Engaging young people with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At the moment we are revamping the GCSE Economic Geography Unit. As Priory is striving to be a Rights Respecting School, and the fact that I believe that children should engage with controversial issues using the language of rights and responsibility, here is a brief description of how we’ve worked the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into a case study about the environmental impact of an economic activity. To me, this is a no brainer as using the framework, students not only engage more deeply with the topic, but also gain an insight into a controversial issue.

Oil and the environment from David Rogers

This is an extract from our Scheme of Work, so please forgive the shorthand:

What is the environmental price of our love affair with oil?

Do Now - Bing start page - what jobs etc.

Show this image and play beat the teacher: what event does this image represent. Follow up by playing this poetry.

Flickr Search of images - BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico whilst listening to Audio interview. Students to record in pairs SEE impacts. Lengthen these to disaster chains. Focus on the environment, which rights of children may have been infringed - focus on Article 24 - Health and health services. The environmental impacts could have long term health effects. Children in the area sometimes have bleeding from the ears in classrooms. Consider this Fact Sheet aimed at children and highlighting the impacts of crude oil exposure. Opportunity to look at science fact and uncertainty. Link students lives to dependency on oil. Use the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child available here. (there are laminated copies of both available) Use the development compass rose to ask questions about the oil spill - this is good practice for developing CA questions.

Do we have the right to freeze duty on fuel? Consider the Sun’s campaign to keep the price of fuel down. If we are to protect the environment for future generations, shouldn't we make fuel really expensive to encourage drivers onto public transport? Play devils advocate, e.g. would you accept a £2 rise in the cost of bread for higher fuel prices?

Carousel -

Whilst watching Stephen Fry’s investigation

1. iPads / computers / netbooks - investigate the news stories around the time and record the environmental impacts. Some nice specific detail on the C4 news site here.

2. WideWorld Magazine - 22 /3

3. Map give outline map of the gulf of mexico and the map on the back of World Wide 24/1.

4. Google Earth files on the spill.

5. ERMA Deepwater Gulf Response

Spend 6 minutes at each station - getting information about the environmental cost. CASE STUDY. How were new technologies used to help?

What if this happened in the UK? Shetland set for deep water drilling.

Engaging the students with the Convention turned out to be very powerful, especially when considering the environmental and social impact of the oil spill.

Photos thanks to @GeoDebs. Some images are Copyright and I have contacted the user for permission.

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...

Year 10 need your help! Can we get Twitter and Facebook in to a GCSE project?

I’ve been told that social media has no place in the classroom. Now, this post is not to battle that argument head on. Let’s smash it. This week, Year 10 are visiting Hengistbury Head . They are investigating whether this piece of coastline should be protected. They are wondering what you think? You may know the location well, you may not know it at all. But we’d like to hear from you all the same. This will either result in some usable data and comments, or not. Either way, we'll know and I’m sure that your comments will help spark discussion in class! What would Year 10 like me to do? Just simply comment on this post or tweet me, with an answer to this question: ‘Should Hengistubury Head be protected from the Sea? Just answer Yes or No and give a brief reason. It would also be useful if you could tell us whether you know the area or not. Many thanks in anticipation…… Image – my own.

David Rogers

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