Unit
Rationale:
Human rights education
is itself a fundamental human right as well as a responsibility.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) obligates
every individual and institution of society to "strive
by teaching and [through] education to promote respect for
these rights and freedoms." The objective of this unit
is to prepare students with the knowledge and tools required
to be responsible global citizens who work to sustain the
dignity of all humans. It is about building moral and ethical
character and increasing self-esteem and self-confidence in
children by equipping them with useable knowledge.
This curriculum aims to cultivate civic knowledge and virtue.
Informed and caring citizens must be able to think critically
about the diversity of the world. We all inhabit the same
planet, voluntarily or not, which requires cooperation and
understanding. Issues, in the past, that might have been considered
insignificant subject matter in classrooms, may threaten the
sustainability of human life on earth. There is a greater
need to teach youth empathy and interest about foreign lands
and peoples we ordinarily do not experience first hand. With
the world becoming increasingly smaller and the threats to
humanity becoming increasingly larger, students must be equipped
with the knowledge and tools required to fight this pressing
battle.
Globalization's positive potentials are democratization
and the spread of awareness of human rights. The negative
implications, however, of war and conflict, the widening
economic gap between rich and poor, the extinction of indigenous
cultures, spread of weapons and the mass destruction of
the environment will impact us all. Education is the key
to solving these problems. Education "summons forth
the innate goodness in humanity - our capacity for nonviolence,
trust, and benevolence" (Noddings, 2005). Education
surfaces one's empathy for others and basic humanistic skills
required to peacefully co-exist with 6 billion co-inhabitants.
Each 30-minute episode of the 'What's Going On?' series
takes viewers to a different country to explore a problem through the personal stories
of young people. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity: Michael Douglas, Danny Glover,
Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, Richard Gere, Laurence Fishbourne, Susan Sarandon and Angelina Jolie.
These programs correlate with NCSS standards on the study of people, places and environments
as well as interactions with individuals, groups and institutions.
The 'What's Going On?' series aims to give students three
key skills required of global citizens:
- Wisdom - the ability to recognize individual dignity,
potential, and interdependence.
- Courage - the capacity to acknowledge others' differences
and to create a diverse world that supports all needs.
- Empathy - the power to share the grief of humans and
of all life on earth
Education that humanizes global issues works toward producing
characteristics of wisdom, courage and compassion. Such
education has the potential to form communities, societies,
and countries of global citizens committed to world peace.
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Big Idea:
World Problems Affect us All
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Unit
Title:
"What's Going On?"
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Essential Understandings:
In order to provide youth with the knowledge required to combat global issues, teachers must help students to construct explanations, interpret, apply and understand obstacles from various perspectives, empathize, and reflect on their own understanding and those surrounding the problem.
At the unit's completion, students will apply the aforementioned skills in the following areas:
Human Rights vocabulary terms.
Who and what is being done about global issues.
International documents and what issues they address.
The names of NGOs, civil societies, and international organizations that are working to combat global challenges.
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Unit Content Goals:
The UN Works Programme, a division of the educational outreach department at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City, has created an original documentary series that puts a human face on the work of the United Nations. The UN Charter begins, "We the people…" and that is where 'What's Going On?' begins: with real people.
The goal of the 'What's Going On?' series is to give a voice to ordinary men, women, and children and let them tell their own stories: to share their struggles and fears; hopes and aspirations with audiences around the world.
Students will know the geographic regions of specified crisis, how these problems are interrelated and what is being done to solve them.
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Unit Process Goal:
Students will be able to analyze primary and secondary sources, debate, create visuals, discuss, design action plans, conduct internet research, and write reflectively as they learn about the struggles of children around the world.
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Essential Question:
Students will continuously apply the question 'what can I do to help?' throughout the unit as a means to promote a positive outlook on the issues addressed in 'What's Going On?'. The essential idea students' carry with them is that individuals can help combat the crisis and the underlying reasons for the perpetual cycle of problems.
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Unit Pre-Assessment:
Prior to screening the films or conducting any of the activities, assess students' prior- knowledge about the topic they are going to investigate.
Day Before Assessment
The day before the first lesson about any of the topics discussed in 'What's Going On?' hand out an index card with the following questions:
In two sentences or less answer the following questions:
- What is world peace?
- What and where are some of the obstacles preventing us from attaining world peace?
- What are some global challenges you would like to learn about in class?
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These answers will give great insight into students prior knowledge and help the facilitator understand what needs to be taught to help students better define question 1 and 2. Teachers should conduct a Day Before Assessment prior to the activities associated with 'What's Going On?' Might it be even more helpful to make each pre-assessment a bit more specific? For instance, in this module on child soldiers in Sierra Leone, you could ask what students know about civil strife in West Africa, You might ask them some versions of your essential questions, like "Should children be used as soldiers in armed conflict? Why or why not?" Then you would get a feel for what they already know in terms of facts (West Africa) and in terms of their sense of the moral issues involved with child soldiers. NOTE: I wrote this as I'm reading down. Below I do see that you have some more specific questions, but I'll leave my comments because I still think that the valuable pre-information is whether they know anything going into the lesson about civil strife in countries that use child soldiers and what they think is wrong with using child soldiers.
Thought Provoking Discussion
As a group, discuss some of the responses on the Day Before Assessment index cards. Ask students how they came up with their answers and where they learned about this particular topic. Compare and contrast answers as a way to exemplify the diverse knowledge (or lack there of) about an issue.
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