Whole Earth Curriculum WEC
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Lesson 07 — Ordinary People, Changing What Was Unfair

Learners describe **how ordinary people have worked together to change something unfair**, using a historical or local example. They learn a four-part frame — the unfair thing, the ordinary people, the action together, the change — trace a worked example (the Green Belt Movement), then trace change-story cards and record one story.

D09 P4: Contextual & Ecological Awareness D09.S3 45 minutes Draft
Objectives

Objectives

  • D09.S3.06.02 Describe how ordinary people have worked together to change something unfair, using a historical or local example.

Essential question

How have ordinary people worked together to change something unfair?

Key vocabulary
collective actionorganizeordinary peoplechangeunfair
Materials

Standard materials

  • Before-and-after change poster · 1 A two-panel diagram — 'before' (something unfair) and 'after' (it changed) — with the steps ordinary people took in between
  • Change-story cards · 1 set per group Age-appropriate true accounts of ordinary people changing something unfair (the Green Belt Movement planting trees against deforestation; neighbors winning a shared well; students getting a dangerous crossing fixed) with 'who acted?' and 'what changed?' prompts
  • Change-story page · 1 per learner A page to record one change story: the unfair thing, the ordinary people, what they did together, and what changed

Low-tech / no-cost

  • A told change story Tell one true story aloud — the unfair thing, the ordinary people, the action, the change — and have learners retell the four parts
  • Acted before-and-after Act out the unfair situation and then the changed one; the group names what the ordinary people did in between

Enriched / lab & device

  • A short documentary clip or reading · 1 A brief age-appropriate account of a real collective-action story, analyzed with the four-part frame
  • A class change-story gallery · 1 A shared display where learners post the stories they traced and read each other's, noticing what made each change happen
Works in different contexts
  • large-group Trace one change story together on the poster, then have groups work a card and share 'the ordinary people and what changed' in one sentence
  • multi-age Younger learners name the unfair thing and what changed; older learners name the steps ordinary people took together
  • self-directed A learner reads a change-story card, fills the four-part page, and researches or recalls one local change story to add
  • level-grouped Learners ready to extend compare two change stories and explain what made one succeed where the other struggled
  • outdoor-only Walk a 'before' spot to an 'after' spot, naming at each step what ordinary people did together to move the change along
A before-and-after change diagram. The left panel, labeled 'before,' shows a bare hillside with a caption 'forest being cut down.' An arrow labeled 'ordinary people worked together' leads to the right panel, labeled 'after,' showing the same hillside with many small planted trees and a caption 'trees replanted, land cared for.' Below, four labeled steps run left to right: 'see the unfair thing,' 'join together,' 'act over time,' 'the change holds.' Arrows, labels, and shapes carry the meaning, not color alone.
A before-and-after change diagram. The left panel, labeled 'before,' shows a bare hillside with a caption 'forest being cut down.' An arrow labeled 'ordinary people worked together' leads to the right panel, labeled 'after,' showing the same hillside with many small planted trees and a caption 'trees replanted, land cared for.' Below, four labeled steps run left to right: 'see the unfair thing,' 'join together,' 'act over time,' 'the change holds.' Arrows, labels, and shapes carry the meaning, not color alone.

Lesson 7 — Ordinary People, Changing What Was Unfair

Summary

Learners describe how ordinary people have worked together to change something unfair, using a historical or local example. They learn a four-part frame — the unfair thing, the ordinary people, the action together, the change — trace a worked example (the Green Belt Movement), then trace change-story cards and record one story of their own.

Objectives

  • Describe how ordinary people have worked together to change something unfair, using a historical or local example. (D09.S3.06.02)

Connection

No hero with a cape — just neighbors, or students, or farmers, deciding together that something unfair would not stay. A hillside being stripped of its trees; a road with no safe place to cross; a village with no clean well. Ordinary people see it, join together, and keep acting until it changes. That is collective action — and it has moved more of the world than any single ruler ever did.

Materials

  • Before-and-after change poster
  • Change-story cards
  • Change-story page

Preparation

  • Print or draw the before-and-after change poster (two panels + the steps between).
  • Copy change-story cards for each group and a change-story page for each learner.
  • Prepare one told change story (the Green Belt Movement, or a local example) for the opening.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The idea to land: ordinary people, working together, can change something unfair — and history is full of it. Teach the four-part frame — the unfair thing / the ordinary people / what they did together / what changed — as a worked example (Kirschner, Sweller & Clark, 2006). Use true, age-appropriate, non-shaming examples: the Green Belt Movement (founded 1977 by Wangari Maathai with other women in Kenya, planting trees against deforestation — later spreading to other African countries and planting over thirty million trees; she won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize); or a local story your learners know (a crossing fixed, a well won, a space reclaimed). The point is how ordinary people do it, not hero-worship — name the many, not one name. Attach hope, not despair: unfair things are changed. Distinguish evidence from values: what happened, who acted, and what changed are facts we can check; that people should act together against unfairness is a value this curriculum holds and offers to learners as a value, not a command. Carry the environment lens honestly: some of the most famous collective actions protect the shared environment — trees, water, land — because the environment is part of the common good. See docs/facilitation.md.

Procedure

  1. Gather (5 min). You have compared ways of deciding. Now: who actually changes things when they are unfair? Try to recall one time you saw a group of people change something together. (Pause.) Today you learn the pattern.
  2. Meet the four-part frame (10 min). Look at the poster. Every change story has four parts: the unfair thing (what was wrong), the ordinary people (no single hero — many), what they did together (organize, act, keep at it), and what changed. Ordinary people change unfair things by joining together and staying with it.
  3. Worked example (10 min). Trace one together. The unfair thing: a hillside being stripped of trees. The ordinary people: farmers and neighbors — mostly women. What they did together: in 1977, Wangari Maathai and others started the Green Belt Movement, planting trees together; it spread to other African countries and planted over thirty million trees. What changed: the land was re-greened, and the movement grew far beyond one hillside. (Maathai later won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.) Notice: ordinary people, acting together, over time.
  4. Practice with a partner (10 min). Take a change-story card. Fill the four parts: the unfair thing, the ordinary people, what they did together, and what changed. Say it aloud in one sentence each.
  5. Record your own (10 min). On your page, write one change story you know — from a card, from near home, or from a place you have heard of — using all four parts. This page is a portfolio piece for the unit.

Differentiation

  • Support: Provide a card with two of the four parts filled in; the learner completes the others with a sentence starter (“The ordinary people were ___; what changed was ___”).
  • Extension: Compare two change stories and explain what made one succeed where the other struggled (numbers, allies, persistence, timing).

Assessment

  • Formative (observation): Can the learner name all four parts of a change story — the unfair thing, the ordinary people, the action together, and the change?
  • Portfolio: The change-story page, kept as the unit’s collective-action artifact.

Home connection

Ask someone at home about a time ordinary people (not rulers) changed something unfair — nearby or in history — and name the four parts together.

Resources