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I thoroughly agree here. I too teach on a a special class and hands on practical activities are so meaningful to children and physically show them how they can make a change, like you said no matter how small. Change has to start somewhere and they will begin to identify this through small interactions such as turning off the lights and recycling properly. Explaining to them the reasoning behind turning off the lights etc is also so important.
Climate change has been ever so evident in our local school area in recent times. Storms have been more brutal and more frequent and flooding has hampered our local school are as our school is very closely situated to the sea. This flooding hampers children’s journeys to school often resulting in children arriving late and having to go home early due to tides.
This has helped the children to be huge a valuable insight into climate change and the impacts. It shows them impacts on a local and personal level.
Our school is quite passionate about climate change and recently took on an initiative about sustainable clothing and buying and wearing clothes from
Reputable sustainable suppliers. We had a charity shop wear to school day whereby each child had a limit of €5 to create an outfit from a local charity shop and wear it to school. This really helped the children to realise re using clothes helps with sustainability.
This also feeds into SSE and school evaluation, embedding these values into our wellbeing and over school ethos.I thoroughly agree about the library. Children see this as a safe and secure place. I am also delighted to see a section dedicated to other nationalities for children with books in all languages etc and child friendly . Here , new families can meet people and few welcomed. Circle time is such a fun, natural and relaxed way to discuss such issues. Children feel safe and comfortable and there is no pressure on anyone. I love the idea of a multicultural day for all families as then we are not just focusing on one culture we are focusing in on many.
We have an organisation called friends of asylum seekers in our local town. Here they run solely on volunteers whereby they help families to over come obstacles in local education: they help with homework, language barriers etc. They also do other activities such as art, games etc.
I would prepare the children within the class if a new student was joining us. Explain about their country and some of the background. It is important to incorporate some of their culture in through food, clothes , celebration days etc.
Google translate is widely used in our school during parent teacher meetings with new parents to over come the language barrier. We also currently use it with another child who now in turns sees it as a vital tool for communication with teachers and students alike. This really helps break down the language barrier and gives the child a voice and sense of security.I thoroughly agree that access to housing and appropriate accommodation is a serious problem in Ireland. Education begins at home and if our children do not have access to safe and secure accommodations then this has a knock on effect on their education. They are lot mentally prepared to learn or develop in school if they don’t feel secure at home.
We need to do better for our children. Linking in with local charities especially homeless charities would be such a wonderful way for children to learn and develop empathy.I’m choosing lesson 4, education and inequality. In Ireland we are fortunate to have a strong education system but unfortunately this does not mean every child has the same access to education. I’ve seen it over the years working in different areas of Ireland and children coming from different socio economic backgrounds; lack of access to materials, resources, transport to school and learning materials.
I work in a special class and it is so hard to watch some families suffer due to lack of supports. Some families have the money to afford private supports but unfortunately a lot of families don’t and these families endure severe stress over not being able to afford resources to enhance their child’s development.
I think having open class discussions about education inequality both local and worldwide is a great resource for children and I feel they would have some great contributions to make. This would also feed into our SSE for a school’s as a whole.SSE is indeed an invaluable way for shaping and eliminating these gender stereotypes. A classroom audit of toys and play items is an utmost must in every classroom. Often we just use what’s there and let that be that but indeed we need to provide the children with the right tools for open discussion though play. Modelling good gender roles within the school is also paramount as children soak up adult behaviour and start to model this themselves!
From my experience within schools it is clear that children are very much exposed to the should and shouldn’t from a very young age when in comes to gender stereotypes. It is clear that most boys are told they should be strong and brave and girls more gentle and quietly spoken.
It is our job within the classroom to try and shape and eliminate these gender stereotypes. Play is vital with helping on this area. Both boy and girl dolls should be readily available within every classroom. Both boys and girls alike should be encouraged to play in each area including the dolls and indeed the girls in the construction/ vehicles area.
Open discussion is indeed vital when it comes to shaping gender stereotypes. We need to challenge these should and shouldn’t views. We need need to show openness as educators and listen to the children’s views and indeed model good gender views ourselves as adults.I love the idea of a global awareness week and also choosing a different focus country each year. These would be great initiatives for a school. Also these initiatives a would be so great for student involvement. Building links with local organisations is also a wonderful way to incorporate community involvement and initiatives.
I think involving parents and getting feedback from parents is also invaluable so these initiatives continue into the home community.I totally agree that there is so much misinformation out there especially on recent years and this is such a powerful tool to try and help combat that. We as teachers have such an important role to do this and we can hopefully help shape the future of children’s thoughts and actions thorough this.
I agree that SET is a wonderful fun way to incorporate project work which all children really enjoy and become practically involved in.
Involving this through the whole school development plan is also a great initiative as it becomes a whole school plan and involves all members of staff instead of it being left to one or two people.Eghies paper on global development really struck me as a powerful informative paper. It really strikes me that we can really help children make changes throughout the world on a global level and not just locally. It really empowers children’s actions to become responsible critical thinkers and make responsible decisions and actions both locally and globally and appreciate diversity.
I really feel we can make a change within the curriculum as a whole throughout the school and not just within one stand alone subject. This can be incorporated within a lot of subjects for example; English through worldwide stories, SESE through fairtrade and world issues, SPHE through decision making.
I feel I can inform my colleagues and share resources throughout the school. We can have an assigned notice board for all information.It can be made a whole school and community initiative through world celebrations, fairtrade initiatives within the school community etc.