Students+for+a+Say_2009

Lexie, Michelle, Molly, Hannah ** 1) ****Introduction to the problem** a) Recently the rules here at North Kingstown High School have been dramatically changed. We feel that we were never given fair warning prior to the rules being changed or given a fair reason to why they were changed in the first place. This has been a problem since it began. Students have been forced to throw away food and drinks without even getting a chance to eat and drink. Students have been threatened to be punished for being late to school, sometimes only after being late one time. It is a problem that needs fixing. Therefore our group developed an idea for getting students involved in the rule making process. We believe that the school will run more smoothly and the students and teachers will work better with each other if there is an understanding between the groups. With Students for a Say, the students and teachers, together, help to develop a school environment that everyone will enjoy. a) We approached this problem in a realistic way in which we could attain real results by the end of the project. Through students surveys to gain insight into other students opinions about the food/drink, backpack, and late policy, we learned that other students wanted to be involved in changing the way the policies are made to a democratic, student/teacher system. From there we made signs and a facebook page to raise student awareness and give students a chance to say what they think can be done. By writing a letter to the editor and planning a protest/civil disobedience act, we further raised awareness to officials, students, parents, and others that we would be working hard to change how the policies are made. b) Successful steps included the facebook page, the surveys, the letter to the editor, and the planned protest, if it had been carried out. These raised awareness and gave others a chance to act with us. However, the signs were not altogether sucessful becuase while they raised awareness, they didn't call students or teachers to act or give definite identity to who we are and what we were planning on doing. a) Throughout the entire process of this project we have had ups and downs. We were able to give out a survey and get answers on whether or not students would actually like to be involved in something like Students for a Say and a majority said they would. We had a lot of success with our project. We were able to set up a meeting with Mr. Foley, make a Facebook group, make flyers, and spread awareness. We had some interesting feedback from the survey and Facebook group, unfortunately when it came to our meeting with Mr. Foley we had to cancel our meeting because we b)  Suggestions for what could be done next __Michelle:__ By working on this project I learned a lot about acting on something I believe in and finding realistic ways to achieve short and long term goals. In working with Molly, Hannah, and Lexie, I found that I had others to constantly sound ideas off of, and learned that it is okay to change an idea more than once to make it feasable. I also noticed that in a group it is much easier to get big projects done, and we could work on bigger goals in a more efficient time schedule. With working together came learning how to time ourselves so we were always on the same page, which was hard as we were all working on different pieces of the project, but by having little "team meetings" where we talked everything out, we managed to stay on the same page. I learned a lot about myself throughout this process. I never really realized that I could have a real impact, but through planning a meeting with Foley, and writing a letter to the editor, I realized that I can and will reach the goals that I set not only for myself, but also for a group, if that's the setting I happen to be in. a) Each portfolio must include a minimum of one artifact from each of the following sub sections. You should include all artifacts that were actually created and you may also add ones which you did not use but could have used.  i)  __ Public Education __ (1) Leaflets, Flyers, Posters (2) Newsletters (3) Reports (4) Public Hearings, Candidates nights (5) Film or video screenings (6) Internet, blogs, Pod casts ii) __ Direct Action __  (1)  Boycotting/Buycotting  (2)  Picketing  (3)  Demonstrations and Protests  (4)  Strikes  (5)  Nonviolent Civil Disobedience  iii)  __ Citizen Lobbying __ (1) Writing a bill & finding a sponsor (2) Testifying at committee hearings (3) Persuading Legislators iv) __ The Media __  (1)  Letters to the Editor  (2)  Op-Ed Articles  (3)  Earning Media in Feature Articles  (4)  Call-in shows/ Guest Shows  (5)  PSAs  (6)  Radio Shows  (7)  News Releases / News Conferences  (8)  Media Events  b)  For group with 3 or less members there must be one entry per category c) For groups with 4-6 members there must be two entries per category  d)  for groups with more than 6 members there must be three entries per category c) All media productions (audio or video) should be saved on a CD/DVD and should have descriptions entered into the Appendix  d)  All contributors to your project should be credited
 * 2) ****Strategies employed**
 * 3) ****Outcomes of the project**
 * 4) ****Reflections on the Project**
 * 5) ****Appendix: Ways of Acting**
 * e) **** All portfolios should be added to http://nkdemocracyproject.wikispaces.com **