could collect input from students at their high school to be shared with leaders.
Before changemaking begins, it is
important to understand what change is—
and your role in it. Jump to learn how to
start a change effort through these steps:
Change
efforts in
high
school
start with
you.
Change efforts in high school start with you.
Tip:
Knowing oneself is important on this
journey, and starting changemaking
can be hard work! Remind yourself
how powerful you are, take breaks,
and be kind to yourself.
Tip:
Knowing oneself is important on this
journey, and starting changemaking
can be hard work! Remind yourself
how powerful you are, take breaks,
and be kind to yourself.
Solo Exercise
Understand yourself
Every changemaking journey starts
with understanding ourselves, what
we stand for, and why we’re drawn to change.
Objectives:
Discover where you are on your
path as a person in your high
school community.
Reflect on your thoughts on
change and what makes you, you.
Change efforts are grounded in your high school community.
Key Concept
Power can take many forms—and it is often held by people differently. There is the power that people possess together (power with), and the power that others use as control (power over).
‘People’ are those in high school communities who can take action or make decisions, or are affected by those decisions. Peers, adults, and groups you might draw from to support your change.
‘Power’ is the ability to influence the actions of others. Power can be held and shared. Often, power isn’t equally shared, even in high school communities—which can create inequalities in access to resources and decision-making.
‘Power over’ is the ability of an individual or group to exert control over others. Power over might be a boss telling an employee what to do. Most of what we think of and see in daily life as power is power over.
‘Power with’ is the ability of groups to bring together resources to create something greater than the sum of their parts—more power together than they might have had alone.
Solo Exercise
Explore people
and power
High school changemakers ground their efforts in their high school communities, identifying the people and power they possess in order to better understand who can be an ally, teammate, or supporter.
Objectives:
Map your world–your peers
and others in your high school
community
Understand the resources
they have
See where you’ll draw from
build a team
Tip:
Even though sometimes it can be
hard to feel powerful, high
schoolers have many different
kinds of power: their voice, time,
knowledge, effort, ideas, and
participation at school.
Making
change
means going from
“me” to “we”.
Team Exercise
Build the change team
Make the shift from ‘me’ to ‘we’ by
building a team to co-create with you.
A team should be drawn from people
you can count on, with a stake in your
high school community.
Objectives:
Find your team and
determine roles
Set team commitments
on how you will
work together
Plan the team’s first
meeting with
everyone’s input
Tip:
When you’re building your team, consider who has the skills, knowledge, and experience to contribute. Include a broad range of voices, and consider those who don’t normally have a seat at the table, such as a teacher, advisor, or community member.
Changemaking is all
about laser focus.
Changemaking
is all about
laser focus.
Key Concept
The high school community is a vibrant and complex system that includes you as an individual, your classroom, the school itself, and the larger community of invested parties.
Tip:
Great ideas for your high school come from many places, and one of the richest sources of insight is you and your fellow students. Explore the XQ Youth Voice Cards to help inspire the the change areas your team might select.
Team Exercise
Discover the change
Explore areas of change that are motivating and connected to your school—consider what inspires each of you!
Objectives:
Map the changes the team
wants to see
Ideate and land on a change in
your high school community
Share why this change matters
to you
In any
change
effort,
knowledge
is
power.
Key Concept
Different types of research can help you
get clearer on the change area and its
impact on your high school community.
Individual and group interviews (focus groups) are useful methods to surface stories and voices from your school and community
Host one-on-one or group interviews within your high school or community with experts in the field and leaders or decision-makers
Look to ensure that a variety of backgrounds and experiences are represented, including voices not normally given a seat at the table
Surveys are useful methods to capture and reflect many voices
Conduct surveys to answer important questions around your change efforts or track responses and feelings over time
Try to engage at least 10% of your high school community—and include a diversity of voices
Observation and field research into lived experiences are useful methods to gain insights of students and adults in your high school community to understand key needs and motivations
With permission, look to observe people, their roles, the resources they use, and the spaces they inhabit
Desk research is a useful method to surface best-in-class examples (e.g., case studies), how others have done it (e.g., articles), statistics, and studies of other high schools or contexts (e.g., data libraries)
Aim to use authoritative sources, such as university websites, Google Scholar, etc., and consistently credit sources for information you’ve gathered
Team Exercise
Research the change
Changemaking asks us to ground ourselves in the current state of the issues we care about. Use research as a way to get clearer on the change.
Objectives:
Set learning goals for the
research
Understand and learn more
about your change
Update your assumptions
around the problem(s) you’ll
tackle
Tip:
Research should be
an ongoing effort! As
your change effort
evolves, constantly
unearth up-to-date
and relevant facts and
data to support the
cause.
Changemakers deserve
moments to reflect and
celebrate!
Reflecting on what has been learned up until this point is important, especially as a changemaker. It provides an opportunity for self-awareness, personal growth, and learning from any challenges along the way. This can enable better decision-making and cultivate a deeper understanding of oneself.
To practice self-reflection on what has been learned up until this point, think about the following:
Reflect on what you and
your team learned
Think about what you are
most excited about, and what
makes you nervous
Consider what you might need
more or less of and what might
help you moving forward
Next section
Now that you and your team know what you want to change, it's time to make it happen!
