Activity 4: Introduction to the Justicemakers Guide
Part of Heeding the Call
Activity time: 10 minutes
Materials for Activity
Option 1
- Handout 1, Justicemakers Guide
- Pens
- Folders or report covers
Option 2
- Handout 1, Justicemakers Guide
- CDs
- Computer
- Large monitor or projector and screen
Preparation for Activity
- Review Before You Start from the program Introduction, and decide with your co-leader whether you will keep the Justicemakers Guide in hard copy (Option 1) or electronically (Option 2). If all participants do not have access to a computer, do not use Option 2 exclusively. Check with families ahead of time about computer availability or give youth both options.
- Option 1: Make copies of Handout 1 for all participants and a few extras for future visitors or to replace lost pages.
- Option 2: If the group will keep their guides electronically, prepare by cutting and pasting the material from Handout 1 onto a CD for every participant. Save a copy for yourself, either on a CD or on your computer's hard drive. To demonstrate the guide for this activity, you will need your copy of the guide, a computer and a large monitor or projector and screen. Check your equipment before the workshop to make sure it is working properly.
Description of Activity
Participants receive the first pages of the Justicemakers Guide, a tool to help them use information from the workshops in their daily lives.
Option 1:
Pass out Handout 1, Justicemakers Guide. Tell youth that these are the first pages. Additional pages will be added later. Say in your own words:
This is your own, personal Heeding the Call Justicemakers Guide. You can put your name on the front (or folder or report cover). The guide will contain tools we will explore in our workshops, like the Spheres of Influence, which you can use as you go about your daily lives, outside of our meeting space, as a reminder to be mindful or aware that your actions influence the actions of others.
There are other tools for doing social justice work that we will encounter in later workshops. You will receive those tools on additional pages of your Justicemakers Guide. Let's look at the other sections of the guide.
Look at the section, "Seen, Thought, and Done." This is a place for you to make note of actions of justice or injustice you see in the world and the thoughts you may have and actions you may take to remedy injustice or support justice.
Remind youth that often justice is about making sure everybody has the opportunity to have their needs met. As justice makers, they can help people meet those needs. Justice actions do not have to be big. Helping one person with one need brings everyone closer to the kind of world we want to create. Ask youth for examples they might encounter in everyday life. Say that there will be time during every workshop to share their experiences, but they may pass.. Writing in the guide is first and foremost for their personal use.
Ask participants to turn to the "Workshop Reflections" section. Here they can make notes on anything that happened during the workshop that they wish to remember or refer back to later.
Note the blank section, which youth can use any way they wish. They might include souvenirs or mementos from justice activities they participate in. They might draw or write poetry. It is their choice.
Ask youth to bring their guide to every workshop. If you have emails for participants, consider emailing youth the day before to remind them.
Option 2:
Go over the same sections as above, showing them on the computer. Give participants a CD. Inform them that the CDs include the sections you described. They can save the guide to a computer or keep it on the CD. As additional tools are explored in future workshops, they will be sent to youth electronically. You may either send them via email or post them on a website (the church's website, your own blog or Facebook page, or a site created especially for Heeding the Call). Make sure there is a system in place to notify participants when a new guide page is ready.