Social Justice. Around our own neighborhoods or within the Global Communities
As a grade eight student, I signed up to be part of the leadership class that required us to commit to twenty hours of community service. As an adolescent it was transformational to see suffering that was occurring not far from where I lived and find ways that I could alleviate it. We were responsible for finding and contacting organizations, finding transportation, along with finding ways to support our chosen organization by raising funds through bake sales, talent shows etc. As a teenager it helped me burst out of the small world that I was accustom to and realize that as an individual I am able to make a difference in a local and global setting. Whether it was as simple as making a senior citizen smile or knowing that I had been part of a machine that contributed to serving a dinner meal at the Mustard seed. It also helped develop leadership skills to take ownership to break out of my shell and communicate with adults as equally contributing member of society.
From on environmental standpoint, In my grade 4 science I remember our teacher asking us to collect various garbage bins from classrooms. We then proceeded to dig through the garbage and make pile for recyclable objects, a pile for organic material that could be utilized for composting and a pile for trash. To this day I can still remember being amazed at just how much of the ‘trash’ could be utilized further. At the end of the sorting process resided a significantly decreased pile of trash fit for the city dump. Having this hand on approach to ‘waste in our classroom’ helped me to construct mentally the environment impact or ecological impact within my own life and could later grasp the large and vexing problem of ‘waste within our global society.’
Service projects can be utilized in many different manners; they can be utilized as a main focal subject matter and then be branched out into other subjects for support. For example if the class project was to raise money and awareness for people effected by the earthquake in Japan. In Language Arts as a teacher I would try to connect with another grade four classroom with pen pals to help to bridge the gap with technology. Service projects can be district wide, school wide or within a single class room. In efforts not to recreate the wheel I researched the efforts of the ‘Toronto District School Board” Social Action Plan. Their vision statement: for all schools in the Toronto District School Board to have an opportunity to learn about local and global issues and to participate in actions that affect positive change. That is made possible by a special ‘free the children event’, resources and in services for teachers to learn how to unpack their knowledge of students ‘social justice.’
Other excellent resources to bring Social Justice topics into the class room is through literature with guided questions to follow. Also an example of a cross curricular learning tool presented by Unicef called “When Disaster Strikes”- deals with the devastating flooding in Pakistan. It reaches all grade level K-12 and provides a comprehensive guide to presenting information in a sensitive yet powerful way.
Service projects helped me connect to society, by providing me with responsibility which helped me become a Canadian citizen. Social justice within the social studies curriculum can be intimately intertwined within Alberta’s program of Studies objectives which are to be: critical and creative thinkers, to perform research, to enhance decision making and problem solving. I believe that the greatest roadblock to change is apprehension and apathy that states that we cannot change the way things are and thus should conserve our energy and float on. As a future educator I want to be able to equip my students with the mindset to be change makers.
The Photo Used: Is called "Lonely Hands" Maccarese (Rome), Italy (July, 2004). This shot is dedicated to all people that opening their hands find every day only sand, to all people of Africa that die for water lack