Social Justice Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2019

Page 1

NEWSLETTER IN THIS ISSUE Building Cultures of Peace in the Classroom with Performing Arts

WINTER/SPRING 2019

Building Cultures of Peace in the Classroom with Performing Arts

1

Call for Social Justice Newsletter Articles 4 Working in Solidarity in Defense of Public Education 5 Culture, Art, and Science: Becoming an ASPnet School

7

InTensions: The Three S’s

8

Bread and Roses

9

Which NGO Should I Support?

12

The Social Justice Lens

15

An Effective Poverty Reduction Plan: It’s as simple as ABC

16

1 in 5 Poor Children in BC Call Out for Bold Government Action 17 Cancelled: Welfare Food Challenge 2018

17

Poverty at the School Level: What can teachers do?

18

Responding to Sexual Harassment in Schools

20

BC’s LNG Canada Project

21

Reclaiming Common Ground

23

A Racialized Teacher in Rural BC

24

The Aboriginal Lens

25

Committee for Action on Social Justice 27 New Teachers’ Conference

28

By Amy Wedel, Peace and Global Education Action Group member and Comox music teacher

T

his article takes a look at the role the performing arts can play in generating cultures of peace in schools. In the context of social justice discussions, we —Paul McCartney often focus on critically examining the absence of peace in our world, efforts to mitigate this absence, and strategies to overcome the outcomes of war. In short, we study conflict, conflict resolution, and the restoration of peace. The underlying premise of this approach is that if we understand the causes of conflict and its impacts on people, and learn strategies to overcome it, we will achieve peace.

I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity... to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them co-operating like that.

As a result, we engage students in social studies curricula that focus on critical-thinking competencies and inquiry-based acquisition of knowledge, and we teach conflict resolution strategies and skills for building cultures of peace at school. However, how often do we find that—when they encounter real-life situations—students revert to discriminatory attitudes and patterns of conflict behaviours which are difficult to mitigate, even through mediation and conflict resolution strategies? We can see this at every level, from altercations on the playground at recess to pervasive discrimination and abuse of minority groups. We see these phenomena playing out in society at large despite British Columbia Teachers’ Federation • 100–550 West 6th Avenue • Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2 iStock


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.