Human Rights
12/7/2019
Our social studies curriculum this year is World Regions and Cultures. Before we start delving into specific regions, we’ve been discussing the characteristics and foundational ideas that diverse places have in common. This past week we discussed human rights. I started off by simply asking students to list their wants and needs. In groups, they began to prioritize their answers. They found very quickly that their wants tended to be extra things to make them comfortable, cease their boredom, or simply items of convenience. We discussed the difference between someone who doesn’t get what he/she wants versus someone whose basic needs are not met. The students were very insightful and they took off running. They did a “mix and mingle” activity in which the students were walking around the room, stopping in small groups of various numbers, and discussing a “big idea”. I observed them from afar, hoping to encourage them to express their opinions with each other, without worrying about being right or wrong. The room was buzzing. This young adolescent age between 11-14 is when students start to form their own opinions about the world around them. They are looking at things with new perspectives and they are trying to navigate where they fit into it all. Our students excel in these discussion-based activities. We practiced our skills with formal document analysis, studying our own country’s Bill of Rights, alongside with the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. They observed the similarities and differences while considering the intention, implementation, and merit of each document. Their final step was to create a “Human Rights Tree”—symbolic of unity and growth, in which each student selected rights they believe to be pivotal for every human to survive adequately. Creativity, compassion, and awareness were drawn into their final products, which look lovely on display in our hallway. Our social studies curriculum this year is educational on many levels. Studying geography, history, economics, civics, and culture will expose our students to many new details about the world they live in. I feel lucky to be a part of their exploration. Their ideas blossom as they learn about things that matter to them and the other 7+ billion with whom they share the world. Our middle school students truly are exceptional learners who are becoming independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity.
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Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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