Create an Ideal Citizen
Aims
- Collaborative and group work.
- Identify skills and qualities needed to create sustainable communities.
- Explore roles of an active citizen and how young people can contribute to their community.
Resource
- Large sheets of paper
- Marker pens
Instructions
Create (20 mins):
The young people should work in groups of five or six. Give each group a large sheet of paper and marker pens. The group must draw round one person to create the outline of a character who will be their 'ideal citizen'.
"This person is active within the community and would be a good
example of an 'ideal citizen'."
To create the 'ideal citizen' ask questions and tell the young people
to write down their responses on the character outline.
Possible Questions about the ideal citizen:
- Are they male or female?
- How old are they?
- What is their name?
- Where are they from?
- Where do they live?
- Who do they live with?
- What do they do for a job?
- What does this person do that's active within the community?
- Where do they do that?
- When do they do that?
- Who do they do that with?
- How did they get into that?
- How has that made the community a better place?
- What else might this person like to do?
- What are their hobbies?
- What goals do they have?
- What skills are needed to do the community work that this person does?
- What qualities does the person have that help the community work he does?
- How long will this person's community work last for?
The 'ideal citizen' can then be saved or displayed on the wall to provide a focus for following sessions.
If the young people are working on this in smaller groups, it is a good idea to get each group to hold up their 'ideal citizen' and feedback to the other groups about their display.