Creating change at Truesdell EC, Part III: Developing an action plan

During the DC SCORES spring season, each of our 44 teams go through a four-step service-learning process that involves A) Identifying problems that need addressing in their community; B) Researching one issue; C) Implementing a project to make a difference in the community; and D) Reflecting on the impact they made.

This spring, DC SCORES intern Kristen Miano is following the Truesdell Education Campus (elementary school) Trojans as they go through the service-learning process. Read below and watch each week’s video to learn how DC SCORES empowers youth to create change around them. You can also view photos from Truesdell HERE and follow Kristen's Tweets HERE.

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Written by Kristen Miano
Digital Media Intern

With their project chosen and their research done, the Truesdell Trojans moved onto the next phase of their spring SCORES service-learning endeavor—developing an action plan.

“We defined what a task is and then the students brainstormed what tasks we would need in order to reach our goal,” said writing coach Cailin Eisle.

The kids broke off into discussion groups to lay out what they think they would need to do before they could get down to the business of cleaning the trash around their school. They received some hints and tips from looking over action plans developed for other service-learning projects that had seen successful.

“We’re discussing what tasks we need to do and what job each person needs to do,” explained Blessing T., age 10. “We’re just trying to sort out stuff.”

Ideas for the team’s plan of action included asking the school for permission to begin a trash pickup campaign, going to classrooms to talk to other students about the importance of cleaning up after themselves, and to begin fundraising to purchase the supplies needed achieve their goal.

By the end of their brainstorming session, the Trojans had created a long list of tasks they would need to do before their project was over. The students expressed concern over getting everything accomplished by their deadline, especially considering they had done so much work on the project already and still had so much to do.

“Sometimes, time passes fast and we may not get to finish our project,” said Nelson F., age 8.

Overwhelmingly, the students agreed that not finishing the project was not an option and they would need to work hard to make sure they kept to the schedule.

“I would feel angry because we started something and didn’t finish it,” said Antonio M, age 10.

To avoid missing the project’s deadline, the team reiterated the importance of staying focused and on task for the duration of the spring season.

With each student’s tasks in hand and a renewed commitment to their goals, the Truesdell Trojans are ready and set to get to work and clean up their school.