Global Action Circles 2021 Booklet

TITLE PAGE

ABOUT YOUTHxYOUTH

YouthxYouth (“Youth by Youth'' - YxY) is a global community of youth activists and adult allies dedicated to the reimagination and transformation of education for collective liberation. Our goal is to accelerate the process of young people influencing, designing, and transforming their learning experiences and education systems — towards a world where learning serves everyone: us, our communities, and the planet.

We believe that the only way we can transform our education at scale, globally, and rapidly enough, is through a youth-led, adult-supported (r)evolution of our education.

More about YouthxYouth on our website: youthxyouth.com

The Global Action Circles

GACs are peer-to-peer learning communities composed of about 12 education activists: youth hosts, a host mentor, young people and 2-3 adults.

The GACs are thus intergenerational whilst remaining youth-led and youth-centered. Each GAC met twice a month for 6 months (from August until January) around a common theme that they explored together. Each person in the GAC arrived with their own learning question which they explored, deepened, and prototyped solutions for the duration of their learning journey and for many, beyond.

GLOBAL ACTION CIRCLES - ‘21 KOJO AURELIEN Ed-Tech and Intercultural comms

SHRIYA VAIDYA Climate Education

HANNAH HENLE Curriculum and Co-curricular learning

SAMUEL DARASIMI Edtech and Intercultural Communication

OLUWANIFEMI FAWOLE Education and Community Development

JUDITH ALZE Climate Education

MICHELLE CANDELA- JORDAN Education and Community Development

ODA HOLZKNECHT Edtech and Intercultural Communication

DAVID ADEFUNMILAYO Edtech and Intercultural Communication

OLATOMIWA OLUSESI Education and Community Development

OLLIE BREAM MCINTOSH Climate Education

JOY IMHOITSIKE Edtech and Intercultural Communication

GLOBAL ACTION CIRCLES - ‘21 GRACE AREVEESO Edtech and Intercultural Communication

SUCCESS YOLE AREVEESO Edtech and Intercultural Communication

DEVANSH CHAUDARY Climate Education

JOSH BUENVIAJE Curriculum and Co-Curricular Learning

NKANYEZI TSHABALALA Curriculum and Co-curricular learning

GBOLABO FEMI-JOLAYEMI Curriculum and Co-Curricular Learning

CHEBIJIRA ESTHER Edtech and Intercultural Communication ANTOINE BELAND HOST MENTOR: Climate Education

ZINEB MOUHYI HOST MENTOR: Curriculum and Co-Curricular learning

SUMMAIYA BINTE IMAD Education and Community Development VALENTINA RAMAN HOST MENTOR: Edtech and Intercultural Communication ERIOLUWA ADEYINKA HOST MENTOR: Education and Community Development

GLOBAL ACTION CIRCLES - ‘21 OLI WILLIAMS CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING ESTEFANIA CARDONA FORERO EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

RICHARD FRANSHAM EDTECH AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION ANDILE KWAKENI EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

FAVOR ONOJODOFIA CLIMATE EDUCATION

OLUWATUNMISE STELLA OBADARE EDTECH AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

JONNY NORTON CLIMATE EDUCATION

AGBONIRO ESTHER JACINTA EDTECH AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

MOJU MONDAY CLIMATE EDUCATION

FALEGAN RACHEL OLUWATUNMISE CLIMATE EDUCATION

GLOBAL ACTION CIRCLES - ‘21 ANSAR . A CLIMATE EDUCATION

OWEN THOMAS CONOLLY CLIMATE EDUCATION

ELIZA REID PARKS CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

JORDY ANGEL-COLDWELL CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

HANNAH NEGUSIE CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

LEANDER EILTS CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

BASHAR RAYDAN CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

BISSANE IZRAFIL CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

SCOTT ITEPU CURRICULUM AND CO-CURRICULAR LEARNING

SHAKIL AHMED EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

GRACE AREVEESO LEARNING QUESTION

How can I create awareness and support those with special education needs in Nigeria?

Question I am leaving with: How can I use the resources I have to help the children with additional needs in my community?

Areveesograce@gmail.com

My Learning Journey Working on my learning question has inspired me to use the most basic resources I have to reach the goals I envisioned. So, starting with my community and those in my immediate environment, I can help change people's perceptions about children with intellectual disabilities. I have been able to see the light in what I am doing, thanks to my learning question "how can I create awareness and support those with special educational needs in Nigeria?" I have also realized that there are a lot of different methods to get to my final objective.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the YxY Community.

My learning process and my journey in life.. In the quest to make the world a better place, we are faced with situations that expose our blind spots and to ensure we are better prepared for such situations, we need support from one another. I learnt that asking questions makes it easier to understand what others want and how to help them. Perseverance is an important recipe for success, hence we need to keep on going no matter the hurdles we are faced with. Also, I can learn on the job by showing up daily and be good at what I do.

Actions I’ve Taken

I have started writing and researching for my blog articles.

I have a platform I created during the lockdown called Contemporary Teacher's Lab where I train student teacher's by inviting qualified speakers and trainers to help train the student teachers.

I would like to use this platform to give useful information about what I am working on, such as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome. As an Applied Behaviour Analyst (trainee), there is much I have to enlighten the public and I believe that through the platforms I have created, I can reach out to the public.

Let’s change the world, Let’s shake and remake it, Let’s rearrange the pieces, The patterns in the maze, The reason for our days, In ways that make it better, In shades that make it better, In shades that make it brighter, That make the burden lighter, Because it is shared, Because we dared, To dream and then to sweat it, To make our mark and not regret it, Let’s plant a seed and humbly say: I changed the world today.

—Wayne Visser.

KOJO AURELIEN LEARNING QUESTION

How can student voice go from a concept to a movement from the local level to the national level and beyond?

Question I am leaving with: How can we equip students to advocate for themselves and the changes they want to see in society?

Aurelien.kojo@gmail.com

My Learning Journey My learning question has brought me to community, new possibilities and realizations, and so much research. My learning question has not only pushed me to explore how I can inspire action, but also to figure out what prevents it. For this reason, my learning question shifted from the more broad "how to create a movement" to "how to equip students for advocacy".

There is already much need and desire for change, but most students face so many barriers to action. They may not have the time to be so involved, they may be under the impression that the problems are too big or too distant to be addressed. Or simply, they may not know where to start. My learning question, alongside the cohort of brilliant youth activists I have been introduced to, has brought me to this positive outlook.

Dismantling the barriers to change and giving students the necessary structures, scaffolding, and support is my new focus. From the GAC sessions to the buddy sessions to the Power Up Days, I learned a lot. Getting connected with a global community about education was an incredible experience and allowed me to see patterns and commonalities.

Seeing some of the same issues affect different people from across the world was disheartening, but there was no longer this feeling of aloneness.

The gravity of these problems became clear. I was able to get a feel for different education systems, understand how issues in my school experience manifest in other countries and communities, and witness the great passion of other education activists. I also learned a lot about myself along the way. As someone who is really just beginning their activist journey, I learned to be a better listener and supporter. I learned how to lead and put my ideas out there. And I fully understood the realization that started my journey, that my voice and ideas matter and need to be heard. Without the competitive, anxiety-inducing atmosphere of school, I experienced what true collaboration and co-creation between youth and adults looks like. It is validating and uplifting—it's exactly the educational experience I wish I had and will continue to push for every student to have.

Actions I’ve Taken

I do not have a tangible project yet, but I do have some much-needed clarity about the ideas I came into this with. A website or toolkit is still what I am looking to create, and I've checked out so many good resources and organizations.

I've also met and now have the opportunity to meet a lot of people who can help. In my research, I learned a lot about student voice structures—what they could look like, how they would operate, and the challenges they might face.

I learned about the necessity of student advocacy skills and students being embraced as stakeholders. Ths research has been foundational to my project and will continue to guide me as I start developing this resource. Equally important are community, connection, and empathy, which I hope to foster. These are incredibly important for changemakers. Making change is not a solitary process, we need to be immersed in our communities and in the world.

The world growing up was a marvelous place Full of wonders A mixture of cultures and art and infinite life As the older I got I realized one way to stand out is to be genuinely nice Giving without expecting anything in return Putting yourself in other shoes and helping them in any way The sad reality is that love and compassion is scarce People are getting treated by the way they look or their race Why can't everyone be loved the same Value is placed among certain races Your monetary worth lets the world treat you well Was there ever a time when personality and care Was valued above all?

Maybe when we were all children and our priorities were different – bearyPoetic

JONNY NORTON LEARNING QUESTION

How can we educate those outside our current echo chambers and internal networks on issues such as climate change and sustainability?

Question I am leaving with: How can I learn & share learnings from indigenous peoples?

jonny.norton98@gmail.com

My Learning Journey

Actions I’ve taken

My learning journey has taken me from a stage of uncertainty and confusion to clarity and a clear vision forward. I began with having an extremely open learning question, that I couldn't imagine one specific project coming out of. When I gained the interest and inspiration to work alongside indigenous movements, the learning question helped me to pinpoint an achievable, yet powerful potential deliverable that has the potential to scale into further work. My key reflections from the learning journey are mostly based on observations from others in the group. I would consider myself to be extremely privileged within my work, and am at a stage where my work is extremely stimulating. I have learned a huge amount from understanding the power of collective action and an online community such as YxY - it has endless possibility!

I am proposing a podcast series interviewing indigenous individuals around the world, exploring key learnings we can take from their culture that may address the challenges we face, and investigating how we can assist their movements. A podcast would provide a platform for indigenous individuals to share their stories, connect with 'western cultures', and co-create projects and solutions to tackle global issues.

MICHELLE CANDELA-JORDAN LEARNING QUESTION

How can volunteerism be revived? Where and how are restorative practices best applied and most needed?

What's really required to heal and restore the earth and ourselves?

Question I am leaving with: How can action circle practice become the main mode of education and harmonious coexistence in all of our communities?

mcandelajordan@gmail.com

My Learning Journey For my own personal and the social transformation I think is needed, I have to show up and contribute in partnership and solidarity with youth and others. I have to embrace and accept that we are each one of us abundant natural resources, that chance and deep transformation s a choice, and that it is necessary to practice it daily to stay teachable. I also came to see that working on understanding my own needs and those of the community are integral to this process and harder than I initially thought to accomplish. Listen with attention to others as whole people with complex and unique experiences without judgment or comparing myself to them or my experiences to theirs takes a lot of practice and even small growth here leads to freedom from self-imposed and societal misalignment of core values I choose instead.

Basically we are do volunteer in our own ways already, restorative practices start in us, and love and kindness but also action and

purposeful intention are necessary to heal ourselves, others, and this earth.

Grateful to be a part of a dedicated action circle. Grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow from the relationship with the buddy I was paired with because of closer observation and listening to her thoughts, experiences and hopes. Grateful for the spark and fire that the YxY community at large has created in me, in one another and the world at this time.

I have learned patience and kindness are necessary and perfectionism serves little purpose in my life and the new ways of living together we have and need to continue to embrace.

I have learned youth are masters at handling their own and other’s ego-based selves. They do far more healing than damage than we do as adults after years of co-operating in life and in systems where this is the place we operate from and don’t have our needs met unless we do.

Actions I’ve Taken I have created space, intentionally, where community with myself and others is now possible which didn’t exist before. I have created language about and courage to share and have many dialogues and exchanges with others ideas and practice.

DAVID OLUWAFUNMILAYO LEARNING QUESTION

How can we leverage technology to democratize education in Africa?

Question I am leaving with: How can we utilize education and intercultural communication to combat climate change?

David.Adefunmilayo@eficoresource.com

My Learning Journey

Actions I’ve Taken

My learning questions has helped me understand how to curate solution models that can practically help young people access self-directed education.

Having to learn from diverse individuals across borders helped me understand the problem in the educational system worldwide and gave me an overarching perspective as to regards the problem I am solving. I am grateful for my GAC (Global action circle) I am grateful for the individuals I met.

I am grateful for love, care and support I received throughout the program. Regardless of my busy schedules, it was still easier for me fit in even when I am gone for sometimes due to my NYSC (service to my country).

Create a team of individuals that are ready to carry on the message of combating climate change and its effects on people and the planet, This has informed me to create a branded t-shirt that makes individuals aware of the climate crisis.

JUDITH ALZE LEARNING QUESTION:

How can education lead to proper self reflection, which can then create effective, sustainable action and safe, inclusive environments?

Question I am leaving with: How can we use and combine self-reflection and fact-based education to help people become allies for social and environmental sustainability?

judith@naturheilpraxis-alze.de

My Learning Journey After a spiral into more and more research about the ways in which change happens, what role self reflection has in all of this and what actually is required for the latter to happen, I both knew more and less about how to actually answer my learning question. I now knew how self reflection could lead to the change that we need and I thought knowing about how self reflection can happen could answer my question but I had completely neglected thinking about the actual implementation of my ideas.

HOW does or rather could education actually lead to all of that change and wellbeing? This is when I had a small identity crisis because it dawned to me that me one 17 year old person - wanting to help all 7 Billion people in the world at once was not realistic. Even though that's not easy I needed to start somewhere, not everywhere.

So I did.

And after so much more work this is where my learning actually brought me. Not to an understanding of what cognitive developments we need to self reflect but rather to the realisation that change always starts somewhere small. And that I - all of us - can be this 'somewhere'.

One of my main takeaways is about kindness. When we talk about the change we hope to soon see in the world, whether concerning society and culture, the environment and the climate or the economy and politics, what we're actually wishing for in most cases, is for there to be more kindess. We are hoping for kinder, more compassionate treatment of people, nature and social constructs but what we tend to forget when we only see how this does not work in so many places is that for the world to be kinder, the way in which we try to bring about that change has to be filled with kindness.

I have always been scared to be kind because often that makes you visibly different. But I have also always wanted to live in a kinder world and during the last few months I have learned that that world and simple kindess is worthy of my courage, even if that isn't always easy.

What is more, is that the beautiful people in this community that I'm so grateful I could meet have shown me that I, myself, am worthy of kindness and love from others and myself. We all are!

A course for people over 50 (which I am still working on making possible) in which the goal is to both convey fact based information around the topic of societal and climate sustainability (i.e. marginalization, discrimination and intersectionality, the climate crisis, its causes, effects, risks and complexities) and work with it, to acknowledge beliefs and actions that don't align with one's values and to lean using self reflection as a tool with which this can be changed.

Ultimately the course will not only be about people in power

becoming allies and helping make change happen but also about finding community and valuing mistakes as opportunities to learn.

I'm currently hoping to gain support from the German "Volkshochschule", an association trying to make a diverse range of education accessible to everyone especially adults, because I believe this is the only way to truly make sustainable, societal change happen - through inclusive education.

ZINEB MOUHYI LEARNING QUESTION:

How might we co-design a curriculum that enables young people to make sense of the world?

Question I am leaving with: What do I need to learn and practice in order to become a curriculum designer capable of creating transformational learning experiences?

zineb.mouhyi@gmail.com

My Learning Journey I started by defining my intentions behind the creation of a Sensemaking curriculum, which are to: 1. Develop and support young people’s capacity to make sense of the world 2. Cultivate the ability to explore different stories of ourselves and the world 3. Develop the capacity to use a wide-angle lens to go beyond the apparent givens determining what and how things are I then researched and identified lots of Sensemaking tools that I might include in the curriculum (e.g. scientific method; pattern recognition; socialization; stories; causal thinking; systems thinking; theory of mind; etc.). I realized that the scientific method might be the only tool that is usually taught in schools (and even that, not in a systematic way).

Overall, I came to understand how important it is for us to teach sensemaking in a world that feels increasingly chaotic. Without the ability to make sense of ourselves

and of what is happening around us, we cannot possibly make the right decisions for how to move forward. I am immensely grateful for my GAC group, who I felt filled me with inspiration and hope every time we met. I felt that during our meetups, everyone showed up with presence, thoughtfulness, and care for one another. I have learned a lot from my group, not just in the content they shared but in the way they showed up.

Actions I’ve Taken I have created the skeleton of a Sensemaking curriculum (see picture), which I hope will become available on the Curriculum 4 Life platform in the near future. I’ve also started to create lesson plans for each of the modules and will continue to do so after the Global Action Circle.

JOSH BUENVIAJE LEARNING QUESTION:

How can Project Based Learning (PBL) structures and principles be implemented into a universal curriculum?

Question I am leaving with: How can co-creative curricular experiences be seen more in the education field? How would this benefit students, teachers?

joshua.r.buenviaje@gmail.com

Learning Journey

Actions I’ve Taken

Through this learning question, I've been able to explore the benefits and challenges that PBL has to offer. As someone who goes to a PBL school, it was interesting being able to analyze PBL through a very critical lens.

I've found that even though the PBL structure is very helpful when it comes to allowing students to experience real world work, there still needs to be ways to prepare students for the education system outside of PBL (college and university). I feel that through focusing on this learning question for 5 months, I've grown more as a PBL student, participant, and creator. This GAC program has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of. I've met so many amazing people who have inspired me so much. I wouldn't have been able to finish this project if it weren't for all of the support that they gave throughout these past 5 months.

During this process I created 2 PBL projects... with a little twist. I wanted to have different levels of PBL within these projects that I created, so for each of them there's 3 different phases. The first being very minimal PBL implementation, the second having a but more, and the third being a full PBL model.

The first project that I created was a "Spoken Word Project", where students creating a meaningful writing piece through the art of slam poetry.

The second project I created was a "Comic Book Project", where students in a higher grade, match with a younger student and are tasked to write and illustrate a comic on this younger student's "superpowers".

SAMUEL DARASIMI LEARNING QUESTION:

Do we get educated only to seek jobs?

Question I am leaving with: What is the main purpose of education?

stoddoreofe@gmail.com

My Learning Journey To the realization that education without a sole for change is not knowledge but the same sphere of ignorance that one keeps running into where is no flash or glimpse of the light (the truth).

I count it unto joy to have met with activists around the world. It is really a great thing meeting with people that you share the same idea and vision about changing something, creating or improving the society. I have been able to learn and had got different ideas from individual activist on how to make an effective change.

Actions I’ve Taken The planned symposium with the newbies in an institution in Lagos,Nigeria.

To fill the empty spot of truth that would create a renewal of mind.

OLUWANIFEMI FAWOLE LEARNING QUESTION

How can we actually make learning more interactive, creative and entertaining so children will become more interested? Not forgetting the main aim which is to improve learning.

Question I am leaving with: How can we engage young people with the needed skills to make an impact in their communities?

How can we inspire them to do more and be ready to be the change the world wants to see?

oluwanifemifawole@gmail.com

My Learning Journey Through my learning question, I organized an online event on waste for education to celebrate the World Literacy Day, I also started an outreach program with some friends in school where we educate students on others areas of life and using songs and games to make the learning more interactive. I’m grateful for the gift of men who helps brings the best out of you and most importantly for my colleague Michelle Candela.

We met during the global action circle and she has been a great source of motivation.

I learnt the power of teamwork and I got to network with some guys during the course of the program. I got to realize that a lot has to be done especially as educational activist and I got to believe more in myself. I loved myself even much better, and due to the reflective exercise we took before each meeting started I got to believe more in my potentials and saw a newer part of me. Thanks to Sumaiya.

Actions I’ve Taken

I started working on an app named edutainment. I spoke with a few friend who are into tech and we’ve drawn a structure on how the app will look like. I started a UI/UX class online to this effect.

But now, we are currently on the outlook for an app developer.

HANNAH HENLE LEARNING QUESTION:

How could our places of education (schools and further education) incorporate more head-hands-heart learning in order to be more meaningful, fun and democratic?

Question I am leaving wth: What do we need in order to create the change we want to see?

hannahhenle10@gmail.com

My Learning Journey The first 8 years of my schooling I spent at alternative schools and enjoyed meaningful learning, fun lessons and the democratic structures there. I then had to change to a mainstream school and realized that the education there mainly addressed the brain (head) and forgot about the other two ‚h’s (hands and heart). From this experience my learning question emerged: I wanted to find out what exactly it was that made my previous experiences at alternative schools so significant, meaningful and valuable to me and how mainstream schools could incorporate more of these.

My learning question accompanied me for a couple of weeks. Then – in the middle of not knowing how to go about my learning question and what my next steps could be – I realised I had already started making small changes at my current school. So without really thinking about it I had taken a rather practical approach to my learning question. A few examples (concerning climate change):

Me and my 2 friends encouraged our classmates to join us at a global climate strike in our city.

Even the teachers supported this idea and let us leave school earlier. We joined the march with 15,000 other mainly young activists. For many of my classmates it was the first time and a great experience. I think this action was a first step towards not only theoretically talking about climate justice in class but also to actually do something meaningful. Later I wrote an article for the school magazine about the strike and shared our impressions with many more students, teachers and parents. I took part at a writing competition and wrote a story about a girl that becomes a climate activist and uses her talent of painting to make aware of this topic and to turn her city into a more colourful place. The story was published in our school’s magazine. This led to the foundation of a climate group – here the students can experience the topic in a very practical way.

I am grateful for the YxY experience and for all the lovely people I met during these 6 months. It’s so good to know that everywhere around the planet there are young, supportive activists and people that are already making a change! I’m also grateful for the sense of community I experienced in our GAC group – particularly in these challenging times. And for the trust, encouragement and safe space which developed between all of us. I also want to thank the hosts for holding the space and for all their empathy ... and hard work in the background! I learned a lot! One thing that I’ll definately take with me is the fact that there are different kinds of activists. I thought this was very interesting and I hadn't heard about that before. I found it really helpful to learn more about what kind of activist I am and what my qualities are. I learned how to go about a learning question and the different stages you need to further develop the topic.

My learning question helped me to realise that I can make a change and don’t have to wait until I’m older.

I’ve learned more about myself: dealing with feelings of frustration, realizing when I feel overwhelmed, how to carry on when I wanted to give up, .The courage to speak up in a language that isn’t my mother tongue, and many more things which I’ll treasure :).

While I haven’t created anything specific for my project yet, I think my thoughts around that will develop and maybe my outcome will be something very different from what I think right now.

However, I planned to create a journal filled with my experiences and examples from head-hands-heart learning (also from other people). I’ve already bought the sketchbook ;) This could contain my learning journey and help me to reflect and move forward as well as inspire others :)

NKANYEZI TSHABALALA LEARNING QUESTION

How do we make education suit the interests and talents of every pupil/student?

Question I am leaving with: What is the purpose of education?

nkanyezit84@gmail.com

My Learning Journey Early August 2021 I felt disconnected between how education was and what I thought it should be so I began learning and searching for initiatives that are trying to make a difference in the educational space,: "How will young people design the future of education," this was when I came across YxY. The GACs are where youths would get to radically reimagine what the trajectory of education - Exactly what I needed!!

At first I felt skeptical as to what they meant by 'young people, could I at the age of sixteen really make a difference. My education activism had began at YxY and my learning question came out of angst with the education I received, although valid (in that this issue does exist and is quite widespread) I found it increasingly difficult to solve as trying one solution lead to another.

Throughout the process I kept on changing my learning question. My Second being: What would an education that cultivated us as individuals be like?, Third: What makes a good curriculum? Fourth: How can we create our own holistic curriculum? and Lastly:

Why education?/What is the purpose of education? All of these learning questions are linked, in that one can't solve the former without dealing with the latter.

This is what characterizes my five month journey. The YxY GAC experience has been a radically transformative process for me. My learning questions (plural unfortunately) were a regression to something deeper. I have come to believe that answering my new learning question is something we are all collectively supposed to do, it is fundamental to education reform,I feel like I am in my element. So at least I have an idea as to what I want to pursue in life.

I can never downplay my gratitude to all the members in my GAC, they have played a core role in my transformation but the person I owe most of my gratitude to is Zineb Mouhyi, she has stood right by me in every step of the way.

Another aspect of myself I have learnt about is the type of activist I am this proved to be vital because I can now direct my goals to what I know I'll do best in.

SHRIYA VAIDYA LEARNING QUESTION:

How can arts based curriculum be integrated into school systems to address social issues like climate change, gender discrimination etc.?

Question I’m leaving with: How can arts based curriculum be integrated into school systems to address social issues like climate change, gender discrimination etc.?

shriya.v@slamoutloud.org

My Learning Journey The 5 months with this learning question took me on a journey of exploration and researching of various frameworks, theories, projects and pedagogies that resonated with me. I was able to map them out on an evidence table and reflect on how these could be incorporated to build an arts based curriculum. It gave me an insight into the kind of curriculum that I envision.

Over the course of the journey, my understanding evolved and I got a deeper understanding of my vision to build an inclusive, diverse, context-specific curriculum framework taking a systemic lens to address various social issues. The end of the 5 months served as a new beginning for me to start working towards this vision. My learning journey was insightful.

There was a lot of learning, both personally and professionally.

The thing I am grateful for the most are my buddies. Their constant support, feedback, care, kindness and belief in me kept me going and allowed me to do and be better everyday.

I have learnt a lot from them not just about climate education but also about what it mean to be a wonderful human being. The regular GAC meet-ups were also a great space for me to learn from the knowledge and connections that others shared. There was a sense of community and collaboration.

The journey also provided a space for me to grow personally. An important personal learning for me was that I an capable of doing much more than I believe I can. It is just a matter of pushing myself, taking up challenges, asking for support and believing in the process.

While the process is overwhelming at times, there is a lot of learning that comes out of it.

I was able to map out my learnings and research on an evidence table. In addition, I was able to start creating a framework for my curriculum incorporate theories, frameworks and practices that resonated with me. The framework gives an overview of the objectives and outcomes for the curriculum. It is still a work in progress and is likely to look very different once I spend more time on it, reflect, take feedback, and incorporate voices on others. What I have is just a brief of things that I would want to incorporate in any curriculum that I create.

OLATOMIWA OLUSESI LEARNING QUESTION

How do we inculcate problem solving skills into the curricular used in our schools for local, national and global development?

Question I am leaving with: How can we bridge the gap between the kind of education young people get in schools and what is actually required across various industries in the job market?

olatomiwaisaac@gmail.com

My Learning Journey As a result of my learning question, I summoned up enough courage to leave my job in private practice and take up a full time role with a nonprofit organization.

Here, I see myself making grassroots changes: advocating for quality and inclusive education. In a way, I can say that my learning has inspired my living. Now, I work everyday to empower young people in underprivileged communities with Global Citizenship Skills and Education for Sustainable Development. n hindsight, I am grateful for all the people I met throughout the GAC journey. How they continued to strengthen my convictions, about the work

that we do and about humanity as a race. I continuously saw people go the extra mile to create solutions in their education and make people enjoy their learning experiences in their schools. Truly, there is no limit to the amount of change young people can cause/create in the world if supported with the necessary resources. I saw myself challenging my strengths and weaknesses, time and time again, confirming what I have known for a while, that there is no limit to the things I can get done, if I put my mind to it, by consistently taking baby steps that definitely turns into giant strides.

Actions I’ve Taken After the GAC journey, I begaN to design a platform that fosters the creativity and innovative minds of young people, in what I call "The Innovation Challenge". This platform is designed as a competition, where high school students within the ages of 12-18, form groups of fours to provide solutions to local problems, ranging from health, climate actions, youth empowerment and education, among others.

I have also started having conversations with teachers across various communities on how to inculcate problem-based learning into the curriculum they use in their classrooms. It has been an exciting journey so far.

SUCCESS AREEVESO LEARNING QUESTION

How can we empower youths with basic digital skills so they create solutions to societal problems?

Question I am leaving with: How can we motivate young people to become problem solvers in their communities and advocate for causes they believe in?

Yoleareeveso@gmail.com

My Learning Journey I was one of the hosts for my global action circle, which included members from a variety of countries and ages ranging from 15 to 75 years, with the oldest member being 75 years old and the youngest being 15 years old. I had the opportunity to learn from individuals with a variety of backgrounds. Then, as I listened to other people's stories, it dawned on me that my learning question needed to change. This is what I changed it to; "How can we inspire young people to become community problem solvers and advocates for causes they believe in?"

Empowering young people through the use of storytelling as a tool for activism. Sharing the stories of other young changemakers who are influencing and changing their world. We will accomplish more work faster if we have more people advocating for change.

People have told me, "I was inspired to do this because you made it possible." Storytelling leaves a deep impact and motivates others to act. It is an

extremely effective advocacy tool. I learned from others about being courageous, resilient, and having a positive mindset!!. I realized that perfection is a myth, all you have to do is start and you will improve significantly too. I Also learned that understanding your strengths would help you in your learning process. I learned my core strengths that I was creative, and I loved engaging people in powerful conversations as well too.

I stepped into my giant, and it was so beautiful, I ended my journey as one of the hosts for the global action circle to being a co-lead for the media team in planning the 2nd global learning festival!!. This had participants from over 80+ countries.

Actions I’ve Taken I started creating my podcast as a medium to share the stories of changemakers. I started with having in-depth conversations with young people as well too.

Afterwards, I would launch my blog/website writing on issues about education, advocacy, personal development.

JOY IMHOITSIKE LEARNING QUESTION:

Can we have more tech-savvy teachers in Nigeria?

Question I am leaving with: What if we could have the Nigerian government actively involved in Edtech?

joyemosho300@gmail.com

My Learning Journey My learning question has brought me to a place of awareness.

Of the system, the realities and all . I have been able to do research and see for myself where the problem really lies.

Overtime, I have always been advocating for tech savvy teachers for a narrow reason. Many thanks to Youth×Youth, I have now been able to gather some more reasons for myself, and this has deepened my resolve more.

Also, I got to learn in the process of my research, how that some private companies are actually supporting this move, but they can only do so little because their capacity is quite smaller compared to the government itself.

First off, I am grateful for ever coming in contact with the YouthxYouth community. I have been able to learn how to self educate and reflect deeply.

Secondly, I love all the beautiful minds I came across with.

The wonderful persons in my action circle too.

OLLIE BREAM MCINTOSH LEARNING QUESTION

How might we CREATE a NETWORK for STUDENT-LED learning towards transforming literacy in Higher Education?

Question I am leaving with: How might we CREATE a NETWORK for STUDENT-LED learning towards Transformation Literacy in Higher Education?

ollie@raincoatfish.com

My Learning Question From the GAC experience, I got space/time to zoom out and observe what already exists and how I can serve/weave the existing progress rather than start from scratch. I also got clarity on the best formats and processes that could inform my intervention. The buddy space was critical to deepen my relationship with someone who I intend to work with more in future. I've been riding the knife-edge between the world is permanently screwed, almost everything sucks' and 'we are just moments away from a new beautiful world' for some time -- it can feel pretty disorienting to be thrown from extreme to extreme in my dialogue with the world around me. I'm grateful for the ways that this experience has exposed me to such an inspiring group of people even 10 years my junior who intuit the urgency of the crises we live in, show up consistently informed and energised,

inhabit new paradigms with hardly any apprehensions or judgements, and naturally commit to both critical reflexivity and self-care. It's enough to reassure me that we're not screwed, as long as youth voices keep nurturing each other to step into our power. It makes it easier to digest each latest chapter of our unfolding disaster movie!

I've learned that I am becoming a more and more competent holder of process and space, and that with decent preparation I can trust myself to weave a room of disparate and unconnected folks into a safe and creative space. I've learned peer-to-peer learning needs good preparation and clear protocols, and have renewed a commitment to learn more about what this looks like in practice.

Actions I’ve Taken I have created a proposal to a few potential partners for how their efforts could be synergised. I am now in dialogue with these partners to refine the proposal according to her respective strategic objectives, and I am planning to convene them for an exploratory workshop. I will also be rekindling a course I led at the University in Nottingham, repurposing it as a co-design space to inform the work of the partners I have gathered. The desired outcome is a pilot learning journey (built on the contributions of the various partners) designed to develop a core set of 'transformation literacies' according to a curated mix of assessment rubrics.

This learning journey will then be peer-facilitated at a few universities in 2023, with a view establishing a self-reproducing 'learning commons' and 'learning community' which can evolve the pilot onwards.

VALENTINA RAMAN LEARNING QUESTION

How might we facilitate authentic and meaningful "glocal" learning communities in service of our collective liberation? How can we make it easier (more accessible) for all youth to deeply listen and learn across cultures, languages, and geographic boundaries?

Question I am leaving with: How will Activists' participation in their local YxY Hubs support and deepen their GAC learning experience and accelerate transformation of education?

valentina@youthxyouth.com

My Learning Journey This learning question guided my role as YxY Community Organizer and Host Mentor, where I sought to effectively equip our youth Hosts (first and foremost) with the principles, practices and tools they needed to facilitate an authentic and meaningful learning journey for their GAC Activists. To build our Hosts' confidence and capacity at facilitating this unique intercultural and intergenerational experience, we held regular check-ins with our Hosts before each Meetups to prepare together, and matched each team of Hosts with a Host Mentor who gave additional guidance, helped to hold space and model active listening & mutual support within their GAC. As Hosts & Host Mentors, we soon realized that our greatest barrier to creating an authentic and meaningful learning journey was the technological/internet limitations experienced by some of our participants, which inhibited their ability to engage as fully as those with more reliable connection. To address this, we provided financial support to help cover internet data costs and upgrade tech

when possible. However, as Host Mentors, we realized we needed to expand our roles beyond Zoom facilitation, to include communication of content via WhatsApp with our GACs, and personal follow-ups with those who dropped-off of calls to ensure they remained (and felt) connected. Finally, in Lagos, Nigeria, where we had the most number of those who dropped-off calls to ensure they remained (and felt) connected. Finally, in Lagos, Nigeria, where we had the most number of Activists with connectivity issues, our Hosts locally began to host in-person Meet-Ups for Activists in the region. These hosting strategies combined - a truly "glocal" approach - are essential in order for YxY to cultivate a truly equitable, inclusive and liberatory learning environment for all, no matter where our Activists are.

This learning question has led us to recruit Local Community Organizers to create YxY Hubs and organize more in-person Meet-Ups in rhythm with our next GAC cycle, beginning August 2022.

Actions I’ve Taken With our team our Hosts and Host Mentors, we have now created a truly "glocal" approach to facilitating our GACs and supporting our Activists with the diversity of their needs in mind. Through my conversations with my EdTech and Intercultural Communication GAC, I also created principles for effective intercultural dialogue that help facilitate deeper listening and understanding, and ensure those for whom English is not their first language feel supported, seen and heard to their fullest selves. I also created nearly 50 handwritten letters that we sent to every GAC member along with small gifts, to end our virtual experience with a sense of physical connectedness before the final showcase.

ANTOINE BELAND LEARNING QUESTION

How can summer camps become learning environments that educate young people for sustainability?

Question I am leaving with: How can a summer camp become a learning environment that educates for sustainability?

antoinebeland19@gmail.com

My Learning Journey I strongly believe that summer camps are training grounds where young people can develop competencies needed and required to succeed and excel in life. During the GAC, I got a new job (as the Assistant Director of a summer camp) and it’s been my dream job for as long as 10 years.

Thus, I began to develop a framework to discuss sustainability in a way that kids can relate with. The plan is to translate the framework to French for the young people in the summer camps. I also plan to infuse Sustainability Education into the curriculum used at the camp through play based learnings, food and diets, policies and games.