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Topics:
Youth
By
the People:
Citizenship Training in AmeriCorps
Manual
Index
Preface
Introduction: The Guide
Format and the Goals of AmeriCorps
Chapter One: The Framework:
Democracy, Citizenship, Politics and Service
Chapter Two: Encouraging (Civic) Responsibility
Chapter
Three: Strengthening Community (Capacity)
Chapter Four: Getting Things Done
Chapter Five: Expanding Opportunity
Resources:
Glossary, Bibliography, Other
Contents
Chapter
Two: Encouraging (Civic) Responsibility
Chapter
2: Encouraging (Civic) Responsibility
Through
your work in AmeriCorps, you'll show the country that young
people—and the young in spirit—know about their responsibilities
in addition to their rights; that they're problem-solvers, not
problems; and that they can become strong leaders, not just
quiet followers.
-
AmeriCorps Member Handbook
Before AmeriCorps
members—or anyone of us—can start tackling the serious
problems confronting our communities and our county, we have to
see ourselves as part of the solution. Developing a strong sense
of civic responsibility goes beyond a simple idea of duty or charity.
It means understanding who you are, what you have to contribute,
your relationship to others, and your stake around an issue. It
goes to the heart of your self-interest, broadly conceived.
Core
Concepts: Self-Interest
Uncovering
Your Identity
Who are you?
What is important to you? Why did you choose to become an AmeriCorps
member?
Understanding
who you are, what you want and how you are connected to others
is called self-interest: You can't develop a deep sense of civic
responsibility without it.
You probably
think this idea is counterintuitive. Most people think that self-interest
is selfish and private—doing only what is good for you—which
is the exact opposite of what you need to do to be a responsible
citizen. Civic responsibility is associated with being selfless:
doing something only for others. But what self-interest really
means is doing what is good for you and for others, at the same
time.
In fact,
the word "interest" comes from the Latin phrase meaning "to be
among." Self-interest always has to do with what you're working
for in a group of people. Making the distinction between self-interest
and selfishness allows people to tie their specific interests
to the needs of the larger community and to larger problems and
issues. The work of citizenship, service, and the underlying ideal
of civic responsibility involves each person working for what
they care about with passion and intensity, in concert with others
who also have their own "self-interest." But first, each person
has to figure out what that is.
Knowing
who you are and what is important to you will take a lifetime
of discovery. Self-interest, like a tree, grows, changes, and
is constantly transformed by the outside world. Discovering who
you are and how you relate to others can be exciting, joyful,
painful, and difficult. We all have stories about ourselves that
help to explain why we are who we are. Learning and telling your
own story is a powerful way to understand what motivates you and
what's most important to you. You enter public life based on what
you care about—and learning your own story is a way to find
out what you care about most.
Civic
Skill: Telling Your Story
You may
not think of yourself as a storyteller. You may think telling
stories is only for children, and even if you wanted to tell one,
you might not believe you have enough creativity or imagination,
or you're too shy, or you lead an unexciting life. Unfortunately,
movies and television reinforce these beliefs by showing us people
whose stories are action-packed and well-rehearsed.
On the other
hand, storytelling may be an important, intrinsic part of your
culture and history. In this case, telling your story is a way
to continue to build upon a centuries old tradition. Storytelling
will not only help you explain who you are, but is a part of who
you are.
Regardless
of your personal history, you already tell important stories in
your daily conversations. By storytelling, we mean describing
scenes in your life that can give others clues as to who you are.
The process of telling others about what you've done and what
you know is critical because through your experience you come
to understand yourself.
Some people
may have stories that are similar to yours in some ways: By listening
to their stories you encounter images, memories, and experiences
that can remind you about who you are. When you hear stories that
are different from yours, you learn about different memories and
different pasts, and come to understand yourself in part by knowing
who you are not. In Chapter 3, we will discuss the importance
of discovering other people's self-interest through their stories.
Although
you can and do tell stories every day, there are some skills that
can make your personal stories more meaningful to other people.
Here are some tips for telling stories in a group setting:
Find a story.
Coming up with a kernel—an idea for a story is the hardest
part for people who feel that "nothing happens in my life." Often
the beginning of a story is just a fragment or situation you remember.
Listen to the stories of others—sometimes this reminds you
of a story you have. It helps if the group selects a particular
topic to tell stories about. Here are a few ideas for story topics:
- the most
frightening thing that ever happened to you
- the most
unusual person you ever met
- your greatest
learning experience
- the person
you will never forgive
- the time
you were most angry
- your first
memory
- the most
influential person in your life
Form the
story. Shape the different parts of the story so they make sense.
Give your story a beginning (give a little background), a middle
(where you describe a kind of challenge or conflict), and an end
(where you say how the challenge or conflict got handled).
Fight Fear.
Nervousness is good—it shows that what you're doing is important.
But being too nervous to speak out is self-defeating. Concentrate
on the story that wants to come out, not on yourself telling it.
Remember that when you're drawing on your own life, there is no
wrong answer, and there are no bad stories.
Have People
Listen: It's good for your story to have people listen to you
tell it, not just once, but through a few versions. Listeners
notice things that will help you communicate more through your
story.
Listen to
Others: You can learn a lot about what makes a story interesting
by listening to other people tell theirs. The infinite variety
of stories you hear should reassure you that the richest stories
are drawn from people's own experience.
Exercise
Worksheet: Your Timeline
This exercise
asks you: To create a framework in which to place your personal
stories. A time line lets you put your experiences in a context
that highlights the self-interest that makes you who you are.
It helps
to encourage civic responsibility because: Self-interest helps
determine how we understand and experience public problems and
motivates us to get involved in solving them. We must understand
our self- interest before we can act on it.
Instructions
Mark important
events in your life on a time line. Start anywhere you want to
and use your own rules to decide what kinds of things to include.
Time limit: 30 minutes.
Questions
About Your Timeline
- How does
knowing your family's history help you know yourself?
- Did you
go back 20 years? 10? 2? How would your time line change if
you changed how much time it covered?
- Is your
time line empty or full? Explain why. Are there spaces you want
filled in?
- Is there
a place on the time line when private events cross into public
experience?
- Was doing
the time line useful? Did it show you anything new?
Follow
Up
When you
have time, find out more about your identity by asking your parents,
grandparents and longtime neighbors and friends for details about
your past. What questions will you ask them? How have their lives
influenced yours? Bring your time line and get them to help you
fill in the blanks.
Exercise
Worksheet: A New Dictionary
This exercise
asks you: To think about what some important words mean to you,
words that you might use to tell your story or explain your AmeriCorps
work, based on your background and experience. Most dictionaries
try to give words meanings that everyone can accept, without any
personal interpretations. This is an exercise in putting self-interest
back into the words you use.
It helps
to encourage civic responsibility because: You get clues as to
what is important to you when you examine how your experience
influences your understanding of certain words. Knowing this helps
you see what problems you will be willing to work on and how you
will define these problems.
Instructions
Individually or in pairs: Without looking at a dictionary, define
some or all of the words listed below. Also, think about how these
words relate to your AmeriCorps work. Time limit: 15 minutes.
As a group:
Discuss your definitions. Time limit: 25 minutes.
Words:
Anger -Citizenship
- Conflict - Community - Democracy - Diversity - Education - Family
- Imagination - Judgment - Listening - Maturity - Negotiation
- Politics - Problem - Public - Private - Racism - Self-Interest
- Service - Sexism - Voluntarism - Wisdom - Work
Are there
other words you think need new definitions?
See Resource
A: Glossary for definitions to supplement your own.
Civic
Skill: Taking a Self-Inventory
Knowing
your history and its impact on you is the first step to figuring
out just who you are. But to translate this understanding to your
work requires that you glean the lessons from your stories, your
time line, even your vocabulary. One way to do this is to take
a self-inventory—a survey of your personal characteristics
and abilities.
Self-inventories
give you the opportunity to tie your self- interests to your capacities.
Knowing what you can do and what you have to contribute helps
develop your sense of civic responsibility by increasing your
feelings of efficacy. It changes the idea of civic responsibility
from something you should do to something you can do.
Sample
Self-Inventory Questions
- What values
are most important to you?
- What are
your strengths and weaknesses?
- What kind
of things do you enjoy doing? What things do you dislike?
- When have
you felt most successful? most powerful?
- What did
you enjoy the most about your favorite job? What did you learn
from that job?
- What has
been your greatest learning experience? What do you most want
to learn?
- Do you
work best alone, or with others? How do you interact with other
people?
- How would
other people describe you? What would others say you bring to
a group?
Once you
have a handle on the interests and capacities you bring to the
work of citizenship and service, you are ready to look at what
others bring to the work.
Exercise
Worksheet: Creating a Self-Inventory Matrix
This exercise
asks you to: Examine your interests and capacities in relation
to your citizenship and service work.
It helps
to encourage civic responsibility because: Understanding your
interests and abilities gives you a basis upon which to act. In
addition, knowing your limitations—what you don't like or
don't know—will give you clues as to what you need from your
colleagues in order to accomplish your goals.
Instructions
Fill in the following matrix on the following page in relation
to your AmeriCorps work. Highlight the things you don't do well,
but would like to, or need to learn to do better. Time limit:
15 minutes.
As a group
discuss what you've found. Do the matrices suggest new ways to
work and learn together? Time limit: 20 minutes.
*By listing
the things you do well and enjoy; the things you do well but dislike;
the things you don't do well but enjoy; and the things you don't
do well and also dislike in the appropriate boxes.
Manual
Index
Preface
Introduction: The Guide
Format and the Goals of AmeriCorps
Chapter One: The Framework:
Democracy, Citizenship, Politics and Service
Chapter Two: Encouraging (Civic) Responsibility
Chapter
Three: Strengthening Community (Capacity)
Chapter Four: Getting Things Done
Chapter Five: Expanding Opportunity
Resources:
Glossary, Bibliography, Other
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to Youth Index
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