A petition is a document that is signed by many people and sent to an authority figure in order to promote a specific change. Petitions have been around in different forms for hundreds of years and were heavily used in protest in Britain back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Teach your students this simple form of finding strength in numbers.

What's Your Gripe?

The first thing you need to know is what your complaint or request is. Keep it fairly simple so when you ask for signatures, it doesn't take too much time for someone to understand the issue and decide if they want to support it or not. It should also be very specific so that whomever you are sending it to knows exactly what they are being asked to do. Saying, “protect the environment” is far too broad, as is “stop global warming.” You want to create a catchy headline like “I have to clean up my messes; polluters should clean up theirs!” Then describe the problem and identify a solution. Make room for many lines where people can sign their names and write their addresses. Staple extra sheets to the cover as you gather more names. Always know in advance who you need to send it to and who has the power to answer your request.

Nabbing Names

Now that you have your petition all ready, how do your students gather names for it? Depending on their age, you can simply have them get family and friends to sign it, or if they are older, they can go around the neighborhood with a parent or with a friend to gather names. They can ask to stand in front of a local grocery store to solicit customer signatures or in front of another heavily trafficked local business. You can also ask to leave them on the checkout counters at local businesses or the library. Explain to your students to make sure to respect people's space and opinion. You should never make a person feel bad for not signing or approach them if they don't want to be approached. After a predetermined amount of time, gather everyone's signatures and mail them to the person you want to persuade, or visit the office and hand the signatures over personally.