Advocacy in Action: More than just an assignment

If I've learned anything from this week's Communication Activism pedagogues, it is that the classroom should be a place in which ideas for true activism are created, encouraged and acted on. Service learning projects like the Advocacy in Action project are not just term projects in which students have to engage in their worst fears, group work, for the entire semester, but a chance to support the community in practical ways that alleviate social issues - even if just a little bit. But do my students know this?

From their worried emails and the lines of students coming to ask questions after each class, all I can see is the stress they are under. It is November after all! But do they really understand the value of the advocacy they are doing? And the power they have to advocate for other issues outside the classroom? As we approach the final days of the Advocacy in Action project on Wednesday and Thursday, I'm excited to see what my students conclude about the assignment. While I anticipate not all of the presentations will be major successes, I genuinely think that many of my groups did understand the value of this project.

Not only will we aim to engage in these final presentations reflexively and in terms of the advocacy we accomplished for our partners, but hopefully in terms of our capabilities to advocate for others in the future and our intention to do so. As a major tenet of CAP, it is not only important to consider these social issues and self reflect on our roles in perpetuating them (CCP), but it is vital that we act in order to create change within the power structures that cause these issues to continue, and our classrooms are places in which we have the power to do both. It is more than just talk, but a call to action that sets CAP apart from other methods of pedagogy.

Similar to the Advocacy in Action project, De La Mare created a service learning style approach to her public speaking course, with the goal “to build connections where social systems draw separations” (p. 196). While courses delving in CCP will bring these issues to life, it is the responsibility of a CAP course to provide opportunities for students to act in and out of the classroom, or the materials necessary to create these activism opportunities. Although we as TAs may not be able to create course, or even just new assignments, that give concrete opportunities to promote advocacy among our students it is critical that we approach our classes with a “language of hope and possibility” (Simpson, p. 81) and encourage students to see their own capabilities of advocating for others in their interpretations of assignments and in their daily lives. 

I wouldn't say that this week's readings are the most impactful to me, I do believe that I can utilize Communication Activism Pedagogy for some serious good and learning among my future classrooms and communities. From service-learning projects to more overt methods of activism, it is important to apply what we learn in the classroom to the outside world, and the world we will engage with much longer after we all finish school. I'm excited to see my students' final takeaways for the Advocacy project this week, and even more excited for the future opportunities I have to promote CAP in the classroom.