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The SDG toolkit sharing activity in class was extremely valuable. I loved that we were able to share our work surrounding the SDG topic that we selected. I was excited to see that as a class, we tackled numerous SDG's.

One toolkit that I found interesting was Brad and Vanessa who worked on SDG #14 (Life below water). One activity that they spoke about that students could do would have them looking at the change in the barrier reef over time and the bleaching process. I thought that the use of the imagery is such a powerful tool. I was moved (and upset) when I saw the timelapse image, and I know that our students would be sparked to action by this image.

Another toolkit that I enjoyed discussing was Alysha and Jessie's (SDG#5, Gender Equality). They brought up a lot of books that could be used to broach the subject of gender equality. One book that I was surprised to see on the list is "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch. I remember reading this book as a child, and asking my parents to read it it me in bed. Originally, I didn't understand how this book could be used to address gender equality. I spent some time researching this, and went back to the library to read this book and realized that this book is a great tool to address gender equality. I believe that this book could generate some great discussion surrounding stereotypes. I would make a mindmap with the students about what a princess looks like, what prince looks like, and then read the students the book. At the end, I would come back to the page "Elizabeth, you are a mess. You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess". I would ask the students to discuss the difference between what we thought a princess looked like, and what Elizabeth looked like. But most importantly, I love that we could have a discussion about all the positive qualities that she demonstrated such as bravery and intelligence. I am thankful to Jessie and Alysha for bringing this book up and reminding me of how powerful a tool story books can be.

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Final thoughts on global education.

We know our school systems are becoming more diverse, and our students (and their families) carry their heritage and their stories with them. I feel like as educators, this class has given me the insight to provide students with opportunities to share their stories and work towards fostering a class environment that will understanding differences and value other perspectives.

My pledge
I pledge to listen to my students, value their experiences and encourage discussion surrounding our heritage and customs. I pledge to expose my students to different points of view to improve their understanding of global issues and varying perspectives. I also pledge to allow students to embrace their identity and allow them a platform to exercise their customs in my diverse (and accepting classroom).

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I cannot believe how much I have learned over the past 5 weeks in this course.  There are some final thoughts I would like to reflect on in this post.

Breaking bread as a class; acknowledging our backgrounds.
In this class, we were each asked to bring in food from our culture to share with the class. I thought this was such a great activity to acknowledge who I am as a person, realize that everyone comes from a different background, and move forward to learn and educate ourselves in others' culture. This defines global education in my perspective. When people travel, or immerse themselves into a new culture, one of the first changes people make is their food. I know that Italy is famous for pizza and pasta, Switzerland is famous for fondue, Poland is famous for perogies and Korea is famous for Kimchi; but bringing in food and eating together is such a beautiful way to immerse ourselves in another persons culture and it creates a respectful discussion about our differences. I truly believe that breaking bread gives students an opportunity to ask questions about peoples culture/ language/ religion, and increase acceptance of everyones differences. As our classrooms become more diverse, this is a great way to allow students to take a moment to learn more about each others background, create an open-mind about food and customs we are not familiar with, and celebrate inclusion and diversity within our classroom.

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One of the hardest thing to do as an educator is to remain unbiased. I appreciate that you posted both sides of the responses to the Gillette commercial, and although tempting, I don't know which you think is correct. That is a good thing!! I wonder how our thinking has changed to validate your last thoughts?

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This could be very powerful!

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I guess this is a new genre? I've not see this book before, is it a picture book or a novel?
Reply: I looked into this, and it is a picture book. There are a lot of comments on how beautiful the illustrations arre.

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This is awesome! Thank you Judy!

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I found this link that really hits home, when we discuss what we eat compared to various countries. This shows the amount of food, and the types of food that 24 different families living in different countries eat in one week.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2013/may/06/hungry-planet-what-world-eats

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The discussion surrounding the children playing outside has really stuck with me following this class. Personally, I love the idea of children spending more time outdoors, learning to appreciate the environment, climb trees, have fun, learn to appreciate seasons and animals and the creatures. I believe that having an outdoor class or "tree school" has many benefits. But one factor I never considered was how this might be limiting for students with accessibility issues. Would there be a program that accommodates the students needs by making a path to allow access for a wheelchair, or how could we ensure that a student who is blind can play? If there was a solution to incorporate students who may find it more challenging to be included, this model would excite me. I believe that if we can raise children to appreciate the outdoors (while playing, learning, and interacting with people), we would be able to foster more global citizens who will want to be actively involved in nurturing a healthy planet.

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I was not in class to participate in the knowledge building circle, but I watched the Gillette commercial and my initial thoughts were: that Gillette has used this opportunity to target an audience far beyond just their product. They have taken a stance that the men that use their product are "the best" type of men. In the commercial, they showed individuals take a stand to prevent bullying, a dad breaking apart kids fighting, interfering while men cat call women, and stopping a friend from chasing after a woman. One part of the commercial says "men need to hold other men accountable, to say the right thing", and this is followed up by a man stepping in when a man is cat calling a woman by saying "Bro, not cool".  After hearing that, I don't believe that sentence demonstrates a man holding other men accountable.
As an educator,  I am going to have both students and parents who have strong beliefs on both sides of view, that might not align with my opinion. I decided using this video above, that I wanted to research both sides to try to understand their point of view.
Side #1: Criticism: "toxic masculinity". This side is slashing the commercial for promoting that men are "monsters", and jumping with the current movement that believes it. Many comments that I read through felt that the video portrayed that men are implied as sexual harassers, and are feeding the assault on masculinity by preventing boys from being boys.
Side #2: Lavish Praise: "positive masculinity". I read many comments that included praise for this commercial, and how it is taking a stance for changing the dialogue to encourage men to speak up, have a voice, and express their masculinity. One comment that I found noteworthy was "This commercial isn't anti-male, it's pro-humanity, and it demonstrates that character can step up to can change conditions". This point of view is more positive, and accepts that this commercial is speaking up to have a purpose and encourage men to be better for future generations.

My last thoughts on the matter, is that I am finding that it is no longer enough for brands to simply sell a product, customers are demanding that they have a purpose – that they stand for something.

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Reflection on Building ToolKit

I am working with Alanna to build our SDG toolkit on Climate Action. As I have been searching the web to educate myself more on both climate action and available resources, I am finding that I am learning  a lot.
I have been particularly interested in finding different types of multi-literacies that can be incorporated into lessons to help students better understand climate action. I believe that story books are a great way for students to listen, and make connections with characters to better understand topics, so I wanted to research some story books that are appropriate to start a conversation around climate action. One term that I found when I was researching books around climate action was Eco-fiction. I liked this term because it explained these stories as ecologically oriented fiction, which are environment-oriented such as human impacts on nature (Ref: Jim Dwyer's Where the wild books are: a field guide to eco-fiction). I found one story called Giddy Godspeed and the Felicity flower and this story would be a great introduction for students to wrap their heads around climate change, and action!

Another multi-literacy that I found was people's artwork. I thought this would be a great way to have students reflecting on the Earth, the impact of climate change, and how humans have contributed to it. By doing a gallery walk (like with unlearn), and having kids post their feelings, thoughts, and how we could be called to action could create a rich discussion. Some possible images are attached surrounding this post.

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For the post-class reflection, I examined the "I am Malala: A resource guide for educators". The theme that I selected was memoir as literature and history. This activity encourages students to write their own memoir (which is centred around a particularly important moment in their life, not recalling their entire life).
As an educator, I believe that our classes are mixed with students from various backgrounds, families, religions, and stories. What better way to have a platform to talk about a moment in your life that made an impact. This is a beautiful way to learn more about your students, and build relationships- while allowing students to share important moments in their life.
I researched texts that could be introduced to students to help them create a memoir and the list included:
1. How to be black- talks about a man's experience with his name, and how his name was too "white" for people of colour to accept
2. Why not me?-a story of how Mindy Kaling tried and failed to make friends in middle school
3. Marbles: mania, depression, Michelangelo and me- a graphic novel memoir about an artist struggling with mental illness

These books allow students to see the different background and stories that these authors have, and introduce writing a memoir.

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Class #3 Reflection: How do we connect with names
Today in class Abhi from unLearn came in to discuss how we, as educators, can provoke thought to inspire positive change. I found this presentation interactive, thought provoking, and it left me pondering and reflecting on my own name.

Abhi brought up the idea of how we connect with our name, and the power of a name. He spoke about how he allowed people to call him "Abby" instead of pronouncing it correctly because he wanted to fit in and he wanted it to be familiar. At first, I thought how unfortunate that would be, how sad to not be comfortable going by your own name to try to fit in. As I listened to others share stories about their own names, I realized it was more common than I realized, and I too, have not corrected others when my name has been spelled incorrectly. I realized that growing up, there tons of different ways to spell Brittany. Actually, my mom and dad agreed on my name, and never discussed the spelling of it- so when I was born and my dad signed the birth certificate he wrote "Brittany"; and my mom was furious because she assumed that he would of wrote it as "Britney". To this day, my parents still talk about that. It wasn't until after Abhi spoke, that I realized when people do spell my name incorrectly (Brittney, Britney, Brittney, Britni, or pronounce my name as 3 syllables "Britt-Ta-Knee", that I always ask people to call me Britt. I have abbreviated my name reduce how uncomfortable I feel about correcting my own name. What Abhi spoke about really hit home for me.

The second piece of class I would like to speak to is the impression the story I read left with me. I read "Woolvs in the Sitee" by Margaret Wild. This book was very dark, and when I started reading, I was unsure about why all the words were spelt incorrectly. I was trying to understand the relationship between the main character, and the story they were trying to tell about the "Woolvs". Who are the woolvs? Why are they in the sitee? Why are you scared of them? I asked Becca to work with me on this story, and we both discussed how the dark images, the fear of the woolvs, and how a child was hiding with the help of an adult made us both think of the Nazi's, and concentration camps. The book says at one point, "they will come for you, for your mother, your father, your brother and sister... no one is spared". The imagery in this story along with those chilling words have left me thinking about this book for days. When I spoke with Judy, she reflected that she thought this book demonstrated a case of mental illness. Similar to the unlearn poster, I think this book can adapt a different message and tone to various readers, and makes this book unsettling to anyone who reads it.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-food-guide-school-food-program-1.4975302

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Any comments about any of the other videos we talked about in class? Just a suggestion...

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You bring up an excellent point regarding Indigenous cultures right here in our own country.

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Another great link! I believe you mentioned that your interest is in nutrition? You can choose to elaborate on your knowledge in this section or even explore what schools are doing to have children understand where their food comes from. Here is another site you may want to check out: https://canadianfeedthechildren.ca/the-feed/feeding-minds-bodies-and-spirits-with-school-gardens/

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I love that you connected all your thoughts for week 1 through suitcases!

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Wow, the stories of refugees told through their shoes... remarkable!

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This resource has so much potential to bridge the educational divide in so many global south communities that lack resources, funding, or opportunities for students to get an education. One question I have is how do the students that need access to these resources get them; who travels to bring them this equipment; who ensures that students have the opportunity when they have these resources to learn from it? I love the idea, but I wish the website addressed this.
Secondly, when exploring the website, there are 4 featured projects working to help various populations with getting an education. Three of these populations make me proud that a resource like this exists: helping Syrian refugees, assisting with literacy in Tanzania, and assisting with Spanish literacy in Guatemala. I am ashamed to see the last program: culture and language for Indigenous communities in Canada. I am ashamed because the Indigenous peoples of Canada are frequently overlooked, and are not subjected to the same quality of life, and educational opportunities that I have been fortunate to have. As a Canadian citizen, I am encouraged to think globally, to assist in aid projects worldwide, and to speak up for those that are deprived of education... yet I could look in my own province, and town to find those who do not have quality education or have inequalities. As a future educator, my sights are going to be set on working alongside Indigenous communities to ensure quality education.

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https://www.featureshoot.com/2013/12/threadbare-shoes-of-sudanese-refugees-tell-stories-of-long-and-harrowing-journeys/

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Hana's Suitcase from a German Concentration Camp 

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Hana's Suitcase from a German Concentration Camp 

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2.  Jewish individuals during the holocaust had time to pack, but never had the opportunity to utilize the belongings they packed when they arrived at a concentration camp. This made me think of a book I read as a student called "Hana's Suitcase" , and the experience I had when I visited a concentration camp in Germany. This was one of the most solemn experiences I ever had. The suffering, torture and inhumane conditions these individuals suffered through due to their religious beliefs, gender, appearance etc. I saw a quotation carved into the wall of a gas chamber and it read "If there is a God, he will have to beg for my forgiveness". What a powerful statement, what a horrific experience, but it allows me for a moment to gain insight into the suffering and experience that individual had.

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1. Refugees fleeing for their safety do not have time to pack, don't have time to bring essentials, food, clothing, medication. The clothing they wore would become dirty, diapers would need to be replaced, water would run dry, and shoes would become full of holes. When I looked into a refugee's journey from Sudan, I found this picture. Here are men, women and children's shoes following their journey to flee their homes for safety.

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Class #2 Reflection: Feeding minds and bodies
One of the Sustainable Development Goals is "zero hunger" with the aim to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. In 2017, 151 million children under age 5 suffered from stunting , 51 million suffered from wasting, and 38 million were overweight. These numbers are staggering and following a class discussion on the video India's Free Lunch, I was left pondering and reflecting on the impact of food and nutrition on education.
As a nutritional scientist, I have studied first hand the impact of nutrition (and good quality food) on human health. But now that I am in the classroom, I am observing students that have high caloric, zero nutritional valued foods; and they consume it as every meal of the day. How can we increase education and food quality to sustain student learning in a day.
When researching food education outside of India, I found out that Japan values nutrition education maybe more than any other country. Students (starting in their first year) contribute to the food program, where they cook for each other. The entire school receives the same lunch, and the cost is subsidized if students cannot afford it (which enhances equality!). Students make food from scratch, serve each other, and eat silently together to appreciate their food.

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Class #1 Reflection: What is in a suitcase?

When I think of refugees I think of someone fleeing for their life without time to pack. I felt privileged when I participated in the activity that I had time to think about what I would take with me and that I had options! Most refugees don't have time to make those decisions. This activity made me reflect on two things:

This makes me think: What is in a suitcase. For a lot of us, it is full of sunscreen, hats, bathing suits and memories as we prepare and enjoy vacation; but for many people it is a fear of persecution, hate, loss of their home/ possessions, and their identity.

Overall, this class allowed me to reflect on suffering, and the burdens that students coming into our class experience every day and how I can welcome them into our community with positivity, kindness, and provide them with an opportunity to talk while I listen.
Kids come in with their own baggage, and I need to make sure that I am filling it up with positivity, opportunities and the best education I can offer them, to help reduce the stressors and misfortunes they carry with them each and everyday.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-education-the-law-in-japan-1.2894279