Teaching Peace in Elementary School. Photo FOR years, there has been a steady stream of headlines about the soaring mental health needs of college students and their struggles with anxiety and lack of resilience. Now, a growing number of educators are trying to bolster emotional competency not on college campuses, but where they believe it will have the greatest impact: in elementary schools.
In many communities, elementary teachers, guidance counselors and administrators are embracing what is known as social and emotional learning, or S.E.L., a process through which people become more aware of their feelings and learn to relate more peacefully to others. Feeling left out? Angry at your mom? Embarrassed to speak out loud during class? Proponents of S.E.L. say these feelings aren’t insignificant issues to be ignored in favor of the three R’s.
“It’s not just about how you feel, but how are you going to solve a problem, whether it’s an academic problem or a peer problem or a relationship problem with a parent,” said Mark T. Dr. 7 Ways to Raise an Ethical Child by Dr. Michele Borba. Why we must nurture children’s hearts as well as minds: 7 ways to teach kids strong, ethical behavior and character in a decade of moral erosion This might as well go down in history as the “Decade of Moral Erosion.” Wall Street so-called “leaders,” politicians, celebrities, and even the clergy and their parade of unethical acts were continual news stories. The Internet became scarier; TV featured more casual sex and vulgarity; political and corporate scandals became raunchier and more public; video games became cruder; music lyrics were ruder; movies were often steamier and more violent. The list goes on and I’m sure you could add more dozens of examples.
Research is clear that the best way to teach morals and ethics is through example. Our children’s social scene is meaner and more aggressive. Bullying is starting at even younger ages and has extended from playgrounds to cyberspace. The crisis of character is in every region in the world I’ve visited. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Use role playing. 6. Creating Classrooms for Social Justice. A lot has been discussed and written about being an "educator for social justice. " What does that really mean? In this post, I will break down a few basic classroom practices that allow teachers to engage with best practices in teaching core subjects while also being advocates for social justice in the classroom. Social justice is recognizing and acting upon the power that we have for making positive change. Teachers do this every day in many ways. It is also important to note that many of the practices that demonstrate a social justice orientation are also reflective of best practices in teaching.
Connecting to Students' Lives When making curricular decisions, consider, value, and build on the diverse prior learning experiences of your students. Linking to Real-World Problems and Multiple Perspectives Make what you are teaching relevant to what is going on in the world. Of course, this is not an opportunity for a teacher to impose his or her beliefs on the students.
Social Justice: A Whole-School Approach. Social justice -- what does that mean to you as a person? As an educator? If you're interested in starting this conversation, here's a place to start. At Park Day School in Oakland, California, we use a social justice lens as we design curriculum, organize parent education, and develop school policies to help us better understand and address large, complex social issues such as poverty, food insecurity, racism, and environmental justice.
By including our whole community, we create a learning environment that engages teachers, students, families, and staff in a deeper way. The five questions below are designed to help you think about social justice as an educator and inspire conversation. 1. Learning about a social justice issue as a school can help build greater empathy and a deeper understanding across all grade levels. What is environmental justice? We organize and develop special programming for the week, including classroom projects, field trips, and guest speakers. 2. 3. 4. 5. The Hidden Brain: How Ocean Currents Explain Our Unconscious Social Biases. By Maria Popova “Those who travel with the current will always feel they are good swimmers; those who swim against the current may never realize they are better swimmers than they imagine.” Biases often work in surreptitious ways — they sneak in through the backdoor of our conscience, our good-personhood, and our highest rational convictions, and lodge themselves between us and the world, between our imperfect humanity and our aspirational selves, between who we believe we are and how we behave.
In the introduction, Vedantam contextualizes why this phenomenon isn’t new but bears greater urgency than ever: Unconscious biases have always dogged us, but multiple factors made them especially dangerous today. Globalization and technology, and the intersecting faultlines of religious extremism, economic upheaval, demographic change, and mass migration have amplified the effects of hidden biases. Our mental errors once affected only ourselves and those in our vicinity. Vedantam writes: Civil Rights Books. Close(x) Don’t Miss Out You’re all set! Look out for our weekly updates soon. Connect with us Jump to navigation "Best of" Lists "Best of" lists Get age-appropriate ideas and inspiration for every interest: Poll Did this specific Top Picks list help you decide to do any of the following?
Let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 41% (764 votes) NOT let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 14% (257 votes) Buy, rent, or download a particular media title 23% (436 votes) Did not impact my decision 22% (403 votes) Total votes: 1860 About our rating system ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age. Find out more Learning ratings Share this List FavoriteSign In or Sign Up to add favorites Civil Rights Books The Civil Rights era comes alive in these excellent, informative books for kids of all ages. Rosa. Good News Bad News (Age 3+) Bully (Age 3+) The Invisible Boy (Age 6+) I Have a Dream (Age 6+) March: Book One (Age 12+) The Book Thief (Age 13+)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Age 13+) The Great Invisible. On April 20, 2010, communities throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States were devastated by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a state-of-the-art, offshore oilrig operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The blast killed 11 of 126 rig crewmembers and injured many more, setting off a fireball that was seen 35 miles away. After burning for two days, the Deepwater Horizon sank, causing the largest offshore oil spill in American history. The spill flowed unabated for almost three months, dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean, shutting down the local fishing industry, polluting the fragile ecosystem, and raising serious questions about the safety of continued deep-water offshore drilling.
Brown traveled to small towns and major cities across Alabama, Louisiana and Texas to explore the fallout of the environmental disaster. "Infuriating" - The New York Times. The Hunting Ground. The Human Face of Big Data. Big Data is defined as the real time collection, analyses, and visualization of vast amounts of information.
In the hands of Data Scientists this raw information is fueling a revolution which many people believe may have as big an impact on humanity going forward as the Internet has over the past two decades. Its enabling us to sense, measure, and understand aspects of our existence in ways never before possible. The Human Face of Big Data captures an extraordinary revolution sweeping, almost invisibly, through business, academia, government, healthcare, and everyday life. It's already enabling us to provide a healthier life for our children. To provide our seniors with independence while keeping them safe. To help us conserve precious resources like water and energy.
This massive gathering and analyzing of data in real time is allowing us to address some of humanity biggest challenges. “Every powerful tool has a dark side. A Place At The Table. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine the issue of hunger in America through the lens of three people struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford.
Ultimately, A PLACE AT THE TABLE shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides — as they have in the past — that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all. "BEAUTIFULLY SHOT AND EDITED. THE CRAFT IS OF A VERY HIGH LEVEL" — Toronto HotDocs Film Festival Must See. Food Chains. There is more interest in food these days than ever, yet there is very little interest in the hands that pick it. Farmworkers, the foundation of our fresh food industry, are routinely abused and robbed of wages. In extreme cases they can be beaten, sexually harassed or even enslaved – all within the borders of the United States. Food Chains reveals the human cost in our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce like fast food and supermarkets.
Fast food is big, but supermarkets are bigger – earning $4 trillion globally. They have tremendous power over the agricultural system. The narrative of the film focuses on an intrepid and highly lauded group of tomato pickers from Southern Florida – the Coalition of Immokalee Workers or CIW – who are revolutionizing farm labor.
All Educational Editions Include: - 2 DVD Box Set that includes - Three versions of film (82, 52, and 30 minutes) in ENGLISH - Three versions of film (82, 52, and 30 minutes) in SPANISH Testimonials Raj Patel. Poverty, Inc. The West has positioned itself as the protagonist of development, giving rise to a vast multi-billion dollar poverty industry — the business of doing good has never been better. Yet the results have been mixed, in some cases even catastrophic, and leaders in the developing world are growing increasingly vocal in calling for change. From TOMs Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S. agricultural subsidies, the film challenges each of us to ask the tough question: Could I be part of the problem?
Quotes “A powerful and uncompromising film that strikes at the core of the traditional understanding of development and international assistance.” — Andres Jimenez, Waging Non-Violence [Costa Rica] "You made me so proud to be an African woman. Thank you for the brutal but necessary and empowering truth. " — Dany Masado, Health Professional [Cameroon] Watch this video testimonial from Kenyan professor of nonprofit management at Regis University, M.D. Discussion Guide. Toxic Hot Seat. The three chemical companies producing flame retardants would prefer that we not ask these questions, and they've spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, publicists and influencers to ensure that we don't. It might remind you of the Big Tobacco cover-up. Which makes sense, since Big Tobacco has had a hand in this, too. Set against the backdrop of the award-winning 2012 Chicago Tribune investigative series "Playing With Fire," TOXIC HOT SEAT threads together an intricate story of manipulation that details how Big Tobacco skillfully convinced fire safety officials to back a standard that, in effect, requires all furniture to be filled with toxic flame retardants.
The film continues to untangle how the chemical companies obscure the risks to public health and misrepresent chemical safety data by paying "experts" to alarm legislators and the public about the deadly risk of removing chemical flame retardants from our homes. It's easy! And here is what you can do with it: Quotes. March of the Penguins (Age 6+) What's on Your Plate? (Age 8+) Paper Clips (Age 8+) This documentary isn't a slick, celebrity-narrated account of the Whitwell students' simple but life-changing Holocaust studies project. In fact, the biggest celebrity is Happy Days dad Tom Bosley, who, as a Jewish grandfather, sent in one paper clip to the class. Instead, the documentary earnestly focuses on the principal Linda Hooper, assistant principal David Smith, and language-arts teacher Sandra Roberts, and the students and journalists who helped spread the word that a group of white Southern kids were doing their best to honor the six million Jewish people killed by Hitler's racist regime.
Throughout the collection process, the students, who didn't even know any Jews personally when they began the project, become attuned to the stories behind the paper clips and understand that unchecked intolerance and prejudice can lead to genocide. To Kill a Mockingbird (Age 12+) The Dream Is Now (Age 12+) Race to Nowhere (Age 12+) An Inconvenient Truth (Age 13+) Food, Inc. (Age 13+) Super Size Me (Age 14+) World of Jenks (Age 14+) Dallas Buyers Club (Age 16+) Milk (Age 16+) Erin Brockovich (Age 15+) Sites That Help Kids Do Good.
Close(x) Don’t Miss Out You’re all set! Look out for our weekly updates soon. Connect with us Jump to navigation "Best of" Lists "Best of" lists Get age-appropriate ideas and inspiration for every interest: Poll Did this specific Top Picks list help you decide to do any of the following? Let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 41% (800 votes) NOT let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 14% (274 votes) Buy, rent, or download a particular media title 24% (472 votes) Did not impact my decision 22% (426 votes) Total votes: 1972 Learning ratings Best: Really engaging; great learning approach.Very Good: Engaging; good learning approach.Good: Pretty engaging; good learning approach.Fair: Somewhat engaging; OK learning approach.Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.
Find out more Share this List FavoriteSign In or Sign Up to add favorites Sites That Help Kids Do Good We Give Books Kiva. Learning Tools: Out-of-the-Box Thinkers. Close(x) Don’t Miss Out You’re all set! Look out for our weekly updates soon. Connect with us Jump to navigation "Best of" Lists "Best of" lists Get age-appropriate ideas and inspiration for every interest: Poll Did this specific Top Picks list help you decide to do any of the following?
Let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 41% (764 votes) NOT let your child watch/play/read/listen to a particular media title 14% (257 votes) Buy, rent, or download a particular media title 23% (436 votes) Did not impact my decision 22% (403 votes) Total votes: 1860 About our rating system ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age. Find out more Learning ratings Share this List FavoriteSign In or Sign Up to add favorites Learning Tools: Out-of-the-Box Thinkers Does your child think of inventive solutions to thorny problems? Umigo csm_game. Stop Cyberbullying Online. Curating Change (Age 12+) It Gets Better Project (Age 13+) A Thin Line (Age 13) Happend.org. Political Games. Games and Sites That Encourage Community Service. Ekoloko (Age 8+) Stop Disasters (Age 12+)
Half the Sky Movement (Age 14+)