7th Grade Culmination: Pay it Forward

by Ani
This term 7th graders have been working hard on The Pay It Forward Project. This has been a culminating project that is central to the 7th-grade theme of creating “positive change from the ground up.” Students worked to develop their own individual voices and learned to advocate for the rights and needs of others. Seventh graders chose issues they found personally meaningful that were rooted in Washington and then crafted multiple ways to express their understanding and ideas for solutions. Each student worked to make a change starting at “the faucet” level by identifying, researching, and addressing the root causes of the issue.  

Throughout the term, students learned and practiced skills that supported them as they assumed the role of activists. Students used class time to accomplish an impressive number of tasks. They developed independent research skills and collected their research on note cards from multiple sources. They considered the difference between a root cause and an observable problem and created an “Issue Tree” poster to reflect those identified root causes and impacts. Students developed empathy by recognizing and reflecting on multiple perspectives. Students created a stakeholder analysis where they looked at who does and doesn't hold power in their issue, and who might benefit from the system staying the same and the system changing.