Learning and meaningful conversations


 

Differentiation

 

For each of the six phases of the Circle we have chosen a variety of ways to learn and think about Children’s Rights.
As a teacher you can choose a way that engages your students and matches their levels. 

  1. In consultation with your group, you can focus on one assignment or more from any challenge and discuss whether to divide your class into groups.
  2. If students delve into Children’s Rights it will probably lead to many new questions; you may decide together that you want a different interpretation of the (sub) theme. Your school page in the wiki provides all the space for it. When new questions arise, feel free to add them on your page; students from other groups in your Circle may think along with you.
  3. Of course, you are also free to choose a different method of working on a theme, or to contribute to a part of it. Your own contribution and critical creativity is greatly appreciated!
  4. For the other participants in your Learning Circle, it’s nice to know what assignment your group has selected. Please make this clear when you post your work in the wiki.

 

Cool Tools and learning/teaching methods.

 

In the sidebar you'll find a link to the Cool Tools Wiki with a lot of ideas for how to present what you've learned. These tools include ones for editing images, text, sound, video, slideshows and other 'cool tools' to use for designing your page--like submitting your students' cartoons to a worldwide network of cartoonists, who will create an professional version of your cartoons.

 

Very useful and extensive information on learning- and-teaching methods can be found in de werkvormen plannerHowever: Since this is a site only in Dutch, please feel free to add information in English on learning methods or links to creative digital tools on this page if you think it will be useful to the other participants.

 

Making a Skype appointment

 

On the Home page: if you want to Skype with another group from your Learning Circle, go to the text under the logo and click to the link to the Skype page to leave a note. The other participants can react to make a further appointment.

 

E-mailing other teachers in your circle

There are two ways to find your colleagues:

  1. Go back to the title of the page. Just underneath, is the name of the last person who edited it--the name is a link to their email address. 
  2. Go to the dark blue tabs on the top navigation bar and click on "Users." The names and addresses of all participants are listed there.

 

Meaningful conversations with your students.

 

Children's Rights is an issue that raises many questions and the discussions may be emotional. When our students hear stories and see pictures of the harsh situation of other children, they may feel distress, outrage and fear. At the same time, involvement in the subject also can encourage our students' critical thinking and their creativity about how to make positive changes for Children's Rights in the future.

 

We have observed that learning with other students in a "global classroom" will give your students reassurance that even as children and later as adults, they can help improve the rights of children in their own society and perhaps others.

 

Further information for teachers

 

Why:

We discuss the rights of children because it's about their own future and position in the world. By caring and investing in these rights, students can learn to give rights attention in their own meaningful way, in relation to others. They can investigate which values ​​that children's rights have in the world and their world, by seeing the reality and discussing the dilemmas.
 

In the challenges, children can discuss and examine how they perceive children’s rights in their own environment. Together, our students can discover that they are connected to others and how they can learn and live with each other.

 

Questions for introduction:

What can you do? (Rights, freedom)

What shouldn’t you do? (Rules, agreements, prohibition signs)

What should you do? (Rules, duties, appointments. At home, at school, in your environment)

What happens if there are no rules?

What happens when there are too many rules?

What are rights?

Do children have rights?

Do you also have rights? For example.. (Personal opinion, safety, love, protection, freedom ..?)

Adults in your environment must take care of…?

What should the directors of your town or city take care of?

Where can the government take care?

 

When were you really happy?

What made you really happy?

What or who do you need to be happy?

What is the difference between loving or needing? Give examples.

What’s the difference: What do you need, what is luxury? And for a child in a country with much poverty?

What do you consider a basic need?

 

What rights are fair and equitable for every child? Can you name some?

You can also vote: A student mentions a right and explains why this is important right. Give arguments. You can make a game, with three compartments in which children can stand after mentioning a law: Are you for or against? Or don’t you know?

Which rights are important? (Almost) everyone agrees.

Do you think you have the same rights as an adult?

 

What can you do if you are being treated unfairly?

Would you be someone else if you:

 

Is it all right if children work?

How old do you have to go to work?

Which kind of work can children do? Which work can’t be done by children?

Do you get paid for work? Is that ok/not ok?

Are children allowed to keep the money they earn, or should they give it to their parents?

Would you like to earn money?

Which do you prefer: working or playing?

Which do you prefer: go to work or go to school?

If you could choose: stay at home without work or go to school ...?

Math, language and all those other subjects at school: Is that work?

What is the difference between working and helping?

 

Introduction of Challenge 3: The right to grow up safe.

 

Safety can be quite large and far away; just think of the difference between a world at war or a world at peace.

But safety can also be very close ...

 

You can explore together: When is a situation super safe?

 

We’ll look at something that all children recognize: The intersection at the school. It is safer with cameras or with parents watching out? You can search for criteria for safety and discuss if more control also means more safety. (This is obviously a dilemma for politicians in which they want to find a good way or good answers).

 

To introduce 'Safety’, students could make a drawing.

Teachers can accompany this exercise for example like this:

 

"Make sure you are sitting comfortably. We are going to the place where you feel safe and secure.

Close your eyes....

Take a few breaths in and out quietly. I'll take you on a journey. In your head you can find a small elevator. You can step in it and it goes down slowly: Along your nose, mouth, throat, chest (shortly wave to your heart), then in your abdomen, left thigh, knee, calf and foot. And then it goes back up to your belly. 

Now we go to a place where you feel safe and where you feel at ease. Maybe a picture emerges. Take your time.. What does this place look like? What do you see when you are looking around?

Are you lying down on soft things? Do you feel a gentle breeze or is there a lot of space?

How does it smell there? Is there also something you eat and drink there? Maybe you hear something: music, birds or something else? Are you doing something?

Try to see this picture in your head. Now we go back into the elevator and back to our class. We go slowly up, through your legs, abdomen and chest. You return in your head and when you're ready you can open your eyes again and stretch out.

Now you can draw your picture”.

 

After drawing you can have a conversation:

 

The students can look at the drawings in pairs and talk about it, tell something more about it. 

The teacher can collect the stories and discuss the sentence: a safe place is:… warm, safe etc.

 

The following questions can be kept in mind while discussing with your students:

• When do you feel safe?

• Where do you feel safe?

• What makes you feel safe?

• And what doesn’t?