Month: July 2019

The 31-Day Social Justice Education Project (Rationale and Call for Suggestions)

Dear Readers,

I have been gone for a long time, my apologies. The life we lead these days has a way of pulling us away from the things that bring us true joy. Writing brings me joy. Writing about things I care about brings me joy.

Over the last year, I have been on a steep learning curve. Accepting a contract at a high school with a very intensive pace of teaching, I did not really have the chance for a life of my own. However, I learned a lot. Over the course of this past school year, I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone as a teacher. I sought to educate myself about critical social justice issues and then prepare material about the same so I could educate my students. In so doing, I realized that people in power: corporations, politicians, really, the wealthy and privileged, prey on the lack of education that the masses possess. So, I am beginning a campaign to educate my readers (including you, my fellow teachers) on social justice issues affecting us today. I will do so through the lens of a secondary school educator. Teachers, all lesson plans and material I post here will be free because education should be free. 

Beginning on August 1st and ending on August 31st, I will post one blog each day on a social justice issue affecting our planet and how to teach this to our students. For those of you who are not teachers, I will also be posting links to various resources so you may educate yourselves and the people you care about. I have one aim through all of this, and that is to educate the masses, so we are armed with the currency of knowledge in a world where our primary enemy is greed.

So, readers, as I begin this campaign, I realize I cannot do it alone, and therefore, I am calling upon you to submit ideas for various social justice issues that I should research and develop or curate educational material for. Wherever you are in the world, I would like to hear from you about a social justice issue that is affecting your life or the lives of those dear to you. Please send an email to: 31daysocialjusticeedproject@gmail.com

In your e-mail, kindly provide the following:

  1. Your first name, or what you would like to be called
  2. Where you live in the world. The country will suffice, but it would be helpful to know which city you live in, especially if you live in a large country.
  3. Your social justice issue with a couple of sentences describing it and why it is important to you.
  4. Resources I might use to begin my research (if you know of any)
  5. If you are a teacher and would like to share some of your own originally-created resources or curated resources, please send them along as well. You will be given sole credit for your original material.

 

I might not get to all your suggestions, and some might take longer to appear than others based on how much research and work I need to do to produce a fully-functional educational resource for it. 

To give you a preview, but also to get you thinking about things, some topics I wish to cover include:

  • Environmental sustainability
  • Discrimination
  • Food equity
  • Corporations and their relationship with farmers
  • Canada’s relationship with her Indigenous Peoples
  • The psychology of marketing and how it affects you
  • The toll of living in a patriarchal society

I hope to cover social justice issues ranging from religion to politics, technology and communications to marketing, recycling to psychology, economics to history and everything in between. I am a Canadian teacher, and some of my content will be about Canadian issues with Canadian resources. I will do my best to cater to the international educator, and this is where your suggestions will prove instrumental. If you send a suggestion, I will be sure to mention you in a special shoutout.

Please feel free to connect with me on Instagram @creativeteachingbybd. You can add your own social justice education projects by using #31daysocialjusticeedproject.

Let’s begin this #31daysocialjusticeedproject and make knowledge a global currency that helps to sustain more conscientiousness living. Who’s with me? 

 

 

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