A Different Way to Think About Advocacy
A Different Way to Think About AdvocacyHappy Friday! Many of you are winding down the school year, or maybe even done! I'm in school until June 17th. The finish line is in site! In today's newsletter, I want to bring up a different way to think of the skill of advocacy. For most Fridays during their spring semester, I had two student teachers from the University of New Hampshire, supervised by Holly Alperin, in my classroom as part of an undergraduate practicum in health education. The last lesson they taught was an introduction to advocacy, and the lesson focused on introducing the skill of advocacy and explaining its importance to students. It was the first lesson of a new unit for my 8th graders, and part of the lesson had students working to brainstorm how they advocated at different levels or parts of their own "circle of action." (The "Circles of Action" is a visible thinking routine. I'll have more information about using visible thinking routines in health education in my next newsletter.) Both student teachers did a great job teaching their lesson and received actionable feedback from Holly. I was able to make some of those changes to the lesson, and when I taught their lesson to my other group of classes that next Monday, I discovered another new wrinkle to the lesson that I'm going to use next year. Instead of viewing the Circles of Action as concentric circles, I pictured them in my mind as a triple Venn diagram. Below, on the left, you'll see the Circles of Action, and the triple Venn diagram is on the right. There's a slight language difference from the "Circles of Action" routine; with the skill of advocacy and the National Health Education Standards, there is a focus on advocacy for self and others, so the language below better aligns with the standards. This visual came up when I was talking about advocacy with a student. She was confused because, from her perspective, advocacy was the same at all levels. We started to unpack how it could be different but similar, depending on the topic. (It was also a reminder for me to be more specific when giving examples to students). I took some time after the conversation to think through this a little more, and I used recycling as an example as I brainstormed some ideas. Let's see what advocacy could look like at each level for someone advocating for recycling-related causes: Self: This category includes an individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions. It might include personal advocacy efforts, such as making healthy choices, raising awareness about health issues, and setting an example through personal behavior.
Others: This category includes the individuals or groups who can be influenced or supported by advocacy: friends, family, or any other social connections. This might include encouraging and supporting others in making healthy choices, educating them about health and well-being, and collaborating with them to advocate.
Society: This category includes broader influences (cultural, societal, etc.) that can be targeted through advocacy efforts. Advocacy in this category might include working to change policies or promote equitable access to health resources. It could also include using media/social media to raise awareness about causes.
Here are some ideas of what advocacy might look like in the overlapping categories: Self and Others: This intersection could represent aspects like personal relationships, where individual identities overlap with the identities of others.
Self and Society: This intersection could represent areas where personal values align with societal norms or where individuals interact with parts of society.
Others and Society: This intersection could represent societal expectations that influence interpersonal relationships and behaviors.
Admittedly, this might be s stretch for middle schoolers to understand. The goal of using this triple Venn diagram is to let students visualize similarities and differences among different ways of advocating. You could then connect advocacy to decision-making, too. The triple Venn diagram also helps students with some of the performance indicators of the National Health Education Standards, too: from the new standards, it could be used for performance indicators 8.8.1 and 8.8.5 at the middle school level and 8.12.1, 8.12.3, 8.12.5, 8.12.6, and 8.12.7 at the high school level. It's one way to increase advocacy skill transfer outside of the classroom, too. I'm developing a teaching activity using the triple Venn diagram, but with the chaos of the end of a school year, it's been put on a back burner. In my next newsletter, I'll share that activity and more information about using visible thinking routines in health education. Thanks for reading! Jeff B.
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