STUDENT GROUP MANUAL

This manual provides guidelines on how to start a high-school group. It is not necessary to follow it word for word. Do what works for you and use your own ideas and creativity.

Creating Our Future is available for help with problems of any kind. Please feel free to contact us at the above address and telephone number.

I. Purposes of a School Social Action Group

- To increase awareness of current issues throughout the school and within the group.
- To provide information regarding specific issues so one is well informed when taking action.
- To promote and carry out effective action with a well defined purpose and clear objectives.
- To empower individuals and groups by the knowledge that they can make a difference.
- To cultivate peace within oneself through individual work, work with the group, and in all one's daily activities.
- To be a medium of encouragement and growth for those who feel called to do social action work
- To create a community wherein members see each other as resources of support and caring, working together both as cooperating individuals and as parts of a connected whole.


II. Starting A Group

Connect up with fellow students willing to work with you as partners. This is your core group.

Find out what the rules are at your school regarding the formation of clubs, especially social action groups. You will probably have to get your plans approved by the student council.

Talk to your principal and faculty about your plans so you know what kind of support is available.

Find a faculty member who is willing to sponsor your group. Most schools require that you do so. Try to get someone who is supportive of what you are doing but who will not try to run the group for you.

Hold a meeting with established core group members. This meeting is very important! Establish some basic goals for the group. come up with some ideas for initial projects, and set a date and agenda for your first open meeting.

PUBLICIZE! Notify the school newspaper. Make flyers, put them up around school and distribute them to teachers. If your school has morning announcements or a bulletin, see if you can put a notice in them.

Make sure you have followed school procedure in establishing a club. Schools asking for a group constitution will often have models or formats for writing them.

III. Your First Meeting

If you hold the meeting at school, you will have to arrange a room and a time with the school administration. If you have a faculty sponsor, ask for help. If not, approach a teacher who seems particularly sympathetic.

In most cases, the school administration will require you to have a faculty advisor for the project. You will not need an advisor just to have the first meeting, so if you are not sure who to ask, have the meeting first, and let the group decide.

If the first meeting is at school, you may not have more than 30 minutes total meeting time. If so, you may only be able to explain what you called the meeting for, find out if others are interested, and arrange for a longer meeting (2or 3 hours).

Sample Agenda:
- Circle Sharing: circle sharing is an easy way to bring people together. Simply go around the room and have people say their names and why they have come to the meeting (what they hope to accomplish, what concerns they have about the world). You may want to ask people to state what they have to offer. For example, someone may have a car to carpool to events, a home in which you can hold meetings, or just their concern and energy which they are willing to put into the group.

- Communicate what the core group has discussed as to possible projects and issues.

- Ask the group for their input on what they would like to do. You might want to brainstorm making a rapid list of all ideas that come to mind. It is important when a group brainstorms that none of the ideas is discussed until later, and no ideas are discarded until the brainstorm is over. The idea is to create an environment in which people feel secure about putting ideas out, without having to risk being put down.

- Present the meeting procedure - which you wish to follow. Explain the roles of facilitator, timekeeper, and note taker. Make it clear that people are to be courteous to each other and are to enter the meetings ready to work together.

- Pass around a paper and pen and ask people to write down their names, addresses, phone numbers and any other information pertinent to the group. Make copies of this to be handed out at the next meeting.

- Make an agenda for the next meeting.

- Evaluate the meeting. Ask people how they felt about it.

- Set a time and place for the next meeting.

IV. Meeting Procedure

If the group is meeting during lunch period at school, time will be very limited . The following meeting procedure is written for longer meetings. Evaluate what is most important and use the procedure in accordance with how much time is available.

Successful Meetings
A successful meeting accomplishes 5 things.

1. Communicates information.
2. Results in decisions being made.
3. Reaches agreement on who does what.
4. Creates a good spirit, and empowers people.
5. Helps build the organization.

Steps to a Successful Meeting

+ Choose a facilitator or chair person.

+ Plan ahead.

+ Post the agenda. Sometimes it is helpful to have the agenda written on a large sheet of paper where everyone can see and read it easily. Make sure everyone agrees with what is on the agenda. Make any necessary changes. Estimate the time it will take to discuss each item. Write the times down next to each item and stick to them unless everyone agrees more time is needed.

+ Start meetings with some form of "circle sharing. "Sit in a circle. Explain why you called the meeting. Then ask each person to explain why they came to the meeting, what they hope to accomplish, and/or to share some aspect of how they feel at the moment.

+ Maximize participation. Encourage those who hesitate to speak and to discuss their ideas. Delegate meeting tasks: have one person facilitate, another take notes, another watch the time, etc. Have different people take on these tasks in different meetings.

+ Go over old business and review assignments.
+ Discuss new business.
+ Reach decisions.
+ Assign responsibilities.
+ Evaluate meeting. How did it go? What went well? What could have been done better? How did it feel?

+ Appreciate people. Don't just think about it, say it to the group.


Decision Making
+ We recommend that you try to make decisions by consensus. It incorporates the best thinking of everyone. It can help people to not get into adversary attitudes. It requires listening to each other

A Good Facilitator:
One of the most important tasks of a facilitator is to make sure that only one person speaks at a time. No one must be cut off or interrupted. Everyone must be heard without anyone dominating the discussion, including the facilitator. The role of facilitator does not mean s/he speaks he most. Without these rules, the meeting will not accomplish the desired results.

A good facilitator does the following:

-Opens with personal sharings, songs, good news, etc.
- Sets positive tone.
- Speaks briefly to set the model (doesn't ramble on and on).
- Encourages the participation of all.
- Is responsible to the group, not individuals.
- Does not allow attacks on people.
- Keeps to the agreed upon agenda items and times.
- Points out areas of agreement on controversial issues.
- Helps define areas to be resolved.
- Asks for proposals for change, not just complaints.
- Does not make decisions for the group.
- May at times wish to divide the group into pairs or committees to discuss certain items.
- Calls for a break, an "energizer", or stretch when needed.
- Closes meetings with appreciations and hopeful notes.
- Needs practice to become one.


Co-Facilitation:
Sometimes it is a good idea to have two people thinking about the meeting process.

Why?
- More ideas are available.
- More energy is available to the group, especially during conflict.
- If needed, one facilitator can become personally involved in a discussion while the other facilitates.
- More people gain experience.
- It builds support and cooperation.

Agenda planning
- Introduction: circle sharing.
- Agenda review, time estimates, etc..
- Main items:
a) Begin with a review of the minutes from the previous meeting.
b) If possible, start with something that can be dealt with easily.
c) More difficult items come next. If there are several, plan a break between them.
d) A big item might be broken down into several issues, or the group can be split up for discussion.
e) End with something short and easy.
. Announcements.
. Evaluation.
. Appreciations.
Suggestion: Read The New Interaction Method: How To Make Meetings Work by Michael Doyle and David Straus

V. Leadership
Leadership is necessary. Things get done because someone sees to it.
We all have a deep longing to see things right in the world even though we may sometimes appear hardened or feel powerless.
Almost every person is or can be a leader. View everyone as a potential leader.

Good leaders do the following.
- Think well about the group, its members and its goals.
- Keep an eye on how the group functions together, eases tension, sees to it that people are respecting one another, and set a positive and appreciative tone.
- Think about each member of the group. (Each individual deserves complete support and approval as a person.)
- Elicit the best thinking from group members.
- Keep things moving forward.
- Try to not complain. Instead they offer proposals for change.
- Develop new leaders. From the start, they ask other people to take charge of something, (the attendance list or tasks with more responsibility on up to organizing a project).
- Share information.
- Are loving.

Good leaders do not do the following.
- Expect themselves or others to be perfect.
- Sacrifice themselves for the cause or for the good of the group.
- Overwork themselves.
- Do it alone.
- Have long joyless meetings.

Rewards of leadership
- The satisfaction of deciding things, and making things go right.
- The challenge of leadership encourages self-development.
- Association with other leaders.
- Helping others to become leaders.
- Having influence over events.
- Opportunities to care about people in a larger way.


VI. Additional Guidelines

- Give each person only as much responsibility as s/he is capable of carrying through. THIS IS ESSENTIAL TO KEEPING A GROUP UNIFIED AND POWERFUL. Someone may not feel up to organizing a project, but could make phone calls, run errands or offer their home as a meeting place. The important thing is that everyone be and feel that s/he is an active member of the group

- Make sure that jobs and responsibilities are clear. There should be someone responsible for each task that needs to be accomplished. There will be ongoing tasks, (i.e. finances, publicity) and there will be a variety of tasks involved in carrying out a project or an action.

-Conduct meetings outside of school at least once a month. People in the group can volunteer their homes as meeting places. The advantages to this kind of meeting are as follows.
a) There is much more time to get things done.
b) Group structure, direction, and goals can be discussed in depth.
c) Group members can get to know each other better on a personal level.

- Don't try to cover every issue. You will find this ineffective. Two or three issues at a time should suffice. When focusing on an issue it is a good idea to plan and carry out an action. Thus, the group will not only have learned about the issue, but will have taken a step towards change.

- When looking at an issue, look at what the group CAN do. It is not productive to focus on the negativity and what one is unable to accomplish.

- Keep the group's common goal in mind at all times.

- HAVE FUN!!!!!

VII. PERSONAL BONDING ACTIVITIES

- Circle sharing: Depending upon the purpose of the meeting, ask people for their thoughts and feelings about the issue at hand. Stress honesty and trust, the facilitator(s) of the meeting should go first and set the example. This activity has little value if everyone simply states that they are "fine".

- Appreciations: Lack of appreciation is often a big problem in an ongoing group. Having an appreciation circle is often a good way to end a meeting. If the group is small enough, everyone can appreciate everyone else, but if it is a large group each person can appreciate the person to their left or right. One appreciates someone by stating something they like about that person. For example, "You're a great organizer." or "I appreciate you for listening to me when I'm upset."

- Group gatherings: Just being together as a group can bring people closer. Set aside time when the group can just sit around and talk that doesn't involve agendas or planning.

- House Parties: Hold house parties where a video or slide show is shown and discuss reactions and feelings afterward.

Other Ideas:

- One to one sharing Support groups
- Guided circle sharing* Theater games
- Dancing Trust games
- Singing Value sharing
- Meditation Cooking and eating together
- New games Anything your group thinks of
- Field trips of all kinds

*In guided circle sharing a specific question is posed to the group which each person is asked to answer in turn. For example, "What is your vision of the future?" "What do you feel shy, nervous or awkward about at this moment?" "What are you good at?" "What would you like to change about yourself?"

VIII. PLANNING PROJECTS (From "Systems By Design" by Anacaria Myrrha and Laurel Jensen of Simple Systems)

There are four major steps in planning a project:
1. Clarifying Purpose Why?
2. Identifying Goals What?
3. Planning Projects How?
4. Scheduling When?
5. Clarifying Your Purpose

It is important to clarify your purpose before undertaking any project. This is the ideal you strive for and is the foundation of your goals. Purpose is intangible. Some phrases that express purpose are:
1. To increase awareness.
2. To bring peace.
3. To save the environment.

Identify Your Goals

Goals are tangible, measurable, obtainable and include a completion date. Goals support your purpose. Goals are achieved by committed action.
Some examples of goals are:

- Have a letter writing campaign.
- Set up a recycling program at school.
- Have an awareness day or week at your school.

Planning Your Projects

Projects come from goals. Projects are the primary focus of your time and attention. Effective project planning and management require following the correct steps and having the necessary tools.

There are 9 steps in project planning.
1. Define purpose What is the reason for doing this?
2. Determine goals What are the concrete objectives?
3. Set deadline What is the completion date?
4. Create "map" What are the major tasks required?
5. List key activities What steps are necessary?
6. Prioritize steps What comes first? Next? When?
7. Delegate Who does what?
8. Monitor progress How are things going?
9. Evaluate results How did it go? How did it feel?

Scheduling Your Time

Scheduling is the bridge between careful planning and reaching your goals. Effective scheduling requires clear priorities, practical tools, and a realistic outlook about what you can and cannot control. A notebook, (or a computer folder) with these sections (spread sheets) can help you schedule your time effectively. Monthly Calendar A reference tool for long range planning. Weekly-at-a Glance A place to keep track of appointments. Project Planner A list of key activities and deadlines for each project. Master To Do List A list of all tasks to accomplish which are not related to a project. Daily schedule A place to plan each day: appointments, items to do, and calls to make.

Projects to Consider
Letter writing campaign Recycling project
Soup kitchen volunteering Trash-a-thon
Film and video events Get speakers on various topics
Poster exhibit Volunteer for canvassing
Boycott T-shirt contest
Awareness weeks Local issue project
Food and clothing drives Volunteer work
Field trips Leaflet school events
Editorials in school newspaper Theatrical productions
Regional phone list Demonstrations
Out reach to other schools Tree planting


MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CREATING OUR FUTURE:
Feel free to call us (Pacific time - between 9 AM and 5 PM) at 510 895 2813 about any questions. Remember, there are no dumb questions. We can help with advice, speakers, written materials, and audio-visual supplies. Creating Our Future student and adult representatives are available as speakers and workshop coordinators.

For more information about Creating Our Future: workshops, projects, or summer camp; how to arrange a workshop for your high school; how to start a student action group at your school... contact...

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