[Catherine Gilmartin]

Hi Darerca, I completely agree with you it about the strand of comparing and contrasting counties within Ireland which is industrial vs  agricultural and the lack of a ‘good’ lesson in text books. Much of the research would have to be done by the teacher but these lessons will hopefully take the sting out of this!

[Catherine Gilmartin]

While travelling & working abroad at time I was a little embarrassed to be so reluctant to eat/know about the different types of fish/sea creatures that are seen as delicacies on other menus. I was always met with the remark-but you live on small island, how can you not like fish! My father was a butcher, so we preferred the bovines as our food source-I suppose our agriculture provides so many jobs in the same way aquaculture provides employment for the coastal areas. Not only that but it provides a huge area of education and research, science, leisure activities and indeed the food industry. I was intrigued to hear how farming on land will soon become a rarity and how the area of aquaculture can be grown exponentially for sustainable growth as currently only 1-2% of our world’s oceans are used for aquaculture. The various intertidal zones will determine the type of fishing taking place and these undoubtedly have a huge knock-on effect both socially and economically.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

I chose this course because I have applied for the ARC Aquaculture remote classroom (last summer while completing another course) and I wanted to brush up on my knowledge in case we were lucky enough to be chosen and I saw another teacher sharing the BIM lessons and found them excellent. Both these social license projects are very interesting and very hands on for kids and you can easily cover many subjects covering one topic e.g. SESE, Literacy/Oral Language & STEM. As I teach in an Urban DEIS Band 1 school in the midlands many of our children have never even visited the sea/ocean and I feel either of these projects would benefit them greatly.
I have really enjoyed the introduction module to this course. I found it interesting and highly engaging. Both the ARC and The Taste the Atlantic project are very important in promoting social licensing of Aquaculture in Ireland and it is so important to make it accessible to all.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

Hi Christina, I really like your suggestion to encourage children to reflect on the school’s carbon footprint. You have outlined some excellent ideas for a whole school project too.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

Climate change is well and truly evident with the wet summer we have been having this year and the previous mild winters. Living in the northwest of Ireland (but teaching in Longford) it is obvious the disastrous effects on local lands due to repeated flooding. The soil is of poor quality at the best of times, but the constant rain hasn’t allowed for any sort of soakage. This flooding has resulted in the poaching of ground by cattle/sheep and an increase in feed costs as cattle have to be rehoused earlier than normal. It is not normal to house animals 10months of the year and only let them out for two. To explore these impacts further I would integrate local weather/rainfall data into Maths/Geography lessons. Students could construct their own weather instruments such as rain gauges or anemometers, observe and record weather patterns over a period of time and interview older member of the community to see if they have noticed changes. These hands-on learning experiences will ensure a sense of responsibility within the students and inspire them to hopefully take action and contribute to solutions to tackle this global issue.

3 actions which I would encourage children to take are:
1. Field trips to coastal areas to see how climate change is affecting them e.g. erosion.
2. Take part in the Microsoft Dreamscape challenge encouraging children to come up with their own solution to tackle climate change
3. Plant more trees in and around our school/local community to help the carbon cycle and carbon dioxide absorption.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

Our school population is very diverse with over 40 nationalities on the roll. We have a very inclusive atmosphere & inclusive culture where everyone is welcomed. In Longford, there are organisations such as Longford Community Resource, Longford county Development Board, Longford Women’s Link and Longford EDI Centre for the Unemployed that work tirelessly to assist and welcome refugees into the community. Within our school we have great support systems from School Completion programme, Play Therapists and an excellent Home School Liaison Officer who organise workshops, coffee mornings, parent/pupils’ activities e.g. cookery classes, wreath making. Refugees from the Ukraine have also been invited to come and speak to the school and share their experiences, the anniversary of the invasion into Ukraine is celebrated.

 

Africa Day & Cultural Days are celebrated throughout the year where children dress up in their native dress, bring in traditional food and/or share traditional songs and games. Senior classes also team up with junior classes and create a bilingual book to allow children to express their language/traditional stories also.

There is a dedicated EAL team also with a comprehensive program for refugees to help them begin to learn the language.

Non-uniform days, crazy hair days and discos are held throughout the year to raise funds for local refugee supports and international aid e.g. GOAL. Our student council organise it and encourage all children to take part and donate.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

I really like your idea of a buddy system Sean, the children would love that.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

<p style=”background: white; margin: 8.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm;”><span style=”font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: ‘Arial’,sans-serif; color: #323232;”>The Global Goals are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity for everyone while protecting the planet. The global goal I have chosen to focus on is Goal 13 Climate Action. Climate change is very obviously here, and children locally and internationally have been affected. Throughout the school year there have been many storms this year Debbie & Elin not to mention the localised flooding and countless breaks and lunches spent indoors due to torrential rain. There are many ways in which this could be addressed in the class. Through the step forward, step back game it would be a great active way to see how climate change affects people from different parts of the world adversely and indeed unjust climate change is. It really is those in the developing world who depend on agriculture/weather to earn money. Trocaire has a really good resource available online from 2015-Climate Change, Climate Justice that I would use as stimulus. I would then encourage group work allowing the children to research climate change solutions, prepare speeches for highlighting the devastating climate change and invite local councillors so the children could  present their speeches to them, hopefully encouraging change at local level. These activities would tie in nicely with the Microsoft Do your bit Dream space challenge also.</span></p>

[Catherine Gilmartin]

Hi Enda, you have highlighted some very important points and have shared some wonderful ideas on how to approach this SDG. Children love hands on learning and projects and I really like your idea of eco-teams as it would give the children a huge sense of ownership over their learning.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

Hi Colin this is a very interesting observation from a mixed class perspective. It definitely echoes societal expectations of a specific gender. When I was in secondary school it was very obvious what subjects were encouraged for boys and girls- home economics was timetabled against wood work so you could only pick one or the other and not try both.

[Catherine Gilmartin]

I feel that Development Education is incredibly important to teaching and learning as working and living  with others who are a different race/ethnicity is how Ireland is now. Ireland’s face has changed hugely in the last 40 years to now and it is important that each child has the ability to understand/empathise with what their neighbour has experienced. “The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World” by Ehigie (2021) highlights the importance of  Development education in promoting an understanding of global interconnectedness, social justice, and sustainable development.. I admired the quote in the article too from Daniel O’Connell, the great emancipator and feel that our former leaders have a wonderful insight/empathic relationship into the lives of those in the minority or those who were oppressed. To be a global citizen is to care and when teaching children in the senior end I feel it is always important to go back to History and to quote from the 1916 proclamation “…it wishes to cherish all children of the nation equally and oblivious to the differences”. By using this quote it would be an ideal way to encourage children & staff alike to appreciate the differences in humanity and the importance for all to be treated with love and respect.

 

To encourage fellow teachers to plan lessons developing global education I would encourage collaborative projects, and special events that promote cross-cultural understanding and empathy like taking part in the Concern Primary debating competition or the Microsoft Micro-bit Global Goals challenge would be excellent ways to engage senior classes in particular too.

 

[Catherine Gilmartin]

<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>I feel that Development Education is incredibly important to teaching and learning as working and living  with others who are a different race/ethnicity is how Ireland is now. Ireland’s face has changed hugely in the last 40 years to now and it is important that each child has the ability to understand/empathise with what their neighbour has experienced.</span><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>“The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World” by Ehigie (2021) highlights the importance of  Development education in promoting an understanding of global interconnectedness, social justice, and sustainable development.</span><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>. I admired the quote in the article too from Daniel O’Connell, the great emancipator and feel that our former leaders have a wonderful insight/empathetic relationship into the lives of those in the minority or those who were oppressed.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr”></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>To be a global citizen is to care and when teaching children in the senior end I feel it is always important to go back to History and to quote from the 1916 proclamation “…it wishes to cherish all children of the nation equally and oblivious to the differences”. By using this quote it would be an ideal way to encourage children & staff alike to appreciate the differences in humanity and the importance for all to be treated with love and respect. </span></p>
<p dir=”ltr”><span id=”docs-internal-guid-325ad61a-7fff-e5c6-4c92-a6b9c0b0b755″><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;”>To encourage fellow teachers to plan lessons developing global education I would encourage collaborative projects, and special events that promote cross-cultural understanding and empathy like taking part in the Concern Primary debating competition or the Microsoft Micro-bit Global Goals challenge would be excellent ways to engage senior classes in particular too. </span></span></p>
<span id=”docs-internal-guid-2e82c392-7fff-68fd-15e0-ad68b35a27aa”> </span>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>To encourage fellow teachers to plan lessons developing global education I would encourage collaborative projects, and special events that promote cross-cultural understanding and empathy like taking part in the Concern Primary debating competition or the Microsoft Micro-bit Global Goals challenge would be excellent ways to engage senior classes in particular too. </span></p>

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