Sarah Suffridge and Meredith Dickens

11/30/17

Social Action Plan

The Social Issue

Bugg Elementary is a school filled with positivity and good spirit and there are many

wonderful things happening within the school. However, we did find one particular social issue

that caused us concern. Through our many weeks of teaching and observing at this school we

began to notice that there was little to no recycling occurring. The only items that are currently

being recycled are paper within classrooms, occasionally, and styrofoam plates in the cafeteria.

Apart from this, there are no other recycling bins in the classrooms for objects such as glass,

plastic, or cardboard. As a result, all of these materials are placed in the regular trash can every

single day. To add to this problem, most students are not even aware of where the paper

recycling cans are in the classroom or why they should be using them instead of the regular

trash cans. This causes much paper to still be placed in the regular trash can simply because

the students are not even aware of what recycling is, why we do it, or why it is important for

them to know where the recycling bins are in the classroom and to use them correctly.

This is problematic for the school and for the environment because it results in an

increase of the demand for plastic production, which leads to toxic emissions into our

atmosphere. There are numerous cut-out worksheets, craft discards, snack wrappers, and so

forth being used in classrooms throughout Bugg so why not repurpose these resources? In

addition, a reduction in recycling reusable resources results in a greater aggregate of trash

waste in our oceans and water supplies. Environment aside, this lack of recycling is problematic

to the students understanding of what it means to take care of the earth during such a formative

time in their lives. It is crucial to introduce the importance of recycling and the concept of reusing

materials at this young age, because if this habit is instilled in them in elementary school it has a

greater chance to carry over with them for the rest of their lives. Making students aware of the
idea of being green at this age will affect the way they live their lives and treat our atmosphere

and environment which will carry with them for many years to come. Starting a small change in

a classroom of young minds sets the stage for big change in years to come.

Week 1

Step 1: Further investigate the depth of the issue. We have already seen what we have

observed in our specific classroom and we have discussed with our cooperating teacher what

she does in regards to recycling in her classroom, but we have not explored much outside of

that. This first step would include doing a full walk in other classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym,

the dumpsters and trashcans outside, and other classrooms as well. We could also extend this

by initiating conversation with other teachers in the school to get an idea of what they do in

regards to recycling as well. It is also essential to get an idea of whether or not the teachers and

staff at this school as a whole care about recycling, or whether or not they have an issue with

the lack of recycling occurring. The principal and those of higher authority in the school could

potentially resist this social change due to the extra work it could cause the school to bring in

new bins for recycling, as well as making the school aware of the new protocol and trying to

manage it.
 Step 2: Assess Prior Knowledge of Students. Before conducting any activities or lessons

on recycling and the environment, it is important to know what the students know about the

topic, if they have even heard of it, or if they think it is important. Knowing where they are at will

give critical insight on where to start with instruction.

Step 3: Introduce the topic to the class. This step is all about making the students aware

of recycling, what it is, and why it is important. This could be done by doing a read aloud on the

environment/what it means to be green, a short clip that explains recycling, or a short clip that

shows the results of what happens when we do not recycle. All of these would peak the

students interest and personally engage them in the topic.

Step 4: Discuss the topic. During this step we will focus on shifting the students

attention from the broad worldwide issue to the issue at hand at their school. This could start by

having students share what they remember from the previous day. Then transition into

questions such as, do you think it is important to recycle?, do you think we recycle in our

classroom/school? If we dont, do you think we should?, what do you think we could do to help

increase recycling in the school?. Brainstorm ideas on how to talk to those who do not

understand the importance of recycling. Often there are people who do not see the value in the

reward at the cost of their time and effort. It is important to talk with these people about how

simple and easy it is to recycle and if youre going to throw it away anyway, it would be most

beneficial to repurpose it.

Week 2

Step 1: Field trip! Take the students to a recycling plant and allow them to observe what

they notice around them. Recruit the CEO of the recycling company to give us a tour of the plant

so that he can make sense of what the students are seeing around them and broaden their

understanding of the importance of proper disposal of waste and the recycling process behind

the scenes. This employee can also give the class easy and practical steps for how they can

start recycling in their classroom.

 Step 2: Take action. This step will focus on the class applying what they learned from

the recycling plant and putting into practice the advice the class received from their field trip.

Step 3: Plan to Present. During this step, our class will create posters and a short

presentation to show and teach other classrooms what they have learned. This would include

the planning process of these presentations.

Week 3

Step 1: Spread the news! This step could take a whole week, and would include the

process of going to different classrooms within the school to broaden the understanding of what

recycling is, why it is important, and what our classroom has been doing over the last week in

the school to make a change.

Resources

There are several resources we would need to conduct this movement, some

that are available at the school and some that are not. One example would be poster board,

markers, and colored paper to create posters that the students can create for the other

classrooms and to hang around the school to raise awareness. All of these materials would be

available in either classrooms, copy rooms, or supply rooms at the school that we would have

access to. We could also use these materials to make signs to place on the separate trash

receptacles that are clearly visible to students and staff disposing of waste. As far as materials

that we do not have access to, we would need to go and buy/bring new trash receptacles of

different colors to differentiate between trash and recycling. Aside from material resources, we

would need the collaboration of teachers and administration. Photos examples of some of our

resources can be found below:

 Outcomes
From this social action plan, we hope we plant a seed in the minds of young children to

be green citizens in our society. This crucial attribute is so often ignored because it isnt an

immediate reaction/response and people get caught up in the business of their own lives.

However, teaching children how to be empathetic both toward our environment as well as

generations to come is very powerful. When we recognize and react to the effect we have on

something, big change occurs. We also hope the teachers, administration, faculty, parents, and

family members are impacted by the social changes their students are making. When you

witness such impactful actions from a human being with far less life experience, it makes you

stop and think. We hope that others stop and think about why they arent contributing to the

health of our ecosystem.

Implementation

We began the implementation by discussion with our cooperating teacher our idea about

recycling. She was very supportive and told us that she personally is bothered by the limited

ability and use of recycling in her school. We learned that even if you try to place cardboard or

other recyclable things in the bin, it will be taken out and discarded. We kicked off our social

action plan by reading The Giving Tree. This book is about a tree which gives everything it has
to offer to a little boy out of love. This foster a great way to discuss the importance of trees and

all that the environment offers us. We assessed what the students knew regarding the

environment and what we get from it. We then talked about all of the various resources which

come from our environment and how all of the paper we use comes from trees being cut down.

We discussed how when we recycle that paper, it gets reused and is made into something else

so that we reduce our waste.

Next Steps

Going forward, we will talk about the things which can be recycled and things which

cannot. It is important for students to be aware of the materials they are using and whether or

not they are eco-friendly. Once we have reached a point where we feel the students have a

good grasp on recycling and what it is, we will take a field trip to a local recycling plant so they

can witness the result and product of their hard work. Recycling is something which does not

have an immediate response and sometimes the purpose of it can get lost, but by seeing a plant

and taking a tour of all that is occurring makes the action real and meaningful. Finally, we will

take all that has been learned and make posters, flyers, anything they would like in order to

share their newly found knowledge. This shows students that it is important to make sure your

family, peers, and other community members stay informed so that we can all work together as

a unit in solving social injustice issues.