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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |  Chapter 4 part 2... |
| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 6 part 2 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |

Chapter Four Continued

A unit of work on 'Friendship' for pre-school/Grade I
Elke Muzik

Session 15
Topic: The Family Tree

As the children had already seen Mark's circular family tree, many knew what a family tree was.

I explained this concept further by illustrating my own family tree on the blackboard.

The children were asked to complete a family tree outline at home with the help of their parents.
('Discover your roots' in Caring, a Good Apple Activity Book, p.37.)

This involved tracing back their family tree to their maternal great grandmother, and great grandfather, and their paternal great grandmother, and great grandfather. They were also asked to find out the birthplace of all people on their family tree.

Well, this activity certainly got some parents motivated! The children later told me that their mothers had to make several phone calls in order to obtain the information to complete the tree. For several families, this became an important learning experience, and it motivated many of the parents to find out more about their background.

One child's family belongs to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and it soon became evident that they thoroughly endorsed the work we were doing. Within this church a great deal of work is done on family trees, the importance of family occasions, and recording of special occasions in family life. Needless to say this child brought to school some beautifully presented and quite detailed aspects of his family, and the important experiences within the life of his family.

Presentation of family trees
The family tree charts were pinned on a large cardboard painted tree for display. The parents of the children read the family trees belonging to other class members.

Session 16
Topic: A visit from a member of the Salvation Army, who spoke about their assistance to the elderly and needy.

(The speaker is the mother of two children who are in Grade 2 and Grade 5. When asked to speak to us, she was extremely pleased and honoured to be considered.)

She arrived dressed up in her Salvation Army uniform. The children had not seen her in this uniform and were enthralled with the way she looked.

She gave us a most informative discussion telling us about:
• how elderly people are cared for if they have no-one to care for them (meals-on-wheels etc.)
• how some people don't have a home to go to
• how some elderly people sleep outdoors
• how the Salvation Army assists elderly people by providing blankets in cold weather etc. etc.

The children listened intently-they obviously had a lot of respect for the speaker, and they were especially interested in the stories she had to tell.

It became apparent-by the tears in the eyes of some children-that they were shocked and felt extremely sympathetic towards the plight of the poor, sick, and lonely elderly people in our community. One little Prep. girl cried quite openly. As these children come from stable family backgrounds, it must be difficult for them to comprehend the suffering and loneliness that some elderly people may experience.

The speaker was instrumental in making the children understand the life of people less fortunate than themselves. The children found it difficult to understand that the families of these neglected old folk didn't appear to care, or may not even be in contact with the elderly person. They could not visualise their parents or grandparents living in such conditions. Many made comments to the effect that they would look after their parents/grandparents.

Follow-on from this visit
We obtained some large photographs depicting elderly people in various social situations from the local Education Centre and the Resource Centre at the local College of Advanced Education.

These included:
• elderly people sitting on a park bench
• an old man searching through a rubbish bin (this is a common sight locally)
• an old lady sitting in the tiny kitchen of her home, alone an elderly invalid man in bed in his own home an elderly person huddled in a blanket

A general discussion took place e.g.
• 'What do you think is happening in the picture?'
• 'Why do you think this man/woman is in this situation?' 'How do you think they feel?'
• 'Who do you think should be caring for these people?' 'How would you feel if this was you?'
• 'How do you think we could help these people?'

Outcomes
It was quite obvious that the children were developing a genuine level of empathy towards the plight of elderly people. They became aware that not all elderly people in our community were as loved and as well-cared-for as the elderly people they were familiar with (their grandparents).

John Brown, Rose and the midnight cat, had been studied by the Grade 1s last year (when they were Preps). We had made this story into a 'big-book' version for shared book reading experiences. The children who had been involved in illustrating this book thought that its story-line correlated aptly with the topic we were considering.

Session 17
Topic: Excursion to a local geriatric centre

Pre-excursion work
I told the children what the geriatric centre was, and gave them a general indication of what they might see.

When organising the excursion, the Public Relations Officer was extremely helpful. She offered to speak to the children about the ageing process and invited us to become involved in the community singing.

The children were particularly impressed with this invitation and spent a great deal of time discussing which songs they would like to sing and practising these songs.

As part of our Art/Craft work on Printing we made 'string prints'. The end-product was then mounted on a card and the children were asked to write a greeting in the card. The card was to be presented to an elderly person of their choice after the community singing.

I'm afraid that I did not keep a record of some of these comments. I was astounded by the genuine way in which the children wrote these comments. I did not assist them in any way, and did not prompt the children. Their responses were completely spontaneous and really quite beautiful.

Some comments I can recall went something like this:
• '...to a sweet elderly person.'
• '... to the nicest old person I know.'
• 'to a special elderly person ...'
• 'to a kind old lady ...'

On the day of the excursion some children brought along little gifts to give to a lady or gentleman. These included: lavender bags, a bunch of flowers.

The actual excursion

1. Format
• discussion on the ageing process
• observation of the following areas:
(a) the eating hall
(b) food preparation/serving areas
(c) meals-on-wheels organising area
(d) laundry organisation-sorting socks, pyjamas, nighties etc.
(e) talking to elderly people while the were having afternoon tea
(f) watching craft groups
(g) community singing

2. Comments
The children were intrigued with the vast kitchen and the fact that 500 meals were prepared there every day.

The huge basket of socks, and the stacks of nighties in the laundry/sorting room shocked the children. They commented on how 'clean' the clothes looked, and how lucky the elderly people were to have their clothes mended.

When mixing with the elderly folk in the sunroom, I was particularly proud to see how spontaneous the children were in approaching and speaking to the elderly people. I had expected them to be slightly shy and somewhat inhibited. They moved along from person to person asking questions, holding the hands of the old folk. One little girl reached up and gave an old lady a kiss and a hug. The children loved talking to a little old lady who had turned 100 recently. The old folk loved seeing my children, and my children responded to their friendly reactions. My children obviously felt they were doing something worthwhile. As we moved on to another section I asked Mary, 'Did you see the old lady's heart glow after you kissed and hugged her?' Mary nodded and by her facial expression, she had had a most rewarding experience.

In the craft room, the children confidently moved from one person to another. They were reacting most favourably to this experience and indicated a genuine level of spontaneity. I am sure the children could see the effects they were having, and this motivated them in providing more and more positive interaction.

During the community singing, my children were clearly enjoying their opportunity to perform for this group of people (about fifty in all). The majority of this group were in wheelchairs and some were quite unco-ordinated - particularly with their clapping I had previously discussed with my children that some old folk may have difficulty in clapping and the children understood this.

At the end of the singing they chose someone to whom to give their card. Some of the folk didn't quite understand that it was for them to keep. The children gently explained that it was for them.

We were then offered orange juice and biscuits and then had to go home.

I felt this was an extremely valuable and rewarding experience for the children and it gave me a deep insight into how my 'Teaching for Human Rights' was affecting their attitudes and reactions to other people. Clearly they were learning that to love, to give, to consider others' feelings and to share gave happiness not only to others but provided them with an intrinsically rewarding experience.

Follow-up work
The children were asked as homework to write about the excursion.

Session 18
Topic: Grandparents' Devonshire Tea

PART I The children made invitations to send to their grandparents.

PART 2 The children were asked to illustrate all four grandparents and were then asked to 'dictate' a comment about their grandparents. This work was displayed, along with the family trees and photographs of grandparents.

PART 3 The day was planned in collaboration with the children e.g. what to cook, how to set up the room, etc. We discussed etiquette in relation to introducing people to each other, as well as serving etiquette.

PART 4 On the morning of the Devonshire Tea all the children were involved in making scones. This was organised in group work--six groups of three.

Within each group, the children co-operated very well and shared the chores and responsibilities. They were excited about the success of their cooking efforts.

PART 5 In the early afternoon the children set up the classroom for the Devonshire Tea. They collected flowers for floral arrangements and spent time folding serviettes. This exercise obviously provided them with a sense of responsibility and pride. They were all obviously excited and were feeling a sense of importance.

PART 6 When the grandparents arrived, I gave them a short introductory speech with regard to the work we were doing with human rights and how the Devonshire Tea fitted into the program.

The children then proceeded to serve their grandparents with tea/coffee and scones.

'Some children had four grandparents in attendance while others had one or two. One child didn't have any present and was told by another child that he was welcome to share his!

The afternoon was a great success! The children were most spontaneous in showing their school work to their grandparents and it was quite apparent that the grandparents were deriving great pleasure from being in their grandchild's classroom and seeing illustrations and written comments about themselves.

Many grandparents thanked me personally for organising the day and several asked me for the recipe of the scones. Of course this impressed my children greatly.

I was pleased with the way the children acted so responsibly and spontaneously. They had been placed in a position of responsibility and obviously enjoyed the opportunity to play host to their grandparents. All in all the exercise was a most valuable experience for all concerned.

Incidental comments
Topic: Human rights and the emergency teacher.

I would like to include some comments upon how, after eight weeks of teaching for and learning about human rights, my children reacted when they felt their human rights were restricted.

I was sick and absent from school for one week. During that time the children had two or three emergency teachers and as the week progressed, less and less of my grade was present at school. When I finally came back to school I was stunned by both the parental reaction and the reaction of my class.

Parents told me that they were extremely glad to see me back as the children were not happy and didn't want to come to school.

The children gave a vivid description of how a particular emergency teacher had mistreated them.

Comments such as:
• 'She wouldn't let Michael go to the toilet when he really needed to go.'
• 'She called us silly kids.'
• 'She wouldn't ring up Emma's mum when Emma was sick.'
• 'She stood at the door and talked to someone and didn't even listen to our morning talk'

These comments and the determined directive, 'Don't get her again if you're sick', proved that if children are treated with respect and consideration, they become quickly aware when someone new treats them differently: with a lack of respect and no concern or sensitivity.

With 'Teaching for Human Rights', I have found that it has laid the foundations for a beautiful relationship developing between my children and myself. The children I teach regard me as a real friend and I certainly regard them as my friends.

Julie once said to me: 'Mrs Muzik, you are the best grown-up friend I have got'. I thought that this was a beautiful comment, and I felt extremely lucky to be able to teach such feeling and sensitive children. 'Teaching for Human Rights' has been instrumental in allowing me to experience the two most rewarding years' teaching in my entire career.

Incidental comments
Topic: A classroom catastrophe!!!

I am including this incident as I feel that it clearly shows how 'Teaching for Human Rights' has had an impact upon the children in my class.

Background information
For three years we have been trying to breed budgies with no lasting success until Aug./Sept. this year. Our budgies--Pepi and Kermitina--were finally the proud parents of two blue and one green baby budgies. Needless to say, the children adored these babies and cared for them very well. Occasionally the baby chicks were let out of their cage within the classroom in an endeavour to make them tame and trusting when the children handled them. Many ideas on trust, caring and respect which we had developed during our human rights program, were applied with these chicks.

When the chicks were old enough I allowed the children to take turns in taking the baby birds home overnight. The children were told of their responsibility in caring for the budgies and the trust I had in them.

The disaster happened! I received a phone call from Moshe's distressed mother after school. The two blue babies were dead! They had been let out by Moshe and in the frenzy to catch them, they had smashed against the glass window and were both dead. Celia--Moshe's mum--was most apologetic and wanted me to speak to Moshe as he was extremely distressed.

My initial immediate inclination was to reprimand him! My 'Teaching for Human Rights' had taught me to do otherwise; and Moshe got off the 'phone feeling more at ease and I got off the 'phone and cried! I felt angry but I knew I couldn't let Moshe know it.

I realised that this would be the real test of whether my 'Teaching for Human Rights' had had any effect.

The next morning I could hear Moshe coming into school saying at the top of his voice: 'The baby budgies are dead!' Obviously this was his nervous reaction. He had the two dead budgies in a box carefully covered with Glad Wrap!

The children listened to his explanation and I stressed the fact that it could have happened at school and could possibly have happened to me. There were NO unkind remarks made to Moshe.

The children were obviously stunned! I asked them to write about what had happened and illustrate their story.

I placed all the work the children had done on a prominent display in front of the room. I really felt that my 'Teaching for Human Rights' had developed a level of empathy in the children and I felt very proud of them.

About 2 hours later I overheard Julie say to Moshe: 'Moshe! I am really angry with you about what happened to the budgies!'

With this comment, I must admit I felt a level of relief to know that someone had had time to think about what had happened and had experienced my level of anger.

After school, the mothers came in to collect the children and read the work on the display board. Their reactions were not like the initial reactions of the children. They were extremely angry!

No more vindictiveness or nastiness was directed towards Moshe, but I did sense as time went on the implications of what had happened hitting home to the children.

We also had a pet rabbit in our classroom-which also went home with particular children after school. In many ways, 'Twink' as he was named, compensated for the death of the budgies. The children cuddled him and always treated him with tender loving care. He really was gorgeous!

Another disaster was about to strike!

It was Moshe's turn to take.him home overnight. As fate would have it, Twink died suddenly at Moshe's house! Moshe's father arrived the next day to explain what had happened. I couldn't believe it.

A letter also arrived from Moshe's mum.

The children reacted much more forcibly this time.

Apparently the human rights ideas were set aside, to express or vent a few built up feelings:
• Apparently Moshe had been told after school-by a forthright class member-that he shouldn't take the rabbit home because he would kill it just like he had killed the budgies a week earlier.
• Frank, who had taken Twink home the previous night, was accused of treating the rabbit roughly thereby causing his untimely death.
• Several incidents occurred in the school ground to the detriment of both Moshe and Frank.

Summary of outcome
This experience made me realise that in 'Teaching for Human Rights' we are striving for a peaceful, co-operative, and understanding co-existence with other human beings and this seems to be successful until a stressful situation arises. Under undue emotional strain, we, as feeling human beings, are vulnerable to our personality traits and act in a way which we may not be proud of.

The child who was being vindictive towards Moshe and Frank was venting her frustrated feelings about what happened. Later in the day, when we discussed the situation, she did realise that she may have acted impulsively and made an apology to the boys.

This incident proved to me that the work we had covered during the year on human rights was ingrained into many of the children, but more so in some children than others. A child's personality and individuality determined the level to which respect for human rights was realised.

EVALUATION

During the two term program, the evaluation has been on-going.

I have been particularly pleased with the success of my program. I feel that it has allowed me to know and understand the children I teach to a far greater level than I have ever experienced before. I feel that 1985 has been the best teaching year I have experienced, and feel this is due solely to the effects of 'Teaching for Human Rights'. The children have developed sensitivity towards and respect for each other.

Occasionally, we may have a conflict, but generally the classroom atmosphere is a relaxed, happy one. My children feel safe and protected. They know my expectations and my values, and I am aware of how they want to be treated. I feel we have achieved a happy, friendly, (and sometimes hilarious!) learning environment. We are all good friends, and we all know what our obligations are.

The children are using the values they have developed and are applying them to new situations. They are quick to see when people don't respect the rights of others (e.g. the emergency teacher).

Last week, I was asked to mind a child from another school for a day. This girl caused many problems in the school ground, by calling children names, inciting fights, and swearing profusely. My children were most concerned about this behaviour and asked me to speak to her. After I reprimanded her by telling her we didn't speak like that at our school etc. etc., my children made excuses for her behaviour. They said it wasn't her fault because it was apparent her teacher at her home school had not told her about human rights! Obviously a respect for human rights has become part of the life of the children in my class. I am very proud of them!

In the following pages of this Evaluation section you will find comments which the children have written during the second last week of 3rd term [not included]. I found these comments to be especially rewarding. The children were asked to comment honestly upon what they thought about the work we had done on human rights. It is clear that my children feel that they are better people for their human rights education. Some comments brought tears to my eyes when I read them e.g. the comment by Julie: 'it makes people into nicer humans...it makes people find love in the world'.

Jill's comment also impressed me: 'I am glad our grade had been taught what's right and wrong so I can be good to my friends'. Bob's comment: 'It's teaching me to be good and considerate' indicates the extensive language development which has occurred because of this program. Many of my Preps are able to read words such as tolerance, patience, acceptance, faith, condemn etc.

I would like to refer to Mary's comment especially. I feel it shows the complex nature of human relationships. Mary has experienced the positive aspects of friendships, but is also aware of the vulnerable nature of relationships. However she concludes by stating: 'That doesn't mean I hate my friends', and indicates that the negative aspects need not overpower and therefore be destructive to the positive aspects of human relationships.

The parents have shown a great deal of interest in the program, and many people were particularly impressed with the section on elderly people. I am still receiving feedback about the Grandparents' Day. This aspect of the program made both grandparents and children feel important and I have received offers from grandparents to come and speak to the children about their experiences.

Frank's mother has told me about his reaction after visiting the geriatric centre. An elderly lady had left a particularly strong impression upon him, and after returning home he told his mother he wanted to give her some flowers.

Moshe's father admitted today that initially he was slightly sceptical about what the Human Rights Program would involve. He indicated that in the early stages he had considered sitting in on the sessions in order to determine whether he agreed with the program. Today he indicated that my program has been extremely valuable and in keeping with his beliefs. (Moshe's family are of the Mormon-Church of the latter Day Saints- religious group.)

The visiting Religious Instruction teacher who comes to visit our class for 1/2 hour per week has been extremely interested in the work we have done this year on 'Teaching for Human Rights'. During his last session he congratulated me on this work and stated that he could see the impact the program has had upon the children. He considered that they were more caring and concerned about each other than the other groups of children he visited at other schools.

The program has been a tremendous success. It has been extremely rewarding and has taught me a great deal about human relationships and in particular, it has taught me a lot about the children I teach. I know them extremely well, and I am sure they know me very well. I have also found that it has given me the opportunity to not only get to know the parents, but also the grandparents of my children.

'Teaching for Human Rights' certainly has a place in the curriculum of Australian schools.

One parent's comments on the Human Rights Program
I think it is very important children are taught to be kind to each other and other people. It's not good enough to brush off playground teasing, etc. with the comment., 'kids will be kids'.

This has been a great strength of the program; talking about each others' feelings and giving children the appropriate phrases to use to describe their hurt, anger or joy. Phrases that are an alternative to aggression. Speech influences the mind and the actions so we need to give children kind and polite ways of speaking.

The program also highlights how important we think people and their feelings are. School is not just concerned with letters and numbers.

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 4 part 2... |
| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 6 part 2 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |