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Micro-Charter Template

Purpose​

This template helps learners build a governing document for a small, real, or safely fictionalized domain.

When to Use It​

  • Week 13
  • Weeks 14-18 as the base document for amendments, rulings, and appeals

Student Directions​

Choose a low-stakes domain you care about. Then build a Charter with a purpose, rules, rights, procedures, and a way to revise it later.

Facilitator Notes​

  • No one should be pressured to sign.
  • Use low-stakes domains such as game night, a reading corner, a shared project space, a family meeting structure, a library club, a youth-group table, an apartment common room, or a server with willing participants.
  • If participants do not want to sign a real Charter, use a fictional or temporary domain.
  • This document is a governance tool, not a claim that it automatically becomes a legal contract.
  • Build in access and privacy supports when they matter.

Template​

THE ____________________ MICRO-CHARTER

Date drafted:
Date ratified:
Current version:

PREAMBLE
This Charter exists to:

WHO IT APPLIES TO
Members or participants:

DEFINITIONS
Important words and what they mean:

RULES
Rule 1:
Purpose:

Rule 2:
Purpose:

Rule 3:
Purpose:

RIGHTS
Right 1:
What it protects:

Right 2:
What it protects:

RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibility 1:
Why it matters:

Responsibility 2:
Why it matters:

ROLES OR POWERS
Who can make rules:
Who enforces them:
Who decides disputes:

ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION SUPPORTS
What people may need to take part fairly:

DISPUTE-RESOLUTION PROCESS
How a case starts:
Who hears it:
What evidence can be used:
How both sides are heard:
What remedy is available:

APPEAL OR REVIEW
How a ruling can be reviewed:

AMENDMENT PROCEDURE
Who may propose an amendment:
How it is approved:
How it is recorded:

RATIFICATION
Names, initials, or signatures of willing participants:

Younger Learner Adaptation​

  • Use two rules and one right.
  • Let the learner dictate the preamble.
  • Use simple language and drawings.

Older Learner Extension​

  • Add a priority rule explaining what happens when a right conflicts with an ordinary rule.
  • Add version history for amendments.
  • Compare the Micro-Charter with a real constitution, club charter, or game community policy.
  • Add a note on how translation, captions, AAC, or visual supports will be handled if the group needs them.