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The effects of climate change can be seen in the amount of school closures in the last two academic years as a result of weather and weather warnings. This was never the case before. I left primary school in 2008 and vaguely recall such time off due to weather warnings. It seems to become the norm now. Although children love the idea of a snow day and extra time off, when we reflect on this it is an alarming consequence of climate change. Our winters are colder and more unpredictable and our summers much hotter with random bursts of heatwaves. Researching into this as a class project could be very influential for students. As mentioned in this module, climate change affects everyone even if the most marginalised countries are those most affected, it is important we realise we are not exempt from the devastating consequences of climate change.
A good idea would be to keep a weather diary. This provided lots of integration opportunities with time in maths. Children would log the weather every day on every month. At the end of every term, we could look back on the weather encountered during the last few months. Questioning could occur surrounding how many sunny days, how many rainy days? Was the weather in line with what it should stereotypically be at that time of year. There are endless opportunities for teaching and learning. I think it is important to use the children’s immediate environment as a starting point for lessons, our surrounding community, our county and our country. Although there are great lessons worldwide for example bushfires in Australia. I think learning will be more meaningful for children when it is related to their personal life experience. This learning could be then be built on by expanding to examples worldwide
Light monitors and water watchers are a great idea. Children love having responsibility and it is so important for them to see how we can all work together to achieve bigger goals for our climate
The Cork Migrant Centre was established in 2006 and acts as an advocacy for migrant children and families. It offers a wide range of services. The goal of these services is to empower children and families and provide them with the best opportunities possible. They provide coffee mornings and English classes all free of charge. I think it is very important to provide a safe haven for migrant families. The Cork Migrant Centre was founded by the Presentation sisters. Their work derives from Nano Nagle, who worked very hard to help those at risk of educational disadvantage in Cork. It is inspiring to see the effect of Nano Nagle so many years on and how her influence can still be seen today through the establishment of the Cork Migrant Centre
I would choose the goal of Renewable Energy as our school has recently gotten solar panels fitted. This provides the school as a starting point for learning. The children can see the solar panels in action and research work can occur into the uses of solar panels. We could explore the benefits these have for our school and for the environment and also some drawbacks that may occur.
I would agree climate change is a very important topic. There are some great ways to explore this in the classroom.
Gender Sterotypes influence children from a young age. It is import at these stereotypes are challenged and development education provides lots of opportunities for this to happen. It has been very interesting to read different scenarios other teachers have encountered on this post. I have encountered a few gender stereotypes in my classroom.
Last year I was teaching junior infants in an all male school. At the beginning of the year, the children asked why we had a toy kitchen in the classroom, I responded that it was for play time. One boy questioned why boys would be playing with the kitchen. This emphasised to me that these sterotypes start as young as 5 years old. It was interesting to see that at the beginning of the year, the children avoided the kitchen however once one child started playing with it they all did,
Another example is whilst doing art and painting spring flowers. We discussed different colours we would need to paint the flowers. A variety of colours were discussed for example, green for the leaves, yellow for the petals. The children were provided with a variety of different pastel colours for their flowers and were allowed to use whatever colour they liked. Pink was one of the fewer options we saw used. Although no one mentioned anything about the colour pink, it was interesting to see it was not the children’s colour preference. I think this re-emphasised for me gender stereotypes and how society emphasises boys liking blue and girls liking pink from as young as birth!Very interesting to see the changes that a co educational approach will bring about. It also provides lots of opportunities to challenge gender stereotypes
I would agree that development education is very important in schools today. The paper was very insightful and provided lots of points of thought. Today, Schools are very diverse. There are lots of opportunities to teach development education, in particular integration opportunities across a wide range of subjects. I would definitely focus on the SESE subjects as a starting point but could also make links to painting in visual arts and debates in English. As mentioned in this module, there should not be an emphasis on extra lessons and the focus should be on learner centred classrooms and process centered learning. These are two very important points I would take away. Students today are exposed to lots in social media and on the news. As a teacher, I think it is important to teach lessons and explore issues of development education that I would be confident in teaching. The global goals are a good starting point for lessons and provide a good focus. These could be incorporated into a whole school plan where a focus on a different goal or multiple goals occurs per term
Very informative response Claire. I too agree that classrooms today are so diverse and it is very important that development education is a focus!
Going to a local beach is a great idea and uses the immediate environment as the children’s starting point for learning! It is excellent being in close proximity to the beach. Being in a city school we do not have this opportunity with the high costs of buses !
Using an atlas is a great starting point for these lessons. Very hands on activity for the children! They could work in pairs or groups for this to encourage collaboration
Yeah I do agree a big screen would be more effective! Perhaps using a projector in school would be a way to do this
