Imagining Action: A Reading Response for Reactions

Question 4: Imagining Action

• Based on something you’ve read, what is something you could do to promote fairness, awareness, or healing? 
• Where could you go to learn more?
• What small step could you take? 

Introducing This Reading Response to Students

This category was born out of my students’ RRs: I noticed that often, after reading something disturbing, unjust, or emotionally charged, they would express their feelings, but the RR would end on a note of frustration. They didn’t know what could be done, either in the moment or on a larger scale.

Young people are frequently confronted with the seemingly impossible issues of our world, issues that have resulted from decades, or centuries, of certain trajectories. Instead of letting their minds marinate in feelings ranging from a low-grade sense of constant dread to moments of utter despair, we must help them develop the habit of envisioning solutions.

We must emphasize to students that small actions are as important and impactful as larger gestures, if not more, and that each of them has the power to contribute to change. Sometimes students use this category to discuss mental shifts, and those count as well. Any idea that a student feels inspired to include here is valid.

To help them envision possible actions, give them an article about an issue such as climate change, gender inequality, bullying, or global hunger. Or students could work in pairs to investigate the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the recommendations that accompany each one. Have them work together to name potential actions—things like letter writing, collecting material donations, finding a related local organization, joining a club at school, or finding more information. Then ask them to arrange their ideas on a continuum, starting with actions they could do easily on their own and building toward actions that require more coordination, time, energy, and support. Seeing these options can give students a foothold for taking action and can also help them see paths for more in-depth work.

Emphasize to students the idea of acting “glocally.” Focusing on the “glocal” means seeing a global issue in one’s local area. The issue may manifest itself differently than it looks in a text: hunger in an Indian village, for example, might look different from hunger in an American town, but it is the same issue. Ask students to think about what actions they can take in their city, school, or home. Helping students understand that they have power to contribute to solutions will help them emotionally deal with the issues of our world. They are not helpless bystanders; they can initiate change in themselves and others.

Student Examples

Imagining Action for “Ukraine Crisis,” by Yanni (grade 10)

The war between Ukraine and Russia has broken headlines everywhere and has affected everyone. I was moved by how this war unfairly takes the lives and souls out of countless amounts of families. The page “Ukraine Crisis” focuses on how “fighting in Ukraine has forced children and families to seek refuge in neighboring countries, with nearly 16 million people having now crossed the borders” (savethechildren.org). The war shreds families apart and takes every last bit of these children’s childhoods from them. It’s inhumane and can’t just be ignored. Even though a single donation from just me might not make a difference overall, that donation could directly save a child. The best thing to do to help is to continue to raise awareness so as many people as possible donate and help save the children from a war they couldn’t control. [TEXT: SAVE THE CHILDREN N.D.]

Imagining Action for The Alchemist, by Meredith (grade 10)

As I was reading, I was inspired to follow my own “Personal Legend.” I was able to pick up on some tips of how Santiago found his journey. Although I don’t think an old king will approach me and tell me I need to pursue treasure, or that I will ever be able to turn myself into wind and speak to the desert, something that I can apply is paying attention to the opportunities that the world presents to me instead of waiting for everything to go my way. Sometimes there are great opportunities in front of you, only you can’t see them because you are too blinded by what you thought you wanted or what you had to be. A specific quote that inspired me is, “[t]o realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation” (Coelho 24). I can apply all the tactics that Santiago explored in the book of paying attention to the world around him to exemplify opportunities for myself and find where life wants me to be. [TEXT: COELHO 2014]

First, Respond to the Student

Both Yanni and Meredith were clearly personally moved by their texts and reactions. Yanni’s idea for action helped him feel less powerless in the face of an unjust crisis. Even so, I wanted him to take one more step to make his instinct a concrete reality. So often, our good ideas for action fail to materialize. Meredith, too, had a genuine call to discover her authentic path; I wanted to talk about specific practices that could facilitate the journey and keep her focused on it. She also mentioned “what you had to be,” which touched upon society’s expectations, and I wanted her to explore that idea a bit more as well. Verbalizing the expectations—naming them—would help her identify what felt inauthentic to her.

Then, Develop Critical Consciousness

Yanni was emotionally stirred by the website, and I wanted him to analyze why. To follow up the question about identifying effective elements on the website, I could have asked him to label those elements as logos, ethos, or pathos. In doing this, Yanni would see how effective persuasion can work for a worthy cause. In addition, I wanted both students to understand that they are capable of actually acting; feeling moved and identifying actions are one thing, but doing something is another. Critical consciousness is ultimately about how we live our lives: once our thinking develops and we can see situations and issues more clearly and deeply, we will live accordingly. This level of transformation, in thinking and being, is the goal not only of this book but of education itself.