Human Rights Unit Plan CGW4U- Canadian and …trollingatlantis.com/trollingatlantis/CGW4U_files...1...

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Human Rights Unit Plan CGW4U- Canadian and World Issues

Statement of Beliefs... our mission or vision of geography as a

subject

Geography is an integrative subject that has the ability to bring a variety of perspectives, viewpoints and understandings to the study of people, places and environments. The importance of geographic literacy helps to equip our students to view the world from physically, socially, and politically diverse standpoints. Geography is not just about understanding maps and name-places, but is a discipline that strives to ask questions and find answers about the environment and its processes. In a world where our physical environment is consistently threatened and widely discussed in popular culture, geographers have a duty to teach our students about the interconnectedness and fine balance of our earth. Geography as a subject can intrigue our students in many important ways. It captures their imagination and encourages curiosity about the world, its inhabitants and places (De Souza, 1994). As the interrelatedness of our world increases, the functional requirement of geography becomes more important. People are better equipped to solve issues at the local, regional, and global levels when they are geographically literate and believe in the utility of the discipline.

Rationale for Inclusion of this Unit in this Course... why should students learn what you are expecting them to learn

Our unit on Human Rights is an important inclusion in the Canadian and World Issues: A Geographic Analysis course, as it asks students to consider a dominant global issue through the lens of a geographer and pushes our students to consider how people, places, and environment affect human rights abuses worldwide. By investigating this topic, students come to understand how cultural, economic, and geopolitical relationships can affect the ability to meet basic human needs. The unit design followed Design-Down Principles and follows this order: Day 1: Introductory lesson Day 2 – 3: Women’s Rights Day 4 – 5: Children’s Rights Day 6: Guest Speaker Day 7 – 9: Culminating Activity preparation (e.g., lessons taught on research methodologies, library investigation) Day 10 – 11: Culminating Activity Presentations

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The purpose of our unit seeks to further our student’s geographic literacy by creating meaningful lessons that should lead to student success on the culminating activity of the unit. We believe our unit will help our students think critically about this geographic topic and apply concepts accordingly through various learning activities. The lessons created for this unit are designed to enhance student’s higher-order thinking by using a breadth of instructional strategies that accommodate various learner needs and multiple intelligences. At least one expectation from the Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication strand was included in each lesson to build on student’s prior knowledge and strengths. By combining various formal and informal assessment strategies through the course of the unit, we wanted to be able to diagnose our student’s individual needs, but also guide our teaching and allow us to understand whether certain learning expectations were being met. Our central goal for this unit was to provide students with the opportunity to formulate questions, locate information, develop informed opinions, and present their ideas about Human Rights, thereby developing an enduring understanding of topic.

Unit Learning Expectations Overall Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems

- Explain how the earth’s human systems are interconnected in multiple and complex ways

- Analyse the causes and effects of economic disparities around the world

- Compare the cultural, economic, and political aspirations of selected groups and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

Human Environment Interactions

- Analyse the impact of selected global trends on people at the local, national and global level

Global Connections

- Evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impact of strategies for sustainable development implemented by a variety of individuals, organizations, and institutions

Understanding and Managing Change

- Evaluate the effectiveness of short-term and long-term solutions to geographic problems and issues at the local, national, and global level

Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication

- Use the methods and tools of geographic inquiry to locate, gather, evaluate, and organize information

- Communicate the results of geographic inquiries, using appropriate terms and concepts and a variety of forms and techniques

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Specific Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems

- Identify the social, economic, cultural, political, or ecological components of selected geographic issues

- Analyse appropriate statistical indicators (e.g., those relating to population, culture, resources, technology, military expenditure, literacy, medical care) to assess the quality of life in a variety of developed and developing countries in different parts of the world

Global Connections

- Describe the contributions of individuals who have been influential in addressing global issues

- Assess the relative importance of the various factors that influence the quality of life

- Evaluate the performance of a selected transnational corporation with respect to the promotion of environmental sustainability and human rights

- Analyse problems of hunger and poverty in selected countries and explain how certain practices may aggravate the problems (e.g., military spending, natural hazards, the growing of cash crops, foreign monetary intervention)

- Explain the relevance to their own lives of the work on poverty, disease, and the environment done by governmental and non-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nations, World Health Organization, Sierra Club, Greenpeace)


- Predict future global demographic changes and their economic, environmental, and social implications

- Evaluate the role played by non-governmental organizations in different parts of the world in promoting sustainable development


- Gather geographic information from primary sources (e.g., field research, surveys, interviews) and secondary sources (e.g., books and journals, mainstream and alternative media, CD-ROMs, the Internet) to research a geographic topic or issue

- Develop possible solutions to geographic problems or issues, using appropriate forecasting, decision-making, and/or problem-solving strategies

- Draw conclusions or make judgments or predictions on the basis of reasoned analysis and supporting evidence

- Use an accepted form of academic documentation (e.g. footnotes, endnotes, or author-date citations; bibliographies or reference lists) to acknowledge all information sources, including electronic sources

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Assessment Statement and Details

Many different types of assessment are used in this unit’s lessons to check for understanding, assess ongoing learning and look for knowledge gaps. We decided that it would be best to include a variety of forms of assessment so that all types of learners could benefit. The following types of diagnostic and/or formative assessment are used in the lessons: Lesson 1

• This introductory lesson includes an initial assessment device of critical knowledge and skills. The IAD picture, questions and think-pair-share activity to assess prior knowledge

• Debrief and class discussion on a culminating video to check for understanding

Lesson 2 • Group work brainstorming ideas on their given topic will assess prior knowledge • The discussion of local rights infringements as well as the debate on legal age of

marriage will check for understanding and help the teacher see what area may need more focus

• The Say I Do homework questions are a formative assessment that will to check for comprehension of the topics expressed in the video, and to engage students in critical thinking

Lesson 3 • Informal quiz will assesses prior knowledge and understanding of the topic • Think-pair-share activity on “Education for All” will check for understanding and

broaden learning

Lesson 4 • “New Classroom Rules” activity will assess prior knowledge, check for

understanding and broaden knowledge about human rights • “The Making, and Unmaking of a Child Soldier” Reflection questions will check

for comprehension of the article and for understanding of the lesson as a whole.

Lesson 5 • Mind Mapping activity will check for prior knowledge and a basic understanding

of the topic • Think-Pair-Share and graphic organizer activity will check for understanding of

the lesson as a whole

Lesson 6

• Students will support their own inquiry by taking notes during the presentation and the teacher will check for understanding by examining the students’ reflections on the presentation

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Lesson 7, 8 & 9 • Teacher assessment checklist will be used to check for students’ understanding

of the refresher activity they completed • The culminating activity will assess the student’s entire understanding of the unit.

See the next section for the specifics of the evaluation for the culminating activity.

Culminating Activity and Assessment Tools

Culminating Activity – NGO Research Project

Your task: - Create a group of 3-4 students - Choose a human rights issue that has sparked your interest throughout the unit - Have your human rights issue approved by your teacher - Choose a non-governmental organization (NGO) that lobbies for that human

rights issue from the list below. Your group will be responsible for conducting in-depth research on your NGO and presenting it to the class.

NGOs to Choose From:

Free the Children Help Lesotho Save the Children Foundation Anti-Slavery International World Vision Equality Now Hunger Project Polaris Project Care International Sweatshop Watch Doctors Without Borders Captive Daughters Face to Face Stop Hunger Now Human Rights Watch Oxfam International Nova Scotia Gambia Association Action for South Africa (ACTSA) Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers MAP (Medical Assistance Programs) International End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (EPCAT) Other (with your teacher’s permission) There are 4 major components to this assignment: 1) The Written Component – Group Each group will hand in a package describing their NGO with particular reference to the following checklist of topics:

� Introduction to your human rights issue (1/2 – 1 page) � Mandate/Goals of the organization � History of the organization – how did it start? When? � Where is it based? � Who is it helping? � Campaigns and projects – past, present, and future

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� How does it raise funds? � Size of the organization – employees, volunteers � How to get involved � Any other interesting information that you come across

This is primarily an internet research based assignment. Groups will have the opportunity to conduct research in the library during class time. *Important Notes:

- Research should be equally divided among all group members - Must use 2 primary resources and 2 secondary resources (No Wikipedia)

2) The Presentation – Group Each group will create a 15-20 minute presentation outlining their NGO. As a group, you will provide a comprehensive overview of the organization and attempt to gain support from your colleagues (see part 3 for more details). This is your chance to be creative! The way that your group presents the information is completely up to you. Possible ideas include:

- Poster - Power Point presentation - Skit/Role play - Etc.

*Important Notes:

- Each member must be involved in the presentation of your NGO - See Presentation Rubric on page 3

3) The Donation – Individual After all of the presentations are completed, you will have the chance to reflect on which NGO(s) made the biggest impact on you personally. You will imagine that you have $500 that you are looking to donate to an NGO. Which NGO(s) are you going to support? You can choose to donate the entire sum to one NGO or to split the money up among multiple NGOs. On a piece of paper you will write down your name, the NGO(s), and the amount of money that you will be contributing to each one. Results will be tallied to see which NGO garnered the most classroom support! *Note: You can’t donate money to your own NGO! You must support the other NGOs presented in class.

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4) The Reflection – Individual Write a 2-page response to this activity, answering the following questions:

- Which NGO did you choose to donate money too? - What criteria did you use to make this decision? - What have you learned about NGOs from this assignment?

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Presentation Rubric

Category Mark Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Knowledge & Understanding - knowledge of key aspects of the social structure, individual rights, political structure and historical context

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- accurate knowledge of key aspects of social structure, individual rights, political structure and historical context

- sufficient knowledge of key aspects of social structure, individual rights, political structure and historical context

- some understanding of key aspects of social structure, individual rights, political structure and historical context

- little or no understanding of key aspects of social structure, individual rights, political structure and historical context

Thinking -critical thinking skills

/4

- strong critical and creative thinking skills

- sufficient use of critical and creative thinking skills

- satisfactory analysis and interpretation

- weak analysis and interpretation

Communication - ideas expressed clearly & in an organized fashion - evidence of proof-reading & editing

/4

- main points clearly summarized - clear evidence of thorough proof-reading and editing

- main points summarized but need to be more clearly defined - sufficient proof-reading and editing

- some points not clear - some evidence of proof-reading and editing

- points are not clear - no evidence of proof-reading and editing

Application - analyze historical issues from the perspectives of different participants

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- contributions clearly written from different perspectives

- sufficient evidence of writing from different perspectives

- some evidence of writing from different perspectives

- no evidence of writing from different perspectives

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Reflection Rubric

Category Mark Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Knowledge & Understanding - Knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

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- accurate knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- sufficient knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- some knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- little or no knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

Thinking - Draw conclusions or make judgments on the basis of reasoned analysis and supporting evidence

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- strong evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- sufficient evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- some evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- little or no evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

Communication - Ideas expressed clearly and in an organized fashion - Evidence of proof-reading & editing

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- some points are not clear - some evidence of proof-reading and editing


Application - Explain the relevance and/or importance in your own life of the work done by a non-governmental organization(s)

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- strong, in-depth explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- sufficient explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- some explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- little or no explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

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Culminating Activity Learning Expectations Overall Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems

- Compare the cultural, economic, and political aspirations of selected groups and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

Global Connections

- Analyse instances of international cooperation and conflict and explain the factors that contributed to each


- Evaluate the effectiveness of short-term and long-term solutions to geographic problems and issues at the local, national, and global level


- Use the methods and tools of geographic inquiry to locate, gather, evaluate, and organize information

Specific Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems

- Identify the social, economic, cultural, political, or ecological components of selected geographic issues

Global Connections

- Assess the relative importance of the various factors that influence the quality of life

- Explain the relevance in their own lives of the work on poverty, disease, and the environment done by governmental and non-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nations, World Health Organization, Sierra Club, Greenpeace)


- Gather geographic information from primary sources (e.g. field research, surveys, interviews) and secondary sources (e.g., books and journals, mainstream and alternative media, CD-ROMS, the Internet) to research a geographic topic or issue

- Draw conclusions or make judgments or predictions on the basis of reasoned analysis and supporting evidence

- Use an accepted form of academic documentation (e.g. footnotes, endnotes, or author-date citations; bibliographies or reference lists) to acknowledge all information sources, including electronic sources

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Learning and Instructional Strategies

It is our belief that varied learning and instructional strategies should be used in order to cater to the individual learning needs of each student. Since all students learn in a different combination of ways, we have ensured that we are reaching as many students as possible by using the following strategies:

• Direct Instruction: for students who learn best under a structured teacher-centred environment, and for times when complex information needs to be explained or complex concepts taught

• Student-Centred Learning: for students who learn best from becoming their own teachers (for a temporary period of time)

• Cooperative Learning: for students who learn best from group situations where more interaction takes place between the students. Examples include: group work of all types, brainstorming, think-pair-share, debates and class discussions

• Media/Visual-based learning: for students who are visual learners and/or whose interest is stimulated by different forms of media including videos, PowerPoint presentations, live internet on a projector, sound clips or still imagery such as photographs.

Lesson Organization

Each lesson was designed and organized according to the following criteria, as suggested by the latest curriculum documentation, in order:

• Title • Time • Description of the lesson • Strands and Expectations • Planning Notes • Prior Knowledge Required • Teaching and Learning Strategies • Assessment and Evaluation Techniques • Resources and Learning Materials • Accommodations and Modifications

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Lesson Plan Progression The lessons will progress through the unit as follows: Lesson 1: Introduction to Human Rights Lesson 2: Women's Marriage and Sexual Rights: From International to Local Lesson 3: Women and Education Lesson 4: Rights of the Child Lesson 5: Global or Local: How do I become an advocate of children’s rights within my own community? Lesson 6: My Life as a Child Solider – Guest Speaker, Ishmael Beah Lessons 7, 8 &9: “Utilizing Primary and Secondary Documents for Geographic Inquiry” Lessons 10, 11: Group Presentation Days

Lesson 1- Introduction to Human Rights Course: CGW4U-Canadian and World Issues Time: 76 mins Lesson Description: This lesson will introduce students to the notions of “rights,” “human rights,” and “NGOs.” Students will be introduced to the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights and will discuss the contributions made by NGOs in combating international human rights violations Strands:

• Geographic Foundations, Understanding and Managing Change & Global Connections

Expectations: Overall:

1. Explain how the earth’s human systems are interconnected in multiple and complex ways

2. Discuss the political aspirations of selected groups and the effects of their actions on local, national and global geographic issues

Specific:

1. Explain the relevance to their own lives of the work on poverty and disease done by governmental and non-governmental organizations

2. Evaluate the role played by non-governmental organizations in different parts of the world in promoting sustainable development

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Planning Notes: • Ensure teacher brings “hook,” chart paper, markers, photocopies of Declaration

of Human Rights handout and Human Rights Watch video • Teacher must also ensure access to the AV machine

Prior Knowledge Required:

• A basic understanding of the terms “rights” “human rights” and “non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is required to ensure the successful completion of the unit

Initial Assessment Device (IAD)

• The IAD for this unit will consist of assessing students’ overall comprehension of the above terms by utilizing an initial question sequence based on the hook (see questions below) and by examining student responses to the initial “think-pair-share” activity.

• The IAD questions are as follows:

1. Describe what you see in this picture. 2. Why do you think she looks so unhappy? 3. Does it look like her needs are being met? 4. How do we determine those needs? 5. Does she have the “right” to have food and shelter? 6. Define what you mean by “right.” 7. Can anyone expand upon what “human rights” are? 8. Are there any agencies working to protect human rights? 9. What are NGO’s? 10. Can you list any NGO’s working on behalf of Human Rights violations?

Teaching and Learning Strategies:

1. The lesson will begin with the following hook: examining a picture of a Malawian girl child (Appendix 1.1) sitting on the side of the road; teacher will engage students through a questions sequence based on the hook in order to help guide, develop and articulate their thoughts about the terms “rights” and “human rights”

2. In groups of 2-3, students will begin clarifying their thoughts about human rights and determine which human rights they value most by engaging in a “think-pair-share” exercise. Each group will document their discussion and ideas on chart paper and present their thoughts to the class

3. Teacher will present the actual Declaration of Human Rights to (Appendix 1.2) students via overhead and handouts; class discussion will ensue regarding any discrepancies between the declaration of Human Rights and what was documented during their “think pair share” exercise

4. Teacher will present a photographic journal video produced by “Human Right’s Watch” entitled “World Report 2007” which provides both visuals and

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commentary on global human rights violations http://www.hrw.org/wr2k7/photos.htm

5. Teacher will initiate a video debrief with students; questions and concerns regarding the photographic journal video will be encouraged

Assessment and Evaluation Techniques:

• Teacher will assess student learning by utilizing the Initial Assessment Device and by examining their responses to the culminating video

Resource/Learning Materials:

• Malawian girl child photo • AV machine • Chart paper/markers • Declaration of Human Rights handouts

Accommodations/Modifications: Special Education Students

• Teacher will actively work to ensure the active participation and inclusion of these students, i.e., during the questioning sequence component of the lesson, teacher will develop a more basic, lower level thinking question for any special needs children and gradually pursue higher order thinking questions for stronger students

Hearing/Sight Impaired Students

• Teacher will arrange the room in a manner which optimizes the hearing/sight impaired student’s chances of hearing/seeing the teacher and fellow classmates and benefiting from student interaction, i.e., arranging student’s desks more compactly, asking class to ensure that they are speaking clearly and annunciating their words

ADD students

• Those students with low attention spans will be given assigned tasks to keep them focused i.e., student will receive a defined role in the think-pair-share activity; ensure these students’ are given ample time to stretch and move around

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Lesson 1 Appendix

1.1 Picture of Malawian girl sitting at the side of the road 1.2 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Abbreviated Version)

1. Right to Equality 2. Freedom from Discrimination 3. Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security 4. Freedom from Slavery 5. Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment 6. Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law 7. Right to Equality before the Law 8. Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal 9. Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile 10. Right to Fair Public Hearing 11. Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty 12. Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence 13. Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country 14. Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution 15. Right to a nationality and Freedom to Change Nationality 16. Right to Marriage and Family 17. Right to Own Property 18. Freedom of Belief and Religion 19. Freedom of Opinion and Information

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20. Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association 21. Right to Participate in Government and Free Elections 22. Right to Social Security 23. Right to Desirable Work and Join Trade Unions 24. Right to Rest and Leisure 25. Right to Adequate Living Standard 26. Right to Education 27. Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of the Community 28. Right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document 29. Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development 30. Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights

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Lesson 2-Women's Marriage and Sexual Rights: From International to Local

Course: CGW4U: Canadian and World Issues

Time: 76 minutes Lesson Description: Students will generate ideas about their personal conceptions of Women's sexual and marriage rights on both a global and local scale. After discussion, the teacher will lead a discussion about the specific issues surrounding both marriage and sexual rights. Areas of discussion for marriage rights will include: appropriate age for marriage, general rights in marriage and mail order brides. Areas for discussion for sexual rights will include: sexual assault, pregnancy and abortion. Students will be warned that this class will be dealing with sensitive issues, and that if participating in any issue bothers a student, they do not have to participate. Strands:

• Global Connections, Understanding and Managing Change Expectations: Overall:

1. Evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impact of the strategies for sustainable development implemented by a variety of individuals, organizations, and institutions.

Specific:

1. Explain why it is important to understand the cultural and religious traditions of others (e.g., roles and status of men and women in different parts of the world)

2. Evaluate the role played by non-governmental organizations and local community initiatives in different parts of the world

Planning Notes:

• Need to bring and set up multimedia projector and laptop • Need to bring and set up TV and VCR • Bring chart paper and markers for group work • Remember video tape, Say I Do


Students are expected to be aware of what an NGO is, as well as having some familiarity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Teaching and Learning Strategies: 1.) This activity will act as the hook. The students will be split into 2 groups. The teacher will pass out a scenario to each group that concerns a woman's sexual rights. The groups will brainstorm ideas about their topic for approximately 10 minutes and then will present the ideas to the class (which will take 10 minutes). The topics that will be given to students are (See appendix 2.1 for handouts):

Group 1: Alice is a young woman who has gotten pregnant after being raped. Alice is in her early teens and doesn’t understand what is happening to her. Alice lives in a small, very poor village in Africa and is afraid to tell anyone about the rape or the pregnancy, because she fears she will be stigmatized.

What specific concerns do you have for Alice? Describe which of Alice’s rights have been violated. Where can Alice get help, and who can help her?

Group 2: Alice is a young woman who has gotten pregnant after being raped. Alice is in her early teens and doesn’t understand what is happening to her. Alice lives in Toronto, and is afraid to tell anyone about the rape or the pregnancy, because she fears she will be stigmatized.

What specific concerns do you have for Alice? Describe which of Alice’s rights have been violated. Where can Alice get help, and who can help her?

After each group shares their ideas, the teacher will help draw a comparison between the answers and investigate why the answers may have been different when the topics were almost exactly the same. If stereotypes emerge, the teacher will discuss how we view the same situation very differently whether it happens locally (in Toronto) or in Africa. 2.) The teacher will use the group responses from the question “Where can Alice get help, and who can help her?” to lead into a discussion about international and local NGOs. The teacher will inform students about specific NGOs that women in both an international example such as Africa, and a local example such as Toronto, could access. (This is expected to take 10 minutes) Global Example: Amnesty International Local Example: Google it, look in your phone book! Assaulted Women’s Crisis and Help Line, Interval House, YWCA, any hospital The teacher can ask students about local examples of infringements on women’s sexual rights. One good example to cite is the Robert Picton murders. The teacher will ask students about these murders and explain what happened to show that infringement of sexual rights could happen locally. The teacher should then ask and discuss which sexual rights were violated in this case. A point of discussion here could include the marginalization of women. (This discussion of is expected to take 10 minutes)

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3.) The teacher will introduce the topic of a woman’s rights in marriage. http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/age.htm is a very useful website that talks about the various international opinions of acceptable age of marriage and some risks associated with early marriage. The teacher will highlight certain aspects of the website by showing it on a multimedia projector and encourage students to take notes. (This will take about 5 minutes) The teacher will then form two groups and create a group debate scenario. One group will be expected to defend early marriage (and give some of the reasons shown on the website, as well as generating their own) and the other group will be asked to defend the minimum legal age of marriage being 18 (as suggested by the UN and supported by many countries). The groups will be asked to record their ideas, and then a representative from each group will present their evidence. This activity will allow students to think outside the conventional stereotypes associated with young marriage, as well as educating them on the risks. (This activity is expected to take 20 minutes). 4.) The teacher will show students a portion of the video Say I Do which is an educational documentary about mail order brides from the Philippines. About 10 minutes of the video will be shown and the teacher will distribute homework questions on the video, which will be handed in for completion (see Appendix 2.2). Assessment and Evaluation Techniques: Diagnostic:

• The diagnostic assessment is done through the hook activity in this lesson, as it will allow the teacher to see how much the students know about human rights and how well they are able to apply that knowledge to women’s rights. If the teacher finds a gap in the knowledge in this activity, more time can be spent reviewing so the rest of the lesson will be successful.

Formative:

• The debate activity on appropriate age for marriage will act as a formative assessment that checks the student’s understanding of the content show to them on the website and of women’s rights in marriage as a whole.

• The homework questions also work as a formative assessment that check how much knowledge and understanding students gained from watching Say I Do. The opinion also asks students to use what they have learned about mail-order brides and form an opinion on the topic, which is a useful application activity.

Resources/ Learning Materials:

• Scenario handouts for each group for activity 1 • NGO information to inform the class (Amnesty International, local NGOs) • Information (news article) on Robert Picton trial • Website on marriage age: http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/age.htm • Video, Say I Do

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• Homework questions handout for Say I Do Accommodations/ Modifications: ESL or Exceptional Students:

• In activities 1 and 3, which require group work, the teacher will make the groups to ensure that the groups have a mix of learning styles and abilities. For example, each group will have a few leaders, a few good public speakers and a mix of stronger and weaker students. ESL or exceptional students will be placed where they will be able to benefit most from their peers.

Special Education Students and/or Visual Learners:

• The teacher will back up any discussion with some sort of visual, to help make the discussions more clear for visual learners or students with exceptionalities. Examples of this accommodation would be writing key points on the blackboard during discussions, the use of repetition of important points and having students write answers on the board or on chart paper.

Students with IEPs

• Specific accommodations will be made for assessing the completion of the homework questions. Students who have exceptionalities or an IEP, which suggests they need more time to complete the activity, will be provided with it.

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Lesson 2 Appendix

2.1 Women’s Sexual Rights Scenario handouts

Group 1: Alice is a young woman who has gotten pregnant after being raped. Alice is in her early teens and doesn't understand what is happening to her. Alice lives in a small, very poor village in Africa and is afraid to tell anyone about the rape or the pregnancy, because she fears she will be stigmatized.

What specific concerns do you have for Alice?

Describe which of Alice's rights have been violated.

Where can Alice get help, and who can help her?

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Group 2: Alice is a young woman who has gotten pregnant after being raped. Alice is in her early teens and doesn't understand what is happening to her. Alice lives in Toronto, and is afraid to tell anyone about the rape or the pregnancy, because she fears she will be stigmatized.

What specific concerns do you have for Alice?

Describe which of Alice's rights have been violated.

Where can Alice get help, and who can help her?

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2.2 Say I Do: Unveiling the Stories of Mail-Order Brides Documentary Questions

1.) How many women have come to Canada from the Philippines in the last 5 years, as spouses of Canadian men?

2.) What percentage of the Philippine population of 80 million, live in poverty?

3.) Give two reasons why women come to Canada as mail-order brides.

4.) What pattern do you notice about the Canadian men who “buy” mail-order brides? (Hint: think about the men’s age and marriage history)

5.) What reasons do the Canadian men (who were interviewed in this video) give for wanting a mail-order bride from the Philippines? (Give at least 2 reasons)

6.) What is your opinion about the mail-order bride system in general? (Do you agree with the way the system works? Do you see a reason for it to exist? Should it be legal? How do you feel about it?)

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Lesson 3 – Women and Education Course: CGW4U: Canadian and World Issues Time: 76 minutes Lesson Description: Education is a daily aspect of children’s routines that live in developed countries. This human right is often underappreciated and taken for granted. The goal of this activity is for students to recognize the educational disparities that exist throughout the world, with a particular focus on girls/women. Students will start off by assessing their own knowledge of the subject with an informal quiz. They will then examine the UN Millennium Goals (2000) and examine two video clips depicting the benefits of education for two young women in Chad and Ethiopia. Students will have the opportunity to critically examine the underlying, systemic causes of educational inequalities and work collaboratively to come up with solutions. Strands:

• Global Connections, Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication, Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems, Understanding and Managing Change.

Expectations: Overall: Global Connections

• Evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impact of strategies for sustainable development implemented by a variety of individuals, organizations, and institutions


• Communicate the results of geographic inquiries, using appropriate terms and concepts and a variety of forms and techniques

Specific: Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems – Building Knowledge and Understanding

• Identify the social, economic, cultural, political, or ecological components of selected geographic issues

Global Connections – Learning Through Application

• Assess the relative importance of the various factors that influence the quality of life

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Understanding and Managing Change – Developing and Practicing Skills • Predict future global demographic changes and their economic, environmental,

and social implications Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication – Interpretation and Analysis

• Develop possible solutions to geographic problems or issues, using appropriate forecasting, decision-making, and/or problem-solving strategies

Planning Notes: Photocopy (1 per student):

• The informal quiz (Appendix 1.1) • The Barriers to Educating Girls’ article (Appendix 1.4) • Education for All worksheet (Appendix 1.5)

• Borrow the multimedia projector and laptop (with internet access) • Turn ‘The Millennium Development Goals’ (Appendix 1.3) into an transparency


• Operational definition of ‘human rights’ • Knowledge of United Nations and their role in international development


1. The Hook: hand out a copy of the Informal Quiz to each student (Appendix 1.1). Tell students that this is an informal quiz to see how much they know about women’s educational issues. Inform the class that the quiz will not be collected, and that they are welcome to discuss the questions with the people sitting around them. After about 5-10 minutes, orally take up the answers to the quiz. Go through each possible answer and have the students raise their hand with the answer they believe is correct. Refer to Appendix 1.2 for the correct answers and additional information to relay to the class. [approximately 20 minutes]

2. Review the UN Millennium Goals, 2000 (Appendix 1.3) on an overhead. Have

students copy them down, placing a star next to numbers 2 and 3. Ask class as a whole if achieving goals 2 and 3 will affect any of the other goals. Explain to students (if they don’t already pick up on it) that achieving goals 2 and 3 will also help achieve goal 4 (reducing child mortality), 5 (improving maternal health), and 6 (combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases). [approximately 10 minutes]

3. Using a laptop/multimedia projector, show students two video clips from the

UNICEF website. Explain to students that UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) supports child survival, protection and development worldwide through education, advocacy and fundraising. Explain to the class that the two clips they are about to see are about two young women – one from Ethiopia and the other from Chad – and how education has dramatically improved their quality of life (clips can be found at:

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<http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/4_mulu.php> and <http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/3_fatna.php>). [approximately 10 minutes]

4. Explain to students that in order for education rights to be afforded to girls and

women, we must examine the underlying, systemic reasons for why they are not already experiencing this right at the same level as their male counterparts. Hand out the article ‘The Barriers to Educating Girls’ (appendix 1.4) and ask the students to read through it, highlighting key points. [approximately 10 minutes]

5. Ask students to engage in a Think-Pair-Share exercise. Hand out ‘Education for

All’ worksheet (appendix 1.5). Referring back to everything that was covered throughout the lesson, have students brainstorm answers to the questions, compare them with a classmate, and then take it up as a class. [approximately 25 minutes].

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques: Diagnostic Assessment:

• As the answers to the informal quiz are taken up at the beginning of class, the teacher can assess how much students already know about worldwide educational disparities. If a large portion of the class carries misconceptions about these disparities, more time can be devoted to explaining the systemic factors

Formative Assessment:

• The oral and written answers provided from the Think-Pair-Share activity Resources: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/school/briefing.html http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/women/women96.htm http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/3_fatna.php http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/4_mulu.php http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index_barriers.html http://www.ungei.org/resources/files/unicefrosa_educatinggirlsinSouthAsia.pdf Accommodations/Modifications:

- For ESL/ELL students – allow first language to be used to discuss concepts before translating them into English

- Encourage students to move closer to the front of the class if they have vision difficulties

- Ensure that students (especially those who are struggling academically) are not sitting in an area of the class where they will be distracted

- For students who have special hearing requirements encourage them to sit in a central area of the class

- Speak with students who have any sort of special visual, auditory, etc.

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requirement to see if they have any specific tactics or methods that will help them succeed (perhaps even involve their parent within this dialogue)

- If you do not have access to the Internet to show the video clips, print off the transcripts from the website and read them to the class

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Lesson 3 Appendix 3.1 Informal Quiz

Informal Quiz Testing Your Knowledge on Women and Girls’ Education

"Enabling girls to attend school is literally a matter of life and death.

Education, especially for girls and women, is the best way to break the cycle of ill health,

hunger and poverty..."

Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson, Global Campaign for Education

1) Two-thirds of the _______ million children worldwide who are not in school are girls. a) 25 b) 70 c) 115 d) 130 2) Of the world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, __________ are women. a) 2/5 b) 1/2 c) 1/4 d) 2/3 3) In South East Asia, providing girls one extra year of education beyond the average boosts eventual wage rates by: a) 3 – 8 % b) 9 – 13% c) 13 – 18% d) 18 – 22% 4) In Brazil, women with a secondary education have an average of 2.5 children, whereas illiterate women have an average of _______ children. a) 3.5 b) 4.5 c) 5.5 d) 6.5 5) A Yale study of several countries showed that an extra year of girls’ education cuts infant mortality on average by: a) 1 – 5% b) 5 – 10% c) 10 – 15 % d) Nothing – they require much more education.

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6) Women's life expectancy, educational attainment and income are highest in which of the following countries:

a) Sweden, Canada, Norway, USA and Finland b) France, Canada, Japan, USA, Australia c) Germany, Norway, USA, China, Switzerland d) Canada, USA, England, France, Italy

7) Women represent ________ % of the 15-24 year-olds living with HIV and AIDS globally. a) 45 b) 52 c) 64 d) 79 8) During the past 2 decades, the combined primary and secondary enrollment ratio for girls in developing countries increased from ______ % to ______ %. a) 15, 25 b) 38, 78 c) 27, 64 d) 33, 82 3.2 Informal Quiz Answers

Informal Quiz Testing Your Knowledge on Women and Girls’ Education

"Enabling girls to attend school is literally a matter of life and death.

Education, especially for girls and women, is the best way to break the cycle of ill health,

hunger and poverty..."

Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson, Global Campaign for Education

1) Two-thirds of the _______ million children worldwide who are not in school are girls. a) 25 b) 70 c) 115 d) 130 Yet, as in many other areas of their lives, girls’ prospects for education are diminished because of gender discrimination. Bold policies by governments and partners are needed to boost enrolment and address the main disparities (especially by gender) and establish and protect the right of all children to free, quality basic education.

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2) Of the world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, __________ are women. a) 2/5 b) 1/2 c) 1/4 d) 2/3 Education is not an automatic ticket for empowerment in the family, community, or national society, but it often does help significantly. Education essentially helps women gain ‘agency’ – the capacity to act, affect their own lives, and influence the family and broader society. Education strengthens women’s capacity to stand up for themselves – expanding their knowledge, their earning capability, and their coping options. 3) In South East Asia, providing girls one extra year of education beyond the average boosts eventual wage rates by: a) 3 – 8 % b) 9 – 13% c) 13 – 18% d) 18 – 22% This wage increase represents the private economic return to people getting the education. A World Bank review of many studies of the economic returns to education from many countries reports that overall, women receive higher returns to their schooling investments. Per Capita Income Growth: Because female education helps slow population growth while raising the productivity of the present and future generation, increasing female education levels and closing the education gender gap promote faster growth of per capita income. When all its benefits are considered, some leading economists believe female education may well be the highest-return investment available in developing countries today. 4) In Brazil, women with a secondary education have an average of 2.5 children, whereas illiterate women have an average of _______ children. a) 3.5 b) 4.5 c) 5.5 d) 6.5

Education can put women on the path to economic and social empowerment. Educated women tend to marry later, have fewer children and are more likely to understand what they must do to protect themselves and their families against various odds. They tend to have fewer children and invest more in each child.

5) A Yale study on several countries showed that an extra year of girls’ education cuts infant mortality on average by:

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a) 1 – 5% b) 5 – 10% c) 10 – 15 % d) Nothing – they require much more education.

The links between educated mothers and their children’s survival and development have been clearly established. An educated mother is more likely to protect her child from avoidable illness and disease with routine health check-ups, growth monitoring and a nutritious diet. She knows that her child can be safe from such preventable diseases as polio, measles and diarrhoea through immunization. How a child is nurtured and cared for from birth onwards has a profound bearing on that child’s ability to learn and develop. And there is incontrovertible evidence suggesting that women who are educated tend to have healthier and better educated children.

6) Women's life expectancy, educational attainment and income are highest in which of the following countries:

a) Sweden, Canada, Norway, USA and Finland b) France, Canada, Japan, USA, Australia c) Germany, Norway, USA, China, Switzerland d) Canada, USA, England, France, Italy

7) Women represent ________ % of the 15-24 year-olds living with HIV and AIDS globally. a) 45 b) 52 c) 64 d) 79 A strong argument can be made, for example, that education is our best weapon against HIV/AIDS, which is affecting a disproportionate number of women and teenage girls. Education helps women become better informed about how to prevent HIV infections. It empowers them to defend themselves in potentially dangerous situations. Indeed, it has been shown that denying a girl access to quality education increases her vulnerability to abuse, exploitation and disease. Girls, more than boys, are at greater risk of such abuse when they are not in school. A classroom not only provides a safe haven for girls, it can instil in them a sense of their own power, and hope for the future. 8) During the past 2 decades, the combined primary and secondary enrolment ratio for girls in developing countries increased from ______ % to ______ %. a) 15, 25 b) 38, 78 c) 27, 64 d) 33, 82 Steps that must be taken to increase female enrolment:

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- Make education more affordable by eliminating fees and offering scholarships – girls are often less likely to be sent to school over boys because of the financial burden paired with the desire to keep girls at home to help out around the household - Make education a practical possibility – it is crucial to provide a basic school close to children’s homes – one with a qualified and trained teacher who attends regularly, one with basic books and learning materials, one that meets students’ and families’ needs flexibly. Students are 10-20% more likely to attend school if they live in a village with a primary school, particularly girls. - Make schools ‘girl friendly’ and acceptable to families and communities – toilets/latrines are a must, hiring women teachers, teaching in ways that encourage rather than discourage girls, or – where girls and women are secluded – offering girls separate hours or facilities - Improve education quality – including curriculum, materials, teaching methods, and better support for teachers 3.3 Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals

1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2) Achieve universal primary education

3) Promote gender equality and empower women

4) Reduce child mortality

5) Improve maternal health

6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

7) Ensure environmental sustainability

8) Develop a global partnership for development

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3.4 Unicef Article http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index_barriers.html

The barriers to educating girls

The single most important factor preventing girls from attending and achieving in school is gender discrimination. Girls and boys both have hurdles to overcome. For girls the hurdles are, for the most part, higher and more frequent—simply because they are girls.

Family poverty is also a barrier to education. Sending children to school may result in the loss of their income or help at home. The school may charge fees that the family knows it cannot meet or require a uniform that a family cannot afford. And often, when a choice is to be made between sending a girl or a boy to school, the family will put its scarce resources into the education of the boy, believing that it is a better long-term investment.

The legal frameworks around education can be weak, and many put girls at a particular disadvantage. - Compulsory and/or “free” education laws may not exist, or may not be enforced. - Early marriage and pregnancy are widespread in many countries, yet most have laws and policies that prohibit pregnant girls from attending school or returning to school after the birth of their child. - Worldwide, an estimated 50 million children are not registered at birth, and the majority are female. In many countries, the lack of a birth certificate can prevent admission to school or block eligibility to take examinations.

The playing field is uneven from the start. Learning does not begin on a child’s first day at school. The early years of a child’s life are critical to his or her development. Yet discrimination against girls can begin even before birth, when female fetuses are more frequently aborted than those thought to be male. In the early years of childhood, girls often receive less care and attention. And more often than not, there are different expectations as boys and girls grow and develop, which is of significant concern since low expectations are tied to low achievement.

Issues of safety and security in and around school particularly affect girls. - If children have to travel long distances to school, parents are less likely to allow their daughters to make the journey because of the risks to their personal safety. - Physical violence in schools, particularly bullying and corporal punishment, affects boys and girls. Girls are more likely to be victims of sexual violence, including rape. - The traditional gender divisions of labour are mirrored in school. Girls may be made to do school maintenance tasks at the expense of learning, denied physical exercise, and may endure sexual and emotional harassment. - There may not be adequate (or any) hygiene and sanitation facilities on or near school premises. This can present a major problem for adolescent girls in particular.

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- The lack of female teachers, particularly as role models and possible confidantes, can make female pupils feel less secure in the school environment. - Gender-based violence, including rape and early pregnancy, forced marriage and the spread of HIV are among the problems for girls in refugee camps and schools. - Children in situations of crisis and instability are often denied their right to education when they need the routine of schooling the most.

Children are more likely to drop out of school if it is irrelevant to their realities. There is a need for relevant curricula and materials for literacy and numeracy, along with “facts and skills for life,” which include education on rights, gender equality, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS and peace. Girls face additional challenges. Females are generally absent—or portrayed stereotypically—in the content and images in lessons. This is particularly true in areas traditionally regarded as the male domain.

3.5 Education for All

Education for All

1. Can primary and secondary education for all be achieved in developing countries? How?

2. How can gender equality be achieved?

3. Can developing countries achieve these goals independently or do they need help from global partners? Why?

4. How can countries like Canada help with gender equality and empowering women?

6. What are the ideologies that need to be transformed in order for women to have equal access to things like education?

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Lesson 4- Rights of the Child

Course: CGW4U: Canadian and World Issues Time: 76 minutes Lesson Description: This lesson will introduce students to children’s rights violations by examining the plight of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Students will read an excerpt from Ishmael Beah’s novel, “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” in an attempt to grapple more genuinely and empathetically with the child soldier phenomenon Strands:

• Human-Environment Interactions & Global Connections Expectations: Overall:

• Analyse the impact of selected global trends on people at the local, national and global level

Specific:

• Analyse problems of hunger and poverty in selected countries and explain how certain practices may aggravate the problems

• Describe the contributions of individuals who have been influential in addressing global issues

Planning Notes:

• Ensure teacher remembers to bring “hook” (new classroom rules) • Remember to bring the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” document • Teacher must ensure access to AV machine for child soldier video clip • Remember to bring along copies of the reading and reading questions


• Students should have a basic understanding of the terms: “child soldier” and “human rights”


1. The lesson will begin with the following hook: teacher will distribute the handout, “new classroom rules” (Appendix 4.1) to students; the class will describe how the rules impede the fulfillment of our human rights

2. Next, the teacher will present the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” (Appendix 4.2) document and students will begin a think-pair-share exercise in

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groups of 3-4 to determine which specific rights of the child are being violated by the school implementing “the new rules.”

3. Teacher will present students with a 5-minute child soldier video clip produced by Human Rights Watch, entitled, “Children in the Ranks” http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/child_soldiers/index.htm

4. Class will engage in a question sequence based on video content 5. Teacher will distribute an excerpt from Ishmael Beah’s book, “A Long Way Gone:

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Appendix 4.3) for students to read; questions based on the reading will be distributed to be completed in class

Assessment and Evaluation Techniques:

• Teacher will assess students’ overall comprehension by examining their responses to the hook exercise and by examining their written responses to the reading material

Resource/Learning Materials:

• Rights of the Child document • Child Soldier video and TV/VCR • Overhead machine • Child Solider reading and reflection questions

Accommodations/Modifications: Special Education Students

• Teacher will actively work to ensure the active participation and inclusion of these students, i.e., during the questioning sequence component of the lesson, teacher will develop a more basic, lower level thinking question for any special needs children and gradually pursue higher order thinking questions for stronger students

Hearing/Sight Impaired Students


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Lesson 4 Appendix 4.1 New Classroom Rules NOTICE: These are your new classroom rules. You WILL follow these rules at all times. Failure to do so will result in expulsion.

1. Starting tomorrow, school will commence at 5am and will close at 10pm. 2. Only those students with hair below their shoulders will be allowed to

speak in this classroom—everyone else must remain in silence.

3. You will attend school everyday. No exceptions. You will attend class even if deathly ill.

4. I am not open to questions—figure it out yourself.

5. You are permitted one, three minute bathroom break daily. Make good

use of it.

6. Only Muslim students are welcomed in this class. If you practice any other religion you must leave and find your own school.

7. Absolutely no laughing, smiling or other indications of enjoyment or

pleasure will be tolerated in this classroom. You will keep your head down at all times and listen intently.

8. No one is to leave this building during the school day. Failure to comply

will result in physical punishment. 4.2 Abbreviated version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

1. Every child has the right to grow up in a family environment: an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.

2. The family, responsible for the growth and well-being of the child, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community.

3. The rights of every child shall be ensured without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

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4. Every child has the inherent right to life.

5. Every child shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality, and the right to know and be cared for by his parents.

6. Every child has the right to preservation of his or her identity.

7. Every child who is separated from his parents has the right to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests.

8. Every child has the right to leave any country, including their own.

9. Every child has the right to express his/her own views freely in all matters affecting them.

10. Every child has the right to freedom of expression, thought, conscience, religion, association and peaceful assembly.

11. Every child has the right to privacy.

12. Every child has the right to protection of the law in case of interference or attacks on said privacy.

13. Every child has the right to access information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his/her social, spiritual and moral will-being and physical and mental health.

14. Children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible.

15. Every child has the right to protection from all forms of abuse, physically or mentally, as well as against neglect and negligent treatment.

16. Every child temporarily or permanently deprived of his/her own family environment has the right to special protection and assistance provided by the state.

17. Every child who is seeking refugee status has the right to receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.

18. Every mentally or physically disabled child has the right to enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity and promote self-reliance.

19. Every child has the right to the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and the rehabilitation of health.

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20. Every child has the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance.

21. Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.

22. Every child has the right to education on the basis of equal opportunity.

23. Every child has the right to enjoy his/her own culture, to profess and practice his/her own religion and to use his/her own language.

24. Every child has the right to engage in play, recreational activities, and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

25. Every child has the right to be protected from economic exploitation, and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to his or her health and development.

26. Every child has the right to be protected from the illicit use of narcotic drugs, and from being used in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.

27. Every child has the right to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

28. Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

29. Every child has the right to prompt access to legal and other assistance.

30. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment will be imposed for offenses committed by persons below 18 years of age.

31. Every child has the right to protection during times of war, that children under the age of fifteen are not recruited into armies and do not take direct part in the hostilities.

4.3 “The Making and Unmaking of a Child Soldier” Ishmael Beah Reflection Questions 1. By reflecting on Ishmael’s story, hypothesize why children may be motivated to join an army or rebel group during times of war? 2. What Rights of the Child are being violated when governments actively choose to ignore the presence of child soldiers in their armies or paramilitaries?

3. In your opinion, what solutions can best rectify the problem of child soldiers?

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January 14, 2007

The Making, and Unmaking, of a Child Soldier By ISHMAEL BEAH

Sometimes I feel that living in New York City, having a good family and friends, and just being alive is a dream, that perhaps this second life of mine isn’t really happening. Whenever I speak at the United Nations, Unicef or elsewhere to raise awareness of the continual and rampant recruitment of children in wars around the world, I come to realize that I still do not fully understand how I could have possibly survived the civil war in my country, Sierra Leone.

Most of my friends, after meeting the woman whom I think of as my new mother, a Brooklyn-born white Jewish-American, assume that I was either adopted at a very young age or that my mother married an African man. They would never imagine that I was 17 when I came to live with her and that I had been a child soldier and participated in one of the most brutal wars in recent history.

In early 1993, when I was 12, I was separated from my family as the Sierra Leone civil war, which began two years earlier, came into my life. The rebel army, known as the Revolutionary United Front (R.U.F.), attacked my town in the southern part of the country. I ran away, along paths and roads that were littered with dead bodies, some mutilated in ways so horrible that looking at them left a permanent scar on my memory. I ran for days, weeks and months, and I couldn’t believe that the simple and precious world I had known, where nights were celebrated with storytelling and dancing and mornings greeted with the singing of birds and cock crows, was now a place where only guns spoke and sometimes it seemed even the sun hesitated to shine. After I discovered that my parents and two brothers had been killed, I felt even more lost and worthless in a world that had become pregnant with fear and suspicion as neighbor turned against neighbor and child against parent. Surviving each passing minute was nothing short of a miracle.

After almost a year of running, I, along with some friends I met along the way, arrived at an army base in the southeastern region. We thought we were now safe; little did we know what lay ahead.

1994: The First Battle

I have never been so afraid to go anywhere in my life as I was that first day. As we walked into the arms of the forest, tears began to form in my eyes, but I struggled to hide them and gripped my gun for comfort. We exhaled quietly, afraid that our own breathing could cause our deaths. The lieutenant led the line that I was in. He raised his fist in the air, and we stopped moving. Then he slowly brought it down, and we sat on one heel, our eyes surveying the forest. We began to move swiftly among the bushes until we came to the edge of a swamp, where we formed an ambush, aiming our guns into the bog. We lay flat on our stomachs and waited. I was lying next to my friend Josiah. At 11, he was even younger than I was. Musa, a friend my age, 13, was also nearby. I looked around to see if I could catch their eyes, but they were concentrating on the

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invisible target in the swamp. The tops of my eyes began to ache, and the pain slowly rose up to my head. My ears became warm, and tears were running down my cheeks, even though I wasn’t crying. The veins on my arms stood out, and I could feel them pulsating as if they had begun to breathe of their own accord. We waited in the quiet, as hunters do. The silence tormented me.

The short trees in the swamp began to shake as the rebels made their way through them. They weren’t yet visible, but the lieutenant had passed the word down through a whisper that was relayed like a row of falling dominos: “Fire on my command.” As we watched, a group of men dressed in civilian clothes emerged from under the tiny bushes. They waved their hands, and more fighters came out. Some were boys, as young as we were. They sat together in line, waving their hands, discussing a strategy. My lieutenant ordered a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) to be fired, but the commander of the rebels heard it as it whooshed its way out of the forest. “Retreat!” he called out to his men, and the grenade’s blast got only a few rebels, whose split bodies flew in the air. The explosion was followed by an exchange of gunfire from both sides.

I lay there with my gun pointed in front of me, unable to shoot. My index finger became numb. I felt as if the forest had turned upside down and I was going to fall off, so I clutched the base of a tree with one hand. I couldn’t think, but I could hear the sounds of the guns far away in the distance and the cries of people dying in pain. A splash of blood hit my face. In my reverie I had opened my mouth a bit, so I tasted some of the blood. As I spat it out and wiped it off my face, I saw the soldier it had come from. Blood poured out of the bullet holes in him like water rushing through newly opened tributaries. His eyes were wide open; he still held his gun. My eyes were fixed on him when I heard Josiah screaming for his mother in the most painfully piercing voice I had ever heard. It vibrated inside my head to the point that I felt my brain had shaken loose from its anchor.

I searched for Josiah. An RPG had tossed his tiny body off the ground, and he had landed on a tree stump. He wiggled his legs as his cry gradually came to an end. There was blood everywhere. It seemed as if bullets were falling into the forest from all angles. I crawled to Josiah and looked into his eyes. There were tears in them, and his lips were shaking, but he couldn’t speak. As I watched him, the water in his eyes was replaced with blood that quickly turned his brown eyes red. He reached for my shoulder as if to pull himself up. But midway, he stopped moving. The gunshots faded in my head, and it was as if my heart had stopped and the whole world had come to a standstill. I covered his eyes with my fingers and lifted him from the tree stump. His backbone had been shattered. I placed him flat on the ground and picked up my gun. I didn’t realize that I had stood up to take Josiah off the tree stump. I felt someone tugging at my foot. It was the corporal; he was saying something that I couldn’t understand. His mouth moved, and he looked terrified. He pulled me down, and as I hit the ground, I felt my brain shaking in my skull again, and my deafness gave way.

“Get down,” he was screaming. “Shoot,” he said, as he crawled away from me to resume his position. As I looked to where he lay, my eyes caught Musa, whose head was covered with blood. His hands looked too relaxed. I turned toward the swamp, where there were gunmen running, trying to cross over. My face, my hands, my shirt and my gun were drenched in blood. I raised my gun and pulled the trigger, and I killed a man. Suddenly all the death I had seen since the day I was touched by war began flashing in my head. Every time I stopped shooting to

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change magazines and saw my two lifeless friends, I angrily pointed my gun into the swamp and killed more people.

Rebel Raids

After that first week of going out on raids to kill people we deemed our rebel enemies or sympathizers of the rebels, our initiation was complete. We stayed put at the base, and we boys took turns guarding posts around the village. We smoked marijuana and sniffed “brown brown,” cocaine mixed with gunpowder, which was always spread out on a table near the ammunition hut, and of course I took more of the white capsules, as I had become addicted to them. The first time I took all these drugs at the same time, I began to perspire so much that I took off all my clothes. My body shook, my sight became blurred and I lost my hearing for several minutes. I walked around the village restlessly. But after several doses of these drugs, all I felt was numbness to everything and so much energy that I couldn’t sleep for weeks. We watched war movies at night, Rambo “First Blood,” “Rambo, First Blood, Part II,” “Commando” and so on, with the aid of a generator or a car battery. We all wanted to be like Rambo; we couldn’t wait to implement his techniques.

When we ran out of supplies, we raided rebel camps in towns, villages and forests. “We have good news from our informants” the lieutenant would announce. “We are moving out in five minutes to kill some rebels and take their supplies, which really belong to us.” He often made speeches about how we were defending our country, how honorable we were. At these times, I would stand holding my gun and feeling special because I was part of something that took me seriously and I was not running from anyone anymore. The lieutenant’s face evinced confidence; his smiles disappeared before they were completed. We would tie our heads with the green cloths that distinguished us from the rebels, and we boys would lead the way. There were no maps and no questions asked. We were simply told to follow the path until we received instructions on what to do next. We walked for long hours and stopped only to eat sardines and corned beef with gari, sniff brown brown and take more white capsules. The combination of these drugs made us fierce. The idea of death didn’t cross my mind, and killing had become as easy as drinking water. After that first killing, my mind had stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed.

During that time, a lot of things were done with no reason or explanation. Sometimes we were asked to leave for war in the middle of a movie. We would come back hours later after killing many people and continue the movie as if we had just returned from intermission. We were always either on the front lines, watching a war movie or doing drugs. There was no time to be alone or to think. When we conversed with one another, we talked only about the movies and how impressed we were with the way either the lieutenant, the corporal or one of us had killed someone. It was as if nothing else existed.

The villages that we captured and turned into our bases as we went along and the forests that we slept in became my home. My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector and my rule was to kill or be killed. The extent of my thoughts didn’t go much beyond that. We had been fighting for more than two years, and killing had become a daily activity. I felt no pity for anyone. My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had

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frozen. I knew that day and night came and went because of the presence of the moon and the sun, but I had no idea whether it was a Sunday or a Friday.

Rejoining the Civilian World

Soon after, a group of visitors from the European Union, the United Nations, Unicef and several NGOs arrived at the center in a convoy of cars. At the request of the staff, we boys had prepared a talent show for them. I read a monologue from “Julius Caesar” and performed a short hip-hop play about the redemption of a former child soldier that I had written with Esther’s encouragement. After that event, the head of the center asked me to be the spokesman for Benin Home and to speak about my experiences.

I was at the beginning of my seventh month at Benin Home when one of the field agents, Leslie, came to tell me that he was responsible for “repatriating” me — the term used to describe the process of reuniting ex-child soldiers with their former communities. My family was dead, but I knew that my father had a brother whom I had never met who lived somewhere in Freetown. Leslie said he would try to find him, and if he couldn’t, he’d find me a foster family to live with.

One Saturday afternoon about two weeks later, as I chatted with Esther at the minihospital, Leslie walked in, smiling widely. “What is the good news?” Esther asked. Leslie examined my curious face, then walked back to the door and opened it. A tall man walked in.

“This is your uncle,” Leslie proudly announced.

The man walked over to where I was sitting. He bent over and embraced me long and hard. My arms hung loose at my sides.

What if he is just some man pretending to be my uncle? I thought. The man let go of me. He was crying, which is when I began to believe that he was really my family, because men in Sierra Leone rarely cried.

He crouched on his heels next to me and began: “I am sorry I never came to see you all those years. I wish I had met you before today. But we can’t go back now. We just have to start from here. I am sorry for your losses.” He looked at Leslie and continued: “After you are done here, you can come and live with me and my family. You are my son. I don’t have much, but I will give you a place to sleep, food and my love.” He put his arms around me.

No one had called me “son” in a very long time. I didn’t know what to say. Everyone, it seemed, was waiting for my response. I turned to my uncle, smiled at him and said: “Thank you for coming to see me. I really appreciate that you have offered me to stay with you. But I don’t even know you.” I put my head down.

“As I said, we cannot go back,” he replied, rubbing my head and laughing a little. “But we can start from here. I am your family, and that is enough for us to begin liking each other.”

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I got up and hugged my uncle, and he embraced me harder than he had the first time and kissed me on my forehead. We briefly stood in silence before he began to speak again. “I will visit you every weekend. And if it is O.K., I would like you to come home with me at some point, to see where I live and to meet my wife and children — your family.” My uncle’s voice trembled; he was trying to hold back sobs. He rubbed my head with one hand and shook Leslie’s hand with the other.

As my uncle promised, he came to visit every weekend. We would take long walks together, and they gave me a chance to get to know him. He told me about what my father was like when he was a child, and I told him about my childhood. I needed to talk about those good times before the war. But the more I heard and talked about my father, the more I missed my mother and brothers too.

About a month or so later at Benin Home, Leslie told me it was time for me to go live with my uncle. I was happy, but I was also worried about living with a family. I had been on my own for years and had taken care of myself without any guidance from anyone. If I distanced myself from the family, I was afraid that I might look ungrateful to my uncle, who didn’t have to take me in; I was worried about what would happen when my nightmares took hold of me. How was I going to explain my sadness, which I was unable to hide when it took over my face, to my new family, especially the children?

When the day of my repatriation finally came, I walked to the minihospital building where I was to wait, my heart beating very fast. My friends Alhaji and Mambu and a boy named Mohamed were sitting on the front steps, and Esther emerged, smiling. Leslie sat in a nearby van waiting to take me to my new home.

“I have to go,” I said to everyone, my voice shaking. I extended my hand to Mohamed, but instead of shaking it, he leapt up and hugged me. Mambu embraced me while Mohamed was still holding me. He squeezed me hard, as if he knew it was goodbye forever. (After I left the center, Mambu’s family refused to take him in, and he ended up back on the front lines.) At the end of the hug, Alhaji shook hands with me. We squeezed each other’s hands and stared into each other’s eyes, remembering all that we had been through. I never saw him again, since he continually moved from one foster home to another. Esther stepped forward, her eyes watery. She hugged me tighter than she ever had. I didn’t return her hug very well, as I was busy trying to hold back my tears. After she let go, she gave me a piece of paper. “This is my address,” she said. “Come by anytime.”

I went to Esther’s home several weeks after that. But my timing wasn’t good. She was on her way to work. She hugged me, and this time I squeezed back; this made her laugh after we stood apart. She looked me straight in the eyes. “Come and see me next weekend so we can have more time to catch up, O.K.?” she said. She was wearing her white uniform and was on her way to take on other traumatized children. It must be tough living with so many war stories. I was living with just one, mine, and it was difficult. Why does she do it? Why do they all do it? I thought as we went our separate ways. It was the last time I saw her. I loved her but never told her.

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Lesson 5- Global or Local: How do I become an advocate of children’s rights within my own community?

Course: CGW4U 1. This lesson design will provide students with information that will help them compare and contrast the various global and local programs that are crucial to children’s rights. The specific expectations this lesson is designed for are:

- Analyse appropriate statistical indicators (e.g., those relating to population, culture, resources, technology, military expenditure, literacy, medical care) to assess the quality of life in a variety of developed and developing countries in different parts of the world (p.87)

- Evaluate the performance of a selected transnational corporation with respect to the promotion of environmental sustainability and human rights (p.92)

- Explain the relevance to their own lives of the work on poverty, disease, and the environment done by governmental and non-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nations, World Health Organization, Sierra Club, Greenpeace) (p.92)

Time: 76 minutes Lesson Description: This lesson is designed to consolidate student understanding of Children’s Rights and ask them to consider the importance of both global and local organizations/NGOs that are devoted to children and youth. Students will be introduced to four organizations dedicated to children/youth rights within the local and global context. In groups, they will explore their understanding of various organizations/NGOs by completing a Mind Map activity. In pairs, they will participate in the Think-Pair-Share activity based on a Compare and Contrast graphic organizer. Both activities will give students the opportunity to present their findings to the class. Strands:

• Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems, Global Connections Expectations: Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems Overall Expectations

• analyse the causes and effects of economic disparities around the world (p.87) Specific Expectations

• Analyse appropriate statistical indicators (e.g., those relating to population, culture, resources, technology, military expenditure, literacy, medical care) to assess the quality of life in a variety of developed and developing countries in different parts of the world (p.87)

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Global Connections Specific Expectations

• Evaluate the performance of a selected transnational corporation with respect to the promotion of environmental sustainability and human rights (p.92)

• Explain the relevance to their own lives of the work on poverty, disease, and the environment done by governmental and non-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nations, World Health Organization, Sierra Club, Greenpeace)

Planning Notes:

- 4 flashcards with the Mission Statements of selected organizations/NGOs devoted to Children and Youth Rights

- Chart paper for Mind Map - Coloured pencils/markers for Mind Map - Fact Sheet: A fact sheet pertaining to each organization/NGO - Graphic Organizer: Compare and Contrast

Prior Knowledge Required: Students will have had an introductory class on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, discussed the importance of Non-Governmental Organizations and their roles as advocates for human rights, and watched a video pertaining to what it means for citizens when their fundamental human rights are violated. After this introductory class, learners would have looked at women’s rights and some of the injustices and violations women have confronted in the past and present. Lastly, the students would have begun to discuss the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and participated in a Think-Pair-Share to discuss what they believe are the most fundamental rights for children and youth. They would have discussed various children right’s violations such as child labour and child soldiers. Teaching and Learning Strategies: Activity: “Am I Global or Local? Organizations within our community, dedicated to children’s rights violations”.

- Ask for FOUR volunteers to come up to front of classroom - Hand out each of the four organization’s Mission statements:

Covenant House: “Our commitment is to serve suffering children of the street, and protect and safeguard all children. We do this with absolute respect and unconditional love”. UNICEF: “For every child – health, education, equality, protection – ADVANCE HUMANITY”.

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War Child: “dedicated to providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world. War Child Canada helps generate awareness, support and advocacy for children's rights everywhere”. Yonge Street Mission: “ A safe place where street youth can rest, eat, obtain health care, receive parental relief and get help with finding a job or a place to stay. Here, street youth can find a place to belong, someone to talk to and people who genuinely care”.

- Each volunteer will read the organization/NGO’s Mission Statement aloud to class

- Each volunteer will form groups with five other students Mind Mapping:

- When the students have gotten into their groups, they will be asked to create a Mind Map, based on their organization’s Mission Statement • Materials: sheet of chart paper with the Mission Statement of one of the organization/NGOs placed in the middle of the paper, coloured pencils/markers • Brainstorm in your group all the ideas that come to you, based on the Mission Statement (you can pick out the most important ideas, group together ideas, or give categories to your ideas) • Draw or write words, pictures, and symbols that represent the key ideas you brainstormed within the group • Place these words, pictures, and symbols around the Mission Statement • Groups present their findings to the class

Think-Pair-Share:

- After each group has completed a Mind Map based upon one of the organization/NGO’s Mission Statement, you will ask students to break into pairs

- Each pair of students will be provided with: • A fact sheet pertaining to the organization • A Graphic Organizer to compare and contrast the student’s interpretation of the organization based on the Mind Map versus the Fact Sheet provided

- Students will look through their organization’s Fact Sheet and compare it to their visual interpretation (Mind Map) of the organization/NGO based on its Mission Statement

- On the Graphic Organizer, pairs will record which elements of the Mind Map aligned with the Organization’s Fact Sheet, if they were missing any important information on the Mind Map that was included in the Fact Sheet, etc.

- Pairs would hand in their graphic organizer for Teacher assessment after presenting their findings to the class

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Assessment/Evaluation Techniques: Formative Assessment:

- Peer Assessment: Mind Mapping activity - Teacher Assessment: Graphic Organizer

Resources/Learning Materials: Electronic: Covenant House Toronto. www.covenanthouse.on.ca. Unicef Canada. www.unicef.ca. War Child Canada. www.warchild.ca. Yonge Street Mission. www.ysm.on.ca/evergreen.php. Print: Bennett, Barrie and Carol Rolheiser. Beyond Monet: The Artful Science of Instructional Strategy. Toronto: Bookation Inc., 2001. Think Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches, Grades 7 – 12. Ontario Ministry of Education, 2003. Accommodations/Modifications:

Accommodations would need to be adopted for ESL students within the classroom. These could include, but are not limited to: 1. Instructional Accommodations

Having a buddy system in place for the classroom would be effective in providing

ESL students with a student support system. In conjunction with classroom partnering, two specific instructional strategies adopted in this lesson that seek to accommodate ESL students are:

- Graphic organizers (e.g., Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer) - Mind Maps (e.g. Mind Map based on organization/NGO’s Mission Statement)

2. Environmental Accommodations

- Alternative workspaces - Assistive devices (e.g., dictionary in native language) - Background noise minimized - Quiet settings

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Lesson 5 Appendix

5.1 Mission Statement #1

MISSION STATEMENT #1

“Our commitment is to serve suffering children of the street, and protect and

safeguard all children. We do this with absolute respect and unconditional love”.

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“For every child – health, education, equality,

protection – ADVANCE HUMANITY”.

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“...dedicated to providing urgently needed

humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world... helps generate awareness, support and

advocacy for children's rights everywhere”.

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“A safe place where street youth can rest, eat, obtain

health care, receive parental relief and get help

with finding a job or a place to stay. Here, street youth can find a place to

belong, someone to talk to and people who genuinely

care”

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5.5 Fact Sheet #1

Covenant House

FACT SHEET: MISSION STATEMENT: “Our commitment is to serve suffering children of the street, and protect and safeguard all children. We do this with absolute respect and unconditional love”. OUR HISTORY:

Opened in 1982, Covenant House Toronto was the second international site in the highly recognized childcare agency

The 21-site network spans from Alaska to Latin America Today, Covenant House Toronto is Canada’s largest shelter for homeless youth Provides 24-hour crisis care and has the widest range of services under one roof

(including: education, counselling, health care, and employment assistance) Donors provide 80% of the 17.7 million budget Since first opening, has offered opportunity and hope to more than 70,000 youth

OUR YOUTH:

Research and studies suggest that over 70% of homeless youth have fled or been forced from homes where there is abuse or neglect

RCMP statistics show some 53,000 reports of runaways in Canada, most who between 14 – 15 years of age

Young people come to Convenant House from every part of the country from every background

IMMEDIACY:

Youth in crisis need immediate help – we provide their basic human needs (food, clothing, a shower, and medical attention)

SANCTUARY:

Youth trying to get off the street are often scared and untrusting – we protect out kids from violence and degradation by providing them with safety

COMMUNICATION VALUES:

We show youth that wholesome, caring relationships are based on trust, respect and honesty

Information Obtained From Website: www.covenanthouse.on.ca

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5.6 Fact Sheet #2

FACT SHEET:

MISSION STATEMENT: “For every child – health, education, equality, protection – ADVANCE HUMANITY”.

HISTORY:

1946: UNICEF was created by the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1946 as a temporary organization called the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to respond to the suffering of children in European countries devastated by World War II.

1953 In 1953, UNICEF was made a permanent arm of the UN to address the plight of children in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Its name was changed to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

1955 Volunteers formed UNICEF Canada in 1955 to organize the first Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign and mobilize long-term Canadian support for the world’s most vulnerable children.

1965 UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.

2002 In May 2002, UNICEF was the Secretariat for the United Nations Special Session on Children – a gathering of world leaders that resulted in a unanimous agreement on a new agenda for children, including 21 specific goals and targets for child health, education and protection over the next decade. The children participating in this session concluded that “a world fit for us is a world fit for everyone.”

Today UNICEF has direct working relations with government ministries, community leaders and policy makers in more than 155 countries and territories.

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Thanks to UNICEF, millions of children are living better lives today – three million fewer children under five die each year than 10 years ago and 50 million more children are enrolled in primary school than in 1990.

Guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF believes that the survival, protection and development of children must be a global priority, and that every child has the right to health, education, equality and protection.

UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, foundations, businesses and governments.

THE BIG PICTURE In the last decade alone, more than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict, and more than three times that number have been permanently disabled or seriously injured. An estimated 20 million children have been forced to flee their homes. More than 1 million children have been orphaned or separated from their families. The majority of displaced persons and refugees are children and women. UNICEF in Action

UNICEF was created to respond to the needs of children in the aftermath of World War II and has continued to serve children in emergencies since that time. UNICEF’s continuing presence in 155 countries and territories worldwide means that it is on the ground both long before and long after the emergency situation, with well-established local partners and suppliers. UNICEF is currently present in some 55 to 60 countries designated as acutely unstable or with pockets of instability and emergencies.

When an emergency strikes, UNICEF provides immediate assistance to children and their families in four broad areas:

Health and nutrition – basic health care services, basic clinical equipment, fortified nutritional products, blankets, immunization, messages about these issues.

Education – safe environments for learning, recreation and psychosocial support, basic education services, education kits and basic learning material for primary school children.

Child protection – actions on behalf of unaccompanied and separated children, mine awareness materials, identification and redress of child rights violations, psychosocial support services for children and their caregivers.

Water supply and sanitation – availability of a minimum safe water supply, bleach, chlorine or water tablets, soap and dissemination of key hygiene

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messages, safe excreta and solid waste disposal.

UNICEF integrates humanitarian interventions with ongoing development programs that advance children’s rights. With the frequency and intensity of emergencies increasing, UNICEF has identifies ways to better prepare for and respond to crises within the framework of regular development programs.

At the policy level, UNICEF has been at the forefront of establishing humanitarian principles that support child protection. Ending the use of soldiers, limiting the impact of sanctions on children and providing better protection for children and women in conflict situations are among the issues that UNICEF has introduced into the UN Security Council’s deliberations. UNICEF also works with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to advocate for protecting the neutrality and rights of civilians in conflict zones, including the right of children and women to be reached with humanitarian assistance. In Angola, Sierra Leone and other countries, UNICEF has participated in negotiations for the periodic cessation of hostilities for Days of Tranquility and Corridors of Peace – safe times and spaces to provide children with immunization, education materials and other services.

Information Obtained From Website: www.unicef.ca

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5.7 Fact Sheet #3

War Child Canada

FACT SHEET:

MISSION STATEMENT: “...dedicated to providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world... helps generate awareness, support and advocacy for children's rights everywhere”.

A registered Canadian charity dedicated to providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world

Helps to generate awareness, support, and advocacy for children’s rights everywhere

WHY WAR CHILD? Children are always amongst the first casualties of war Many orphaned at a young age and are left with a devastating lack of access

to food, medical assistance and education In some cases, children are forced to work as child soldiers In other cases, children are forced to become sexual servants

WAS DOES WAR CHILD DO? Aims to provide children with the assistance needed to cope with the immediate

and long-term consequences of war All programs and decision-making processes are designed to find grassroots

solutions to help children on a local level With sister offices in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, our vision is to

advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war

GETTING INVOLVED War Child Canada depends of actions taken by Canadians to raise awareness

about projects and the issues we confront You can help war-affected children across the world and work towards putting

an end to global poverty and conflict through: • fundraisers, campus representatives, street teams, Community catalysts, Youth Outreach Team

Information Obtained From Website: www.warchild.ca

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5.8 Fact Sheet #8

Yonge Street Mission

FACT SHEET:

MISSION STATEMENT: “A safe place where street youth can rest, eat, obtain health care, receive parental relief and get help with finding a job or a place to stay. Here, street youth can find a place to belong, someone to talk to and people who genuinely care”. ABOUT YONGE STREET MISSION:

Founded in 1896 as an outreach centre for people living in poverty in Toronto

Committed to being a pivotal agent of change in the city Offer services, programs, and networks of mutual support which enable

people to change their lives

WHAT IS EVERGREEN, YONGE STREET MISSION? Evergreen, one of the five branch of Yonge Street Mission, focuses on meeting

complex needs of Toronto’s large street youth population Provides many programs and services to street-involved youth under 25 A safe place where street youth can rest, eat, obtain health care, receive

parental relief and get help finding a job or a place to stay

WHO ARE TORONTO’S STREET YOUTH? We define street youth as young people who either live on the street or whose

lives are focused on the street Almost all youth are estranged from their families and face the danger of

violence, poverty, and substance abuse typical of street life Many have suffered abuse at the hands of their families or by life on the street All are held back by lack of education, poor job skills, health problems, and a

lack of opportunities

THE THREE MINISTRIES OF EVERGREEN: Drop-in centre Specialized Ministries Employment Resource Centre

Information Obtained From Website: www.ysm.on.ca/evergreen.php

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5.9 Graphic Organizer Date: __________________________ Name: ____________________________

Compare and Contrast: Mission Statement vs. Fact Sheet

Graphic Organizer

After creating a group Mind Map that connects to your organization/NGO’s Mission Statement AND looking at a related Fact Sheet, you will fill out this graphic organizer with a partner. This will help you to think about whether your group’s interpretation of the organization/NGO based on its Mission Statement aligned with the Fact Sheet provided. Working with a partner will also give you an additional perspective of their interpretation of the organization/NGO.

Mind Map:

Mission Statement: ______________________________________________________________________

Fact Sheet:

Name of Organization or NGO: __________________________________________________________________________

Key words, pictures, symbols used on group Mind Map (e.g., Why did you select these words, pictures, symbols? How do they match with your Mission Statement? Etc.)

•

•

•

• What was important about the words, pictures, symbols used? (e.g., What do they say about organization/NGO? How might your organization/NGO be perceived based on your Mind Map?)

•

•

•

•

Important aspects of the organization/NGO (e.g., Why is there a need for this organization? What is the organization/NGO’s mandate/goal? Is it locally or globally based? Etc.)

•

•

•

• Other Interesting Facts ( e.g., What campaigns/projects has the organization/NGO been involved in? What is its history? How do you get involved? Etc.)

•

•

•

•

•

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How are they alike?

•

•

•

•

•

How are they different?

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

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Lesson 6- My Life as a Child Solider: Guest Speaker, Ishmael Beah

Course: CGW4U: Canadian and World Issues 1. This lesson design will provide students with a first hand account of how easily human rights abuses can occur for youth in all parts of the world. Students will be able to hear the stories and experiences of Ishmael Beah in this interactive lesson and have the opportunity to ask questions to the guest speaker. The specific expectations this lesson is designed for are:

- Gather geographic information from primary sources and secondary sources to research a geographic topic (p. 94)

- Explain how inequities in the distribution of resources and boundary disputes contribute to uprisings and conflicts (p. 91)

- Describe the contributions of individuals who have been influential in addressing global issues and evaluate the impact of their work (p. 91)

Time: 76 minutes Lesson Description: This lesson has been designed to give students an opportunity to heighten their understanding of human rights abuses, specifically those where children are involved. We believe Beah and his experiences will give students an enduring understanding of the topics discussed throughout the unit, but also help them consider their rights in a broader context. Strands:

• Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems, Human-Environment Interactions, Global Connections, Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication

Expectations: Geographic Foundations: Space and Systems Overall Expectations • Analyse the causes and effects of economic disparities around the world (p. 87) Human – Environment Interactions Overall Expectations

• Analyse the impact of selected global trends on people and environments at the local, national, and global level (p. 89)

Global Connections Specific Expectations

• explain how inequities in the distribution of resources and boundary disputes contribute to uprisings and conflicts (p. 91); • describe the contributions of individuals who have been influential in addressing global issues and evaluate the impact of their work (p. 91)

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Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication Specific Expectations

• gather geographic information from primary sources and secondary sources to research a geographic topic or issue (p.94)

Planning Notes: • Ensure teacher brings AV and overhead machines • Ensure students’ desks are arranged in a fashion which optimizes interaction

with guest speaker Prior Knowledge Required: The preceding classes which focus on Human Rights and the Rights of the Child, the latter of which includes a video clip on the plight of child soldiers and a reading excerpt from Ishmael Beah’s book, “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” will adequately prepare students for the guest speaker. Teaching and Learning Strategies:

1. Guest speaker will begin the class by sharing a personal, provoking story of his life as boy soldier.

2. Guest speaker will describe his trials and tribulations as a child soldier in Sierra Leone; his verbal account will be complemented by a picture slide show and short video.

3. Lesson will culminate with a question and answer session. 4. Students will be required to submit a 1-page reflection regarding their thoughts,

feelings and any lingering questions about the guest speaker. Assessment/Evaluation Techniques: Formative Assessment:

• Peer Assessment: students will complete a question sheet during the presentation, where they can jot down thoughts, details they found interesting or important, etc (Appendix 1).

• Teacher Assessment: Teacher will formatively assess student learning by examining their responses to the guest speaker and by examining their reflections

Resources/Learning Materials:

- Book, “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah - AV and overhead machine

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Accommodations/Modifications: Hearing/Sight Impaired Students


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Appendix for Lesson 6 6.1

Think About

It... Question Sheet

Guest Speaker: Author, Ishmael Beah

1. During Mr. Beah’s discussion of his experiences, identify something(s) that surprised you. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain how this presentation made you feel and why. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What parallels could you draw from Mr. Beah’s experiences and what you have learned so far in this unit on human rights – discuss. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Lessons 7,8 & 9- Utilizing Primary and Secondary Documents for Geographic Inquiry

Course: CGW4U: Canadian and World Issues 1. This mini lesson design will provide students with information that will help them seek out both primary and secondary resources to be used in their culminating task for the unit. Time: This lesson includes information for three 76 minute periods. The teacher is expected to do most of the direct teaching during the first period, and the next two periods are to be used for research and to allow groups to work on their presentations and other group tasks. Lesson Description: This lesson is designed to ensure students understand the fundamental differences between primary and secondary documents, before initiating their research of an organization/NGO devoted to Human Rights (culminating task for unit design). This lesson will assist student understanding of different resources available to them, but also introduce them to ways by which both types of resources are valuable to geographic inquiry. During the library research period, students will be given an opportunity to enhance their understanding of different resources with an Online ‘refresher’ (Ontario History Quest website). While the refresher is a historically based Web-Quest, the Primary and Secondary Resource refresher is useful for any discipline. Students will also be provided with a hard copy of handout, “Primary and Secondary Resources – Uses for Geographic Inquiry”. Students will then apply this knowledge to help them research their NGO in preparation for their culminating task, which will also be explained during this lesson. Strand: Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication Expectations: Methods of Geographic Inquiry and Communication Overall Expectations

• use the methods and tools of geographic inquiry to locate, gather, evaluate, and organize information (p. 94)

Specific Expectations • Gather geographic information from primary sources (e.g., field research,

surveys, interviews) and secondary sources (e.g., books and journals, mainstream and alternative media, CD-ROMs, the Internet) to research a geographic topic or issue (p. 94)

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Planning Notes:

• Book school computer lab (three consecutive days) • Provide students with hard copy handout, “Primary and Secondary Resources –

Uses for Geographic Inquiry” • Provide students with “Research Help: Where to Look!” handout • Provide students with “Culminating Activity: NGO Research Project” handout


• Students would have had a guest speaker in the previous class, which would have given them an opportunity to understand how primary and secondary resources are useful when researching geographically based topics

• Students have some understanding of the differences between primary and secondary sources (e.g., would have been taught about differences between resources in compulsory courses, such as Grade 10 Canadian History)

• Students must be familiar the internet and its uses Teaching and Learning Strategies: Activity: “Utilizing Primary and Secondary Resources for Geographic Inquiry”

• Pair students in the computer lab and ensure each student logs onto the Ontario History Quest Learning Site

• Lead students to “Grade 10 – Introductory Activities” section of the Web-Quest • Students will complete an online and interactive ‘refresher’ of Primary vs.

Secondary Resources (10 minutes) • After students have completed the Web-Quest refresher, the teacher would

provide students with a handout, “Primary and Secondary Resources – Uses for Geographic Inquiry” and discuss how both types of resources will be needed to complete their culminating task (appendix 7.1)

• Students will also be given the “Research Help” handout and the “Culminating Activity” handout, and would have the activity explained to them (appendix 7.2 & 7.3)

• The remainder of the period will be devoted to student-led inquiry, based on their selected organization/NGO devoted to Human Rights (while making use of their handouts on research help and the culminating activity

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques: Formative Assessment:

- Teacher assessment: checklist • Checklist would be designed for the Specific Expectation: “Gather geographic information from primary sources (e.g., field research, surveys, interviews) and secondary sources (e.g., books and journals,

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mainstream and alternative media, CD-ROMs, the Internet) to research a geographic topic or issue (p. 94)” • Checklist could include: 1. Minimum 2 primary resources (e.g., photograph, diary, memoir, letter,

statistic) 2. Minimum 2 secondary resources (e.g., book, journal, documentary)

Resources/Learning Materials: Electronic: Ontario History Quest website. http://ohq.tpl.toronto.on.ca.

Accommodations/Modifications: Accommodations would need to be adopted for ESL students within the classroom. These could include, but are not limited to: 1. Instructional Accommodations

Having a buddy system in place for the classroom would be effective in providing

ESL students with a student support system. In conjunction with classroom partnering, two specific instructional strategies adopted in this lesson that seek to accommodate ESL students are:

- Duplicated lesson hand-outs for ESL teacher (to ensure that not ESL teacher is familiar with culminating task and the purpose of the library research periods, but also to explain any concepts that are unclear to the students)

- Re-wording/ rephrasing lesson hand-outs to ensure student understanding 2. Environmental Accommodations

- Alternative workspaces (e.g., library) - Assistive devices (e.g., dictionary in native language) - Quiet settings

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Lessons 7,8 & 9 7.1 Primary and Secondary Resources Information Sheet

Primary and Secondary Resources

Uses for Geographic Inquiry For your Research Project, you will be selecting a non-governmental organization (NGO) that lobbies for a human rights issue that sparked your interest throughout the unit. You must use both Primary AND Secondary

Resources in your research project. This table below was part of the Ontario History Web-Quest you just

completed and will serve as a reminder of what defines Primary and Secondary resources.

Primary Source Secondary Source

First-hand evidence or eyewitness account of an

event, circumstance or personality

Second-hand account of an event, circumstance, or personality made after the time period being recorded

Tells about the event without adding any

interpretation or Commentary that may convey attitudes from a later time

Interprets, analyzes or explains a historical event and the evidence of that event

Reflects the individual viewpoint or bias (a one-sided point of view) of the participant/recorder

Usually attempts to be objective and balanced, but may reflect the biases of the historian/recorder

Reflects the biases and attitudes of the time period in which it was written or produced

Could convey the attitudes of the time period in which it was written or produced

Obtained from: Ontario History Web-Quest. http://ohq.tpl.toronto.on.ca.

For your research project, you might consider the following when looking for resources: Primary: Photograph, diary, memoir, letter, survey, interview Secondary: Book, journal, documentary, CD-ROMs, the Internet REMEMBER... you must have at least:

TWO primary resources

TWO secondary resources

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7.2 Research Help Worksheet

Names:__________________________________________________________

Research Help: Where to Look!

For your culminating task, you have been asked to research an NGO. Below are three helpful resources that you can use as a place to start (along with the culminating activity handout you have been given) to look for NGOs. You are encouraged to do more research on your own, and these resources are a starting point. Use the attached chart to keep track of the information you find on NGOs during the research process. Also ensure that you are bookmarking or saving web-based sources so that you can find them again later. 1.) Duke University Libraries: NGO Research Guide http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/ngo_guide/ngo_links/rights.html Use the links along the left hand side of the page to navigate through the categories of NGOs. 2.) Canadian Social Research Links: Children, Families and Youth-National NGO Links http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm This is a links database that contains several articles talking about the issues facing families and how different NGOs are helping. This database also contains a National and Provincial list of NGOs that may be useful. 3.) Child Care Resource and Research Unit http://www.childcarecanada.org/res/issues/unssc.html This site talks about the United Nations Special Session on children, which was held in 2002. It contains may documents talking about child rights as well as links to child-focused NGOs.

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NGO Name Mission/Focus Country Who For? Type of

Source:

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7.3 Culminating Activity Sheet And Rubrics

Culminating Activity – NGO Research Project

Your task: - Create a group of 3-4 students - Choose a human rights issue that has sparked your interest throughout the unit - Have your human rights issue approved by your teacher - Choose a non-governmental organization (NGO) that lobbies for that human

rights issue from the list below. Your group will be responsible for conducting in-depth research on your NGO and presenting it to the class.

NGOs to Choose From:

Free the Children Help Lesotho Save the Children Foundation Anti-Slavery International World Vision Equality Now Hunger Project Polaris Project Care International Sweatshop Watch Doctors Without Borders Captive Daughters Face to Face Stop Hunger Now Human Rights Watch Oxfam International Nova Scotia Gambia Association Action for South Africa (ACTSA) Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soliders MAP (Medical Assistance Programs) International End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (EPCAT) Other (with your teacher’s permission) There are 4 major components to this assignment: 1) The Written Component – Group Each group will hand in a package describing their NGO with particular reference to the following checklist of topics:

� Introduction to your human rights issue (1/2 – 1 page) � Mandate/Goals of the organization � History of the organization – how did it start? When? � Where is it based? � Who is it helping? � Campaigns and projects – past, present, and future � How does it raise funds? � Size of the organization – employees, volunteers � How to get involved � Any other interesting information that you come across

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This is primarily an internet research based assignment. Groups will have the opportunity to conduct research in the library during class time. *Important Notes:

- Research should be equally divided among all group members - Must use 2 primary resources and 2 secondary resources (No Wikipedia)

2) The Presentation – Group Each group will create a 15-20 minute presentation outlining their NGO. As a group, you will provide a comprehensive overview of the organization and attempt to gain support from your colleagues (see part 3 for more details). This is your chance to be creative! The way that your group presents the information is completely up to you. Possible ideas include:

- Poster - Power Point presentation - Skit/Role play - Etc.

*Important Notes:

- Each member must be involved in the presentation of your NGO 3) The Donation – Individual After all of the presentations are completed, you will have the chance to reflect on which NGO(s) made the biggest impact on you personally. You will imagine that you have $500 that you are looking to donate to an NGO. Which NGO(s) are you going to support? You can choose to donate the entire sum to one NGO or to split the money up among multiple NGOs. On a piece of paper you will write down your name, the NGO(s), and the amount of money that you will be contributing to each one. Results will be tallied to see which NGO garnered the most classroom support! *Note: You can’t donate money to your own NGO! You must support the other NGOs presented in class. 4) The Reflection – Individual Write a 2-page response to this activity, answering the following questions:

- Which NGO did you choose to donate money too? - What criteria did you use to make this decision? - What have you learned about NGOs from this assignment? - *Note: See marking rubric

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Presentation Rubric

Category Mark Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Knowledge & Understanding - Information on NGO gathered from primary and secondary sources

/4

- accurate, in-depth information of an NGO gathered from primary and secondary sources

- sufficient information of an NGO gathered from primary and secondary sources

- some information of an NGO gathered from primary and secondary sources

- little or no information of an NGO gathered from primary and secondary sources

Thinking - Identify and analyze the social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological components of selected human rights issue

/4

- strong analysis of the social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological components of selected human rights issue

- sufficient analysis of the social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological components of selected human rights issue

- satisfactory analysis of the social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological components of selected human rights issue

- weak analysis of the social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological components of selected human rights issue

Communication - Ideas expressed clearly and in an organized fashion

/4

- main points are clearly summarized

- main points are summarized but need to be more clearly defined

- some points are not clear

- points are not clear

Application - Present evaluation of NGO’s work in a creative and persuasive manner /4

- Strong evaluation of NGO’s work presented in a creative and persuasive manner

- sufficient evaluation of NGO’s work presented in a creative and persuasive manner

- satisfactory evaluation of NGO’s work presented in a somewhat creative and persuasive manner

- no evaluation of NGO’s work

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Reflection Rubric

Category Mark Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Knowledge & Understanding - Knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

/4

- accurate knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- sufficient knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- some knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

- little or no knowledge of key aspects of NGOs and the effects of their actions on local, national, and global geographic issues

Thinking - Draw conclusions or make judgments on the basis of reasoned analysis and supporting evidence

/4

- strong evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- sufficient evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- some evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

- little or no evidence of in depth analysis with supporting facts

Communication - Ideas expressed clearly and in an organized fashion - Evidence of proof-reading & editing

/4



- some points are not clear - some evidence of proof-reading and editing


Application - Explain the relevance and/or importance in your own life of the work done by a non-governmental organization(s)

/4

- strong, in-depth explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- sufficient explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- some explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

- little or no explanation of the relevance and/or importance of an NGO’s work in your own life

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Bibliography

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Ami, Arlene, Dir. Say I Do. 2002. Red Storm Productions, 2002. Barker, Susan. “Women’s Human Rights Resources.” Bora Laskin Law Library. 27 Oct.

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28 Jan. 2008. <http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index_barriers.html>. Beah, Ishmael. “The Making, and Unmaking, of a Child Soldier.” The New York Times

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Bloom, David E., and Mark Weston. “Girls’ Education in Developing Countries: Mind the

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Children in the Ranks. Human Rights Watch. 2007.

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“Fighting for Girls’ Rights in Rural Areas.” UNICEF. 2006. 28 Jan. 2008.

<http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/profiles/4_mulu.php>. Herz, Barbara. “Educating Girls in South Asia: Promising Approaches.” United Nations

Girls’ Education Initiative. Mar. 2006. 24 Jan. 2008. <http://www.ungei.org/resources/files/unicefrosa_educatinggirlsinSouthAsia.pdf>.

“Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).” Algonquin College: Expedition Africa.13

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“On the Frontlines: Photo and Video in Human Rights Reporting.” Human Rights

Watch. 2007. Jan. 2008. <http://www.hrw.org/wr2k7/photos.htm>. “Primary Education, Gender Equality and Empowering Women.” Algonquin College:

Expedition Africa. 26 July 2007. 15 Jan. 2008. <http://sbd1.algonquincollege.com/africa/lessonPlans/lesson44/intro1.htm>.

“A Refugee School Girl has a Chance to Learn and Build a Better Future.” UNICEF.

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<http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/>. “Women at a Glance.” United Nations Department of Public Information.1997 May. 24

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