Senior year of high school is an exciting time for students. For many students, it is the last year that they will be with their core group of friends before going their separate ways. By second semester of senior year, most students know which college or pathway they will take once they graduate. If it hasn’t already, senioritis kicks in around this time. As a secondary social studies teacher, you might be wondering what to do with your students. How can you possibly reel them back in??? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. If you’re wondering what to do with your seniors, you might want to check out my service learning project! 

With this service learning project, students research relevant issues in their community and find solutions for these problems. By the end of this project, students deliver a speech to their peers explaining how to tackle these issues. 

I’ll walk you through the steps of this project, but you can click here if you want to purchase the complete project. 

Step 1

Step 1 is to introduce students to the project. Then have students pick a topic of their choice. Remind students that it is important that they choose a social injustice that is important to them. If students have trouble coming up with a topic of their own, you may provide them with a list to choose from. Possible topics are: the opioid epidemic, rising costs of college tuition, hate crimes in the U.S., the rise of cancer in the U.S., etc. 

Give students some time to pick an issue of their choice. The more relevant an issue is to them, the more invested students will be in completing this project. 

Step 2

After students have had time to choose an injustice, students will research their topic. Doing research may seem complicated for high school students, but you can use the following guide to help students. As students complete their research, have them keep in mind the following:

1. Prove the injustice exists (How do we know this is a problem? What statistics, facts, or stories prove this is a problem?)
2. Identify the causes of this injustice (what causes this problem to exist? Why does it exist?)
3. Identify the effects of this injustice (How has this problem impacted people?)
4. Identify how people tried to fix this injustice (What have organizations, non-profits, or political leaders tried to fix this injustice?)

Speech!

Next, students will write a soap box speech about the social injustice they have chosen. You can explain to them that soap box speeches originate from the days when speakers would stand on wood crates and make impromptu speeches about a community issue or topic.  The purpose of soap box speeches was to persuade their audience to care about and do something about the issue that was presented. 

Students can use the following format to help them write their speech:

• Topic
• Problem
• Resources 
• Call to Action 

To help students write their speech, you can show them examples of students giving soap box speeches. These examples can be found at this link.

Give students a few days to write their speeches. You may also choose to go over engaging speech “openings” and “closers.”

After students have written their speeches, give them  time to practice their speech. Then set aside a day where students will deliver their speeches to their peers. You may invite other classes, teachers, school administrators, and even parents to watch their students give their speeches. 

If you’re interested in purchasing my complete service learning project, you can click on this link. My service learning project includes an a suggested teacher guide, rubrics and checklists, and sample annotated bibliography.