DEMOCRACY BOOTCAMP 2018 SHARING SESSION Christina Ganev East
DEMOCRACY BOOTCAMP 2018 SHARING SESSION Christina Ganev East York C. I.
ENGAGING COLLEAGUES • • Teach the teachers – staff meeting Create a calendar of events for teachers Share your resources Cross-curricular engagement
STUDENT ENGAGMENT • Student committee • Activities – field trips, t-shirts, pep rallies, democracy week, all candidates forums, speed dating, display board, assemblies, “Democracy Day Club” • Media • Use the CIVIX resources, Vote Compass
MEDIA Kevin Guan, Grade 11, was not interested in voting • "This is all a bit pointless, because it has nothing to do with us now. I'll worry about voting when I'm 18, not now, when students should be focusing on school work and assignments. "
BEST PRACTICES • Find an ally (ies) • Check political, school and school board rules (fair, non-partisan, transparent) • Build capacity slowly • Check our priviledge, assumptions and biases about students and their families
What can Student Vote look like in the classroom?
ISSUES Are some election issues more important than others? Who decides what are the important issues? How do eligible voters decide how to vote in an election? LOCAL CANDIDATES POLITICAL PARTIES What are the qualities of a good leader? POLITICAL LEADERS
Ontario Curriculum Connections Social Studies: People and Environments Strand Grade 5 – The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship Grade 6 – Canada’s Interactions with the Global Community Grade 3 – Living and Working in Ontario
Ontario Curriculum Connections Language: All Strands The activities provided by Student Vote teach: - critical thinking - how to recognize bias - evaluating sources of information - responding to different forms of media
Benefits of the Student Vote program Student Vote provides a real-life, authentic experience to anchor student learning and lays a foundation for continued engagement in the democratic process in the future.
Benefits of the Student Vote program
Benefits of the Student Vote program: “I am more interested in [government] than I was before. ” “I liked hearing her story and I would like to learn more about other MPs and MPPs. ” “It must be fun getting votes from everyone. I hope I get to do this when I’m an adult. ” “Rathika was interesting, cool and fun. To me she seemed very powerful. . . it was freaky talking to a powerful girl. ” “I am really happy Rathika used her time to come to our school. Now I know lot about MPs. I really want her to visit us again. ” “I think it was a good idea to meet a MP because I could learn more about government and how it works. ” “She is funny and fun to be around. I think she is very confident about changing things when it comes to child poverty. ”
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