Teaching for Human Rights, Grades 5-10: Appendix 2, Part 3

A. Rationale
A colleague gave me a copy of an advertisement 'Teaching for Human Rights'. He thought that I would be interested, given what he knew and perceived about my educational interests so far in my short teaching career. My reasons for becoming involved in the program were as follows:

B. Structure
It was extremely difficult to involve people (especially other staff) in this program. Other staff were not too concerned about the ideas behind Teaching for Human Rights. Reasons for this seemed to stem from their traditional views of education and what should be taught and not taught! Those teachers who were interested in Teaching for Human Rights had already initiated various new ideas in their own teaching but they were unable to share in the program because they were restricted by curriculum requirements within their own departments, time, and of course time-tabling limitations. Unfortunately members of my own Department of Humanities were not in the least interested in incorporating any of the materials and ideas of the Human Rights Program into the Humanities curriculum.

C. Planning
Even without the general support of my department, I still decided to participate in the Program. Therefore the main classes involved in the initiative work were my own. They included Year 7, 9, and 10 Social Studies.

Other students from other classes whom I had occasional contact with were fleetingly involved. Obstacles encountered included those already mentioned. Others included running foul of the school administration and school rules in trying to escape classroom-based learning activities. In addition there were few resources and keen competition for those few resources the school had. Time and involvement of students in the program reflected an initial negative attitude to school, society and themselves. The place of this program in the school curriculum was in the Social Studies area. But there was scope for this to be expanded not only in content but in process to other parts of the curriculum.

Goals set included development of negotiation skills and the implementation of enquiry-based learning. This involved the development of interpersonal skills such as improving self-confidence and encouraging the initiation of ideas. Then I sat down with my students and discussed the program, and what I hoped we (as a group) could do with it. This proved a little premature when it came to the students setting and defining their own goals. The students were only interested in doing something different, so I left this decision-making idea to a later stage. The one and only area of goals that we were able to set together was a list of classroom rules. These were meant to apply to everyone within the classroom. We moved from there to negotiation of work or activities from week to week. The tentative outline that we came up with ran as follows:

The only other achievement that the students were prepared to commit themselves to was the possible production of a video expressing their thoughts and ideas about the theme of 'Human rights'.

The students were unsure of what was expected of them and I was also unsure of my exact contribution as a person and a teacher without too much influence. But we tried and struggled! Resources were scarce and I was unsure of what we needed. So it was very much a process of playing it by ear. It was a struggle to round up enough text and paper, so I went and bought them from the grant money. Books and videos were also hard to come by, so I carefully shopped around to come up with some worthwhile resources. But the most needed resource that we were unable to use was a portable video pack. This was a key issue to the Year 10s in the latter half of the year. We did, however, have access to:

D. Teacher strategies
I attempted to use a number of teaching strategies after much thought, and trial and error. We tried:

E. Implementation
With the students I was teaching, the program started to flounder about the third week. It was obvious they were suffering a motivation problem that seemed to afflict all their subjects. So I ran the gauntlet of teaching strategies without much success until I realised how involved they all were with the visual media. Hence in a last bid effort I started to use a number of films to transmit the different themes of human rights. The first film that we watched was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I worked very hard using my own personal knowledge of the subject, linking it to what the students knew and didn't know.

Then we went back to rules and how institutions use them. It was here that we arrived at a negotiated code of behaviour relevant to the classroom. The ensuing discussions made the students and me aware of individual rights and preferences against an institutional background such as a school or a psychiatric hospital. The students made very strong connections with the loss of privileges that the patients suffered, especially the loss of cigarettes.

The students worked through a number of questions relating to the film. Then we took time to look at racism, sexism and the problems of the mentally handicapped. Spontaneously the students wanted to put their thoughts into a series of short skits or sketches. They divided themselves into working groups,
pooled their ideas and images and presented the results to the class one afternoon. it was a lot of seriousness and fun.

We moved into the video Fair Enough which sparked furious debate about students' rights, teachers' rights, rules and regulations. Again we returned to our list of rights and behaviour code for the class. It underwent some refinement. To provide contrast with the types of issues in the preceding videos, I decided to use One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich which I hoped would broaden the students' views of their environment, political dissension, freedom of conscience and the right to a quality life. A sensitive discussion took place during and after this film. Much attention was given to political dissidents and what it means to us as Australians. We conducted a group session comparing the three videos and films we had seen and what they were about.

In third term I put the idea of doing a class video to the class. It was meant to encapsulate their thoughts and ideas about the year's direction. I suggested that they draw up a list of skills that they would like to learn in relation to making videos and films. The list that they came up with was as follows:

The students broke themselves up into groups, brainstormed ideas, and clarified aims and expression. Motivation was high and they worked hard. Topics chosen ranged from student rights to parent-child rights, included sexism and racism.

These students were generally unskilled in written and technical skills. But they responded to this task with keenness in spite of having short concentration spans and poor English skills. Another media teacher and I worked with the students. Planning to film the scripts proceeded smoothly in spite of some very practical problems such as being constantly checked for being out of class when the groups tried to run through their video movements. The other major problem was a very old video camera which defied all efforts to use it at all. There was the possibility of using another school's equipment but the insurance was prohibitive. So as a group we had to reassess what we were going to do. The students decided to finish their scripts which they handed in as final copies. The class was very disappointed at not being able to video-tape their scripts. In spite of the situation, they did not grumble too much.

F. Summing up
The year has been a mixture of difficulties and of learning. I am pleased with some areas of the activities and materials, and with the general response of my students. The verbal feedback and the written reports of the year reveal that most students enjoyed the ideas and issues raised by the human rights manual when they were related to their own lives. They also realised that change is very slow and people must care for one another in order for that change to begin happening. The personal discussions with my students have heartened me and overcome my fears of being seen as a 'stack teacher' who didn't make her pupils write and allowed them out of class. One incident sums it all up.

The Year 10s accompanied by me were running through locations and camera angles around the school. One scene called for the small students to be shown in the male toilets. So we trooped in to organise the scene. The boys were pleased that the girls and myself came in too! Next minute one of the trade teachers (male) ran into the toilets shouting at everyone to get out and what were the girls doing there, who was their teacher and so on. The students explained that I was with them and what they were doing. He did not appear to believe them and it was only after I had explained that he left in a huff with much disapproval from the group. Then we were approached by the Vice-Principal enquiring what the group was doing out of class again, without a teacher. Again I emerged from the crowd and explained what we were doing. The students were very indignant that I was, so they thought, embarrassed by the 'please explain' stance of some colleagues. They realised that I was as bound by rules and responsibilities as they were!

1. Rationale
We decided to become involved in the Human Rights Project because we believed it would provide the opportunity for us to further develop courses we had introduced in previous years. We felt that many of the students in the district had fairly narrow views on social issues and that teaching for human rights might be a means altering this situation.

2. Structure
We originally planned to introduce the program across the curriculum and at all year levels. We now see this as a long-term aim. At some levels the programs we introduced were totally new, while in others they expanded and extended current units of work. Most of the projects we did introduce were within the Humanities subjects in the school--History, Social Science, Geography, Legal Studies, Art and English--and at the Year 7-10 levels.

3. Planning
The involvement of both teachers and parents in the project was not as great as had been hoped. Three teachers in the school were mainly responsible for the introduction of the projects. The Year 8 Aboriginal Studies course allowed us to involve many members of the local Aboriginal community. The lack of involvement of parents (other than occasional feedback at parent/teacher nights and informal meetings) was disappointing and probably due to lack of 'advertising' on my part. We were able to co-operate with a city high school in our efforts to provide contact for our students with ethnic groups from which they are isolated in their own community.

As we introduced many varied programs at different levels it will be easier to report according to each year level.

YEAR 7
Discussion of people's rights arose from our study of the traditional life of the Netsilik Eskimos. The freedom of the children in this society was of particular interest to the students and it stimulated their ideas when I suggested they should set up some 'rights' according to which we could conduct classes.

I initially divided the class into small groups of four to five kids in which they discussed what their 'rights' should be. It was surprising the amount of discussion which eventuated and it took us five lessons to discuss and then fully agree on the final 'rights and duties'.

Discipline
In the event of a student or students breaking these rules the class discusses with the teacher and individual(s) concerned what punishment, if any, is appropriate.

I should mention here that our school is situated in a small rural town (population 2 000) within a wheat growing district. The students are fairly conservative in their views, and very well behaved in class, and we have few if any, discipline problems. This creates a number of other problems. Many students tend to be rather narrow in their outlook; they have found it difficult to see 'rights' as being different to rules, and are very concerned about the 'discipline' aspect of class behaviour. In some of their comments about rights, many expected them to be enforced by me i.e. 'rules' rather than 'rights' which they could demand. (I continually had to refer students to their rights during the early months.)

Even though the 'rights' agreed upon could seem rather minor they did contravene some general school rules, so an agreement had to be reached with other staff and the Principal and the rights we had agreed to observe were restricted to Social Science classes. I felt that classes ran much better after we had implemented the 'rights and duties'. The kids took them seriously and seemed much more content in that they believed they were being fairly treated. It was pleasing that at the beginning of 1986 the Year 8 students asked to have their Social Science classes conducted according to the 'rights' they agreed upon last year.

We began the year with a 'Who Am I' assignment which was of great value to the students as many come from different primary schools in the district. It not only encouraged them to think about themselves as individuals but also to get to know each other. The 'wanted' and 'missing' posters were of great interest to all school members and allowed them to get to know the new Year 7 students. The posters were displayed throughout the Social Science rooms. On reviewing the assignment we felt that most of the tasks were valuable however the last task we have decided to omit as it did not really 'work'. We were trying to briefly introduce some knowledge or concept of race--there must be a better way--we are open to suggestions.

Other projects trialled were the 'Trust Walk' which we felt was only mildly successful probably because it was seen as a 'game' and the kids didn't really believe there was anything worthwhile in it. Although they were aware of their fear or lack of trust, in most cases it was difficult with students at this level to relate the activity to any broader aspect of life.

We also studied the UN Declarations of 'Rights of the individual' and 'the child'' The students chose one or more of the 'Declared Rights' and designed a collage based on these rights. This was an interesting process especially as I could not for the life of me see some of the relationships students used in their collages.
However, on questioning them and asking them to justify their inclusions, they were able to do so in almost all cases. I found they had applied these 'rights' on many occasions to aspects Of their everyday life--teasing, name calling, competition between towns, differing, degrees of wealth.

In General Studies, the Year 7 students set about writing and performing their own plays based upon one of the rights in the Universal Declaration of Rights e.g. human rights in the work place, or at school. General Studies classes only consist of about twelve students. I divided the kids into groups of four and they set about writing a scene each for the play. The smaller groups then regrouped; altered names etc. so that the three scenes linked together into the one play. The students then allotted parts and performed the play. Attempts to video the play failed because of an antiquated video camera which continually stopped mid-scene, and poor technical skills on my part. Unfortunately they in no way did justice to the kids' efforts and talents.

YEAR 8
At the Year 8 level our Social Science course has been planned around the multicultural nature of Australian society. First semester deals primarily with Aboriginal Studies and the second with other ethnic groups which make up the Australian population.

The Aboriginal Studies unit involved the participation of a local Aboriginal Education Officer, and many members of the local Aboriginal community. A one-day excursion was organised to the site of an old Aboriginal mission. The unit ended with a four-day Aboriginal Studies Camp to a National Park. The camp
was attended by the Aboriginal Education Officer and other members of the local Aboriginal community, and the archaeologist responsible for the preservation of Aboriginal sites in the Park. The students visited many of these sites. They were divided into 'tribal' groups, under the leadership of two Aboriginal community members for the period of the camp. They participated in corroborees, performing their own dances and songs; in making and using traditional weapons; in preparing and eating tribal food--kangaroo, emu, snake, vegetables cooked in a traditional earth oven; and in visiting Aboriginal art and ceremonial sites. The camp was a fitting end to a particularly successful Aboriginal Studies project. Contact between the students and Aborigines was particularly rewarding as changes in attitude on the part of the kids was marked.

Relations between members of the Aboriginal community and whites in our town is probably fairly typical of a small country centre of this kind-there is little contact at all. The Aboriginal population has a major problem with alcoholism and is always readily criticised by members of the white community, so we really were covering some new ground. It is pleasing to see kids talking to Aborigines down the street--contact has not disappeared. It is also pleasing to note that one member of the Aboriginal community who visited classes last year has returned to school to complete his Year 11.

As part of the study of ethnic groups in Australia the students contacted students of a city high school and traded information about each other in preparation for a trip to the city in August. While there our kids visited the school, went out to tea with the students as hosts, and later a movie.

The contact with the city kids was excellent and the trip as a whole was very successful. We have very few migrants in our community and for some reason prejudice seems to be accepted behaviour, thus the relationships that developed between the city kids and ours were pleasing. Unfortunately there was not
enough follow-up to this contact. We had hoped some of the city kids might have visited us. Our kids were thrilled with the inclusion of some of their letters in the city school magazine.

Many of our kids had been quite concerned about their visit to the city and the school at first (in fact a few refused to participate in the excursion, although finance was not the problem), but later they were very happy about the outcome.

Contact seems to be the answer to broadening the kids' attitudes, or lessening their prejudices, so we hope to be able to involve the small Vietnamese, Italian, and Greek communities from a town (40km away) in some activities this year.

We also prepared a small unit on the UN Universal declaration of human rights to be used when teachers were absent and students were left with nothing to do. I have included a copy of this below.

The Universal declaration of human rights
When you copied down the Declaration of Human Rights at the beginning of this unit of work, it was a simplified version of the real Declaration. The United Nations divided these 'rights' into two groups--'civil and political rights' and 'economic, social and cultural rights'. They then asked all countries around the, world who agreed with these 'rights' to sign a document (a Covenant) and then attempt to make them laws in their country. Many countries have ratified these documents. Some countries have not, for different reasons.

In the Ethnic Studies unit the students, among other things, chose a 'country of origin' of some Australian immigrants and researched that country. They wrote to embassies for information, and contacted ethnic newspapers and ethnic organisations for

YEARS 9, 10
At Years 9 and 10 History replaces Social Science and it is a little more difficult to deal with human rights so directly. However on numerous occasions human rights issues arose and discussion and research followed. I can give you perhaps two examples. At Year 9 our study of 'convicts' led directly to discussion of prisoners' rights and forms of punishment. We attacked the issues of corporal and capital punishment through debates and public speaking. Whenever possible we encouraged play-writing and role-playing to allow students to empathise with particular characters in different historical circumstances, or simply to express their points of view about a particular issue. Our most successful attempt at this was during Year 10's study of conscription in WW I. We went to the local newspapers and read about town meetings of the time concerned with this issue. Each student was then allotted a role to play at a town meeting re-enactment, which we held at the local shire hall. Some of the characters were historical characters e.g. Billy Hughes, Archbishop Mannix, while some were fictitious e.g. a farmer of German descent, an ex-soldier's widow, a local Lutheran Minister etc. Each student was also expected to design and produce a poster expressing her or his viewpoint. Even though this was basically a historical project the issue of compulsion in military service became a real one and was debated enthusiastically by the students. Other examples of where human rights became major discussion points in these subjects were:

Many issues concerning human rights have been dealt with in Geography. The Geography Faculty has outlined them below:

YEAR 9
Study of poverty in the developing world. Distribution, characteristics, causes of poverty. Examination of historical, geographical or political factors which help perpetuate poverty. Examination of how these problems can be resolved.

YEAR 10
Study of the Pacific Islands--history, European influence, current problems. The impact on both native peoples and the environment of European influence.

4. Conclusion
Teaching for Human Rights has certainly altered my approach to teaching, especially within the more traditional subjects like History. By making the students familiar with the UN Declaration at the beginning of the year, I have found it easier to relate historical issues to similar current issues. The students then find the subjects more relevant and are more willing to discuss them.

The 'Rights and duties' that evolved from the Year 7 classes made me aware of certain aspects of my treatment of students that I was previously unaware of, especially when the kids pointed things out to me. Other teachers were also challenged, especially when these 'rights' only applied to Social Science classes. Our Deputy Principal was challenged when asking for boys to go and unload some equipment. It is an important issue for students which persists throughout the year. The issue of human rights is something that certainly catches the imagination of students and it was pleasing to hear them mentioned so often, especially by the Year 7s, when participating in the school debating competitions.

We established a human rights noticeboard in the Social Science room which worked well, with students bringing any articles of interest to be displayed. The librarian also supplied a regular collection of relevant newspaper articles.

The most successful and unified lessons were conducted with my Year 7 Integrated Studies class. I see them every day.

Lessons in Personal Development (Years 9 and 10) were unfortunately fragmented. For,example, films, resources and specialist speakers had to be accommodated as they became available. Nevertheless, human rights were dealt with.

Things did not work out as well as I had hoped for with my senior class. Towards the end of our second semester (mid June) a teacher and timetable reshuffle made it necessary for me to repeat previous (i.e. other than human rights) topics with a new group of Year 11 students.

Despite these excuses, some work was done, but I don't feel it was adequate. Hence, I would like to continue parts of the program with Year 11.

Method (If I may call it so)
As topics and issues and exercises were tried and discussed, I took some rough class notes. Later in the day (or week) I wrote down anything I thought might be significant. What is presented here then, is a summary of the relevant observations and thoughts. Believe me, this report is a miraculous feat of organisation compared to the 'pot-pourried' mess I started with.

To orient my scratchings and memories to the purpose of evaluating the kit, I have not necessarily always included what class did what. To save repeating myself, I have grouped some noted activities under the sub-headings 'Significant successes' and 'Not so good' towards the end of this report. Where appropriate, any observations unique to the exercise, or my own self-indulgent humorous anecdotes are included.

Summary evaluation
The kit (especially the manual Teaching for Human Rights) is giant success both from the educational point of view, i.e. its content, and the functional point of view, i.e. its organisation and format. The manual does have a unique abiity in that it can literally be picked up and an exercise used. Some sections though require a definite prior careful read, e.g. 'Prejudice and steroptyping'.

Regardless of any reports of failure you might receive, all of the material involves the kids. What might appeal to one class, working under one teacher's interpretation, might not necessarily apply to another class with another teacher. But, I seriously doubt if there is any aspect of the program that you will find receives popular criticism.

Many found the reading of the 'Rights' a little too difficult to understand and too long. (Another film, made in the International Year of the Disabled, called Stepping Out far more successful.)

It was a disaster showing this as an introduction with a small group of mainly Year 10 boys. They gigled and made snide references and comparisons to other people in the class as the video progressed. I eventually had to stop the video.

To be fair, this could well have been my fault. I was idealistically hoping for sympathetic numbing to catch their collective attention, but I got defensive, loud ridicule instead.

Students' rights
Great! Used as an impetus to class role-plays. These centered on activities trying to show:

Simple situations are usually the best. Don't get too involved with your explanations of what you want, as the kides can sometimes interpret this as a kind of 'creative limitation'.

blamed for stealing a surfboard that a friend lent you
going to the school canteen
told to wash the family car but you want to go to.the beach
help you (as opposed to an adult) get in a shop
told by an adult to give up your seat on public transport

Detailed example:
A teacher asks a pupil to go to the school canteen and pick her lunch up for her. A salad roll is stipulated. The pupil stands in line and is pushed out by a senior. The student complains, senior laughs and ignores him. Pupil then goes to the side door of the canteen and is abused by the lady-in-charge of the canteen for not waiting in line. The pupil goes back to the line and is eventually served. All the salad rolls are sold. So. the pupil buys a pie. He returns to the teacher and is abused for taking so long and for purchasing the incorrect lunch.

Related issues:

Feelings and assertive behaviour
What are the kids rights? How were they abused?
What should the pupil have done?
What would you do in a similar situation?

Significant successes

Blind trust
Only attempt this after preliminary work on self-esteem and caring for the welfare of others etc.

Try two people both blindfolded; you may be very interested to observe the co-operation they give each other. (A 'blind leading the blind' idea which works!)

Let the kids know that you are the referee and that you do have the right to stop them upon command.

The issue of responsibility, as linked to trust, is easily demonstrated by this exercise.

Give wary people a few goes and have the class notice how these kids eventually (usually) come to trust in successive walks. Note what happens if this trust is ever misplaced.

Overall, this is a great exercise that does promote relevant discussion. I especially like it for the responsibility (linked to trust--linked to rights) awareness it demonstrates.

Rights and responsibilities in class
This was the beginning of a great unit which I will relate in some detail.

Kids asked for anonymous definitions of what is a right. They then brainstormed, as one large group (24) the rights they believe they are entitled to at school. Via a lengthy and loud discussion, these were summarised into areas. Kids also eliminated 'silly ones' themselves.

I was included as having the same rights too. No one right is allowed to conflict with another, e.g. kids can speak provided this doesn't interrupt the learning of others. I did help a little with some of the interpretations.

Exercise:
Place two columns beside each 'Class right': 'I have a duty. . .' and
'The teacher . . .'
The kids filled this in whilst in small groups. An example:
Right: Freedom of speech
'I have a duty to listen to others and allow them to speak.'
'The teacher can fairly choose who is allowed to speak.'
Discussion followed.

This exercise led to some enthusiastic interest in the idea of rights. I have since noted class members referring others to the 'Class rights' poster we put up, whenever they feel a right is infringed.

As a teacher, don't imply any promises that you can't keep. As soon as you do so, you will lose the kids' interest and trust, as far as the meaning of the exercise goes.

Dictator
One kid chosen as dictator. He is allowed to choose five friends. The rest of the class are peasants.

Factual descriptions concerning the practices and liberties a dictator can take were explained. Peasants' 'rights' were likewise considered. Each of the five friends was given a 'gun' (ruler). They were the only ones with this power over others, but they could only use their power on the word of the dictator.

Peasants were asked, 'Do you like the dictator?' Many varied reactions came. From these reactions, the dictator chose those people who he felt should be put in gaol because they might pose a problem. He had to also consider that some had to be left to till the earth etc. These 'prisoners' were totally ignored for the rest of the lesson. (They hated it. Somewhat difficult to maintain their co-operation under these circumstances, but I think it went well.) Rest of the peasants asked what they wanted to do now.

We read through copies of the plain-English Declaration of Human Rights and discussed which ones the dictator had broken. He didn't fare well.

My sister
My little sister, who is five years old, spends her life making mine a misery. According to Mum she does everything she's told. But not where I am concerned, for I must not take her things, she is not supposed to take mine. Although she does. I argue and say I want them back. 'Oh no', says Mum, 'you should not fight; after all, Nicola is only five and you are thirteen' I make the beds and do the washing up, I go to the shops but I don't get any thanks. 'Mind the wet floor, hang up your coat', it wasn't like this before Nicola came.

The kids seemed to be more interested in finding out about other countries.
So, each kid was allocated a separate country (having an Embassy or Consulate in Australia) and wrote away.

Information received and information gleaned from library reference books was
used to create class talks on the individual countries.

My education was caught sadly lacking with several kids-after hearing the South African talk about gold, great climate, lovely place etc., they questioned the speaker about riots seen on TV. This led us into a discussion about images: what a country wants to present to the world about itself might not always be the reality.

The beginning
Within our current Personal Development Course, the school policy includes a very detailed unit on sexual education.

I supplemented the factual approach with this section from Teaching for human rights.

The issue of abortion was more hotly debated than any of the issues presented in the book. As one student noted, abortion is kind of the beginning and the ending without allowing anything in between'.

You may find it interesting to note that in a group of sixteen, twelve were anti-abortion; two passed answering the question- two were pro (latter four all being
girls).

Know Your Potato
Fantastic!!
A friend made the following suggestion:
Allocate specific kids to bring in specific vegetables. Teacher supplies the mince.
Each kid prepares a short talk claiming why their vegetable is the most important to the flavour of an (anti-prejudice) stew.

Actually cook everything up during a double period and have all the kids eat their prejudices. Might also help to explain the idea of multi-culturalism-each vegetable contributing its own unique flavour or colour to make up the stew. The stew suffers if any one ingredient is left out, etc.

Later, I was able to lay my hands on a collection of True romance and Career girl comics. We all had a field day with these.

The issue of punishment for the girls who don't follow the set pattern of marriage and kids was obvious to all. The kids were highly motivated and interested.

Even with a confident kid, the reactions can be damaging. Suggest real care and careful consideration be given to this one well before it is tried. It is not necessarily one of the activities you can just 'pick up and use'.

The kids just could not keep their descriptions from being insulting and hurtful.

Two box trick
For some reason, the majority of the kids picked the unattractive box straight away. Apparently they were all suspicious of my motives as soon as I asked the question, so they chose the unattractive box.

Therefore, I suggest this activity be done early in any program--before the kids become attuned to the fact that some of the activities to be done might have moralistic points to show.

Fat people are thin
Year 7 kids weren't all that familiar with the stereotypes. (Might work better with seniors.)

Given the opportunity to come up with an alternative set, a small group decided more parochial examples, e.g. Surfies are real cool.

Inspired modifications
The following activities came about as an immediate response to sections of the kit we were covering in class at the time. They all worked very well, so I offer them here if you wish to use them.

I want to be free
Have the kids go outside--this is a noisy one. The kids stand around at random within a defined area. Choose one person (near the middle) to yell, 'I want to be free!' Everyone else is directed to reply, 'You can't be free!' Repeat a few times and then ask the chosen one how she or he feels. (Responses were: alone, afraid, small, nothing.) Ask the class members how they felt. (Responses: loud, bossy, powerful.)

Have the chosen one choose a friend. They link arms and yell, as one, 'We want to be free!' Repeat a few times or gradually increase group at the expense of the outer.

Discussion:
Do we need others to help us to be free?
How can others help?
At what stage did you feet happiest; when you had two in the group or three or four etc?

With the group trialled, the point was realised: Freedom can be achieved although it might be a long verbal fight. It can be just as powerful as suppression, but far more benign, as the word spreads. (And I am sure that you can think of a dozen more associations one might draw.)

You might also notice that some kids will resort to physical coercion in the 'name' of freedom. Relate to conflicts of a similar nature evident today.

Sonar (modification to Trust Walk)
One kid blindfolded. Everyone else starts up a 'Beep! Beep!' chant. As the blindfolded kid walks from one end of the room to the other, everyone acts as a sonar, increasing frequency of 'Beeps!' as she or he approaches obstacles etc.

You might modify it yet again and have the blindfolded student walk around in search of a small object, rather than walking to avoid objects.
Also a good one to do outside (the class next door is still complaining). A great lesson in trust as well as co-operation!

I took all the class for a walk and asked them to collect one rock or shell each. The only proviso was-they had to particularly like it for some reason. I collected one too.

When we returned we all talked about why we liked our rock/shell. We displayed our items. Three didn't bring back anything. One had a shiny piece of driftwood. I asked these four why they didn't follow instructions and they generally agreed that they couldn't find any they liked. In fact, two became rather sarcastically abusive about the choices of others.

All were asked to bring in their items again the next day. Some forgot, but the driftwood showed up, and the other three all brought shells they had collected the afternoon before, after school.

I asked everyone to repeat their arguments from yesterday. Many forgot.
Others thought it boring to repeat anything. At the very least, enthusiasm was 'down' compared to yesterday.

It doesn't take much imagination, I suppose, to see how all of this can be related to racial prejudice: in the end, all of the racial arguments are meaningless--they are boring and silly. We can appreciate everyone for what they are (a rock, a shell or even a piece of driftwood). Even the qualities of description are the same (e.g. smooth, pretty, shiny etc).

This exercise was also trialled at a P & C meeting. The participation was fantastic. As a general observation, parents like to be informed. We have a duty to keep them informed. Generally, they love activities that include their active participation. (Well, our parents do, anyway!)

Also, get the kids to try to pile them all up so that all balloons are touching another balloon at least. You'll notice that this is impossible to maintain.

In conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this evaluation. At times, it involved a lot of difficult organisation within our school system, but, especially in retrospect, it was all worth it. I do not feel my participation has ended. I now have the kit, which is a shared resource, and some Social Literacy materials with which to follow up.

Term 2
I teach English at a school where more than half of the students come from backgrounds where English is spoken as a second language. Vietnamese, Greek and Italian are the major ethnic groups represented, and there is a simmering racism evident between them. Many of the boys strive to affect a macho image and many girls seem to accept an inferior role as part of their cultural heritage. Overt racism and sexism can also be observed among the 'Australians' and may be of.a particularly virulent strain.

The school is inner-city and benefits from funding available through Priority Schools and Participation and Equity Programs. It is through various submissions to the latter that finance has been obtained for resources pertinent to the human rights program. These include two class sets of the Sexism handbook and funding for up to twenty class and school magazines. Some of these will be thematic in content and cover topics related to the human rights course. Magazines produced and written by students should prove to be efficient in sensitising staff and students to the pertinent issues.

I first mentioned the human rights course at an English staff meeting--explained the objectives and gave an outline of my second term program. All present were supportive of the principles and of my intention to focus my teaching on human rights issues.

The Senior Master was pleased with my presentation and offered no obstacles to its implementation. No one felt moved to join me at this stage however.

In 1984 the school participated in a school development program organised by the Department. The general staff was involved in a 'needs study' of the school and a results booklet was published citing proposed 'areas of action'. Classroom management and procedures for coping with disruptive students were given most emphasis by teachers at this school. A behavioural management in-service was undertaken by many. At a recent staff meeting, held after a pupil-free day that focused on discipline, teachers decided on the composition of, and selected, a Discipline Committee. Incredibly it was voted that students not be included. I have explained all this as I regard this omission of representatives, from a body that is to decide student welfare, as feudal and autocratic.

That discipline difficulties and class management might somehow be related to the self-concept of students and their thwarted ability to manage their own lives (within negotiable boundaries) as independent, reasonable beings, is given loads of lip-service but little practical chance of proving itself. I am on this committee and will continue to lobby for student representation (and also the abolition of corporal punishment!).

Students are well conditioned to their inferior status and to the dependent condition which this education system nurtures and upon which schools rely for crowd management. Students concomitantly reveal a lack of concern for others and an unwillingness to accept responsibility for their own learning. I decided that a worthwhile way for me to contribute to student welfare would be to teach about the rights of people.

With two terms of Teaching for Human Rights in front of me I determined that there was enough time to allow the program to move 'organically' rather than structure it too far ahead. This approach allowed also for student input and suggestions to be acted upon without much problem. A week at a time seemed convenient.

I had been concerned that the Teaching for Human Rights course be not construed as neglecting the English course but rather be considered a vital and intrinsic part of it. This I believe to be true and I am fortunate in having a departmental environment, that if not supportive at least does not make life difficult.

A mutually supportive and positive classroom climate is of much importance for this Human Rights course. First term was spent cultivating an openness and willingness to share within the class. Much work was done to develop group skills. Many excellent books are now available in this area, some published by the Education Department. A non-threatening environment where students can feel confident to express themselves I feel is pre-requisite for this course, indeed for any 'education'. It is not enough of course that students learn to trust the teacher; they need to trust their peers also.

Many activities were reviewed with this in mind. I found that my drama file was of most us here, as 'trust' is also pre-requisite for improvisation and simulation. I would like to note here that trust and the building of it is an area of large concern to me. It is basic to any fruitful relationship and I would be pleased to see much more made of it in any future edition of Teaching for human rights.

In an effort to develop further this important intangible, I began second term with activities from Life skills by Hopson & Scally--a highly commended resource. (The two volumes with this title contain much of value to a human rights course.) Cards were prepared with incomplete statements that students were asked to finish, e.g. 'I feel unhappy when . . .' Students were asked to consider whether members of their group displayed supportive or non-supportive listening behaviour-the difference was noted. ('You're blocking!' has become something of a catchcry, and one that is taken note of.)

Questions regarding group work were discussed and ideas from the class were placed on the board under four headings:

1. Giving opinions
2. Listening to opinions
3. Gaining confidence
4. Helping others

Each student chose a category and created a poster with suitable illustrations. These were placed around the room and proved to be a stimulating discussion point for other classes.

The ongoing difficulty of decision-making within a group is tackled every day by these students. Parallels with the wider world are often brought to the surface by students. The need for a consensus and the difficulty of obtaining it are no longer abstractions. There is evident also, the beginning of a recognition that a
group' is a dynamic entity and somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

I was impressed with the Habermas validity claims that I read of in one of the Newsletters sent to me by the Human Rights Commission. I decided that my Year 9 class could rise to the intellectual challenge, and they did. 'Morality', 'truth', 'sincerity' and 'comprehensibility' were debated and there was general approval when it was suggested that the four relevant questions be applied as needed to group discussions. This topic proved to be an appropriate introduction to Rights and Responsibilities in the class.

A handout was prepared of the 'rights' list of another participating school. The 'duties' as complementing the 'rights' were especially noted and groups were asked to discuss and analyse the list for omissions. Questions on the same handout were then discussed in groups with each member relating an anecodote that illustrated some part of the question. Groups then selected one 'story' and devised a role-play which was rehearsed and presented to the class. These activities were carried out with commitment and intelligence.

With this work behind them, groups then devised their own list of 'class rights'. Many possibilities were written on the board, redundancies eliminated, connections made and wording considered carefully until the list completely reflected every concern of each class member.

The 'playlet', 'Three Children Talking', was enjoyed but students were reluctant to interrupt, despite much provocation from within the script. It was necessary for me to focus on the issues and nudge discussion. Once prompted however, many students wanted to reveal their personal experiences. In future I will have interpretation questions prepared and students will read the play closely before hearing it.

By now students had spent three weeks full time on the course and I asked them to write a newspaper article 'Rights under review', wherein they were to air concerns about rights denied in the school. This was tackled with gusto: there was much vitriole regarding a particular teacher notorious for his authoritarian and repressive character. I tried, initially, to steer clear of individuals but they rejected my suggestion that they generalise or speak in the abstract. I told them to take their grievance to the person concerned. (Were things getting out of control?) They told me that they had done this already and had been rudely rebuffed. I suggested they write a letter which they did. The whole question of repressive techniques and class climate has subsequently been brought into open staff discussion.

A library display of the 'Class rights' posters, with a select group of students to field lunch-time questions, had been planned. This idea was subsequently postponed as I felt it could have precipitated counter-productive consequences at that stage.

And so to human rights as such, and the questions regarding humanness and individuality. The whimsy of the alien, (a 'one-eyed' overhead projector), proved fun in promoting the identification of human characteristics. Also there are several suitable activities in Hopson & Scally regarding the commonness and individuality of humans. I found some of my lessons redundant here however as the Health Education Department had been working on self-concept too and had been using the same resource. There is some discussion of interdepartmental co-ordination but at this stage ... The implications of liaison of course, are construed as radical by the die-hard reactionaries. 'What? Subject areas are not self-contained? etc. Social Studies is obviously one area where co-operation would undoubtedly be of mutual benefit. Unfortunately the archaic 'jug and mug', 'chalk and talk' approach of this department prohibits self-help. (English is already regarded as having abdicated its sacred responsibility to teach grammar.)

Subsequent to work on self-esteem etc., we moved onto the UN Rights of the Child. The Swedish advertising idea caught on quickly and each group was set the task of devising an 'ad' to illustrate one of the Rights. They managed to do this reasonably well, especially considering the short time I had made available to them. We video-taped the presentations, played them back and discussed and wrote our impressions. This tape became a valuable resource which I used with the year 8s to elicit writing and focus conversation. The Year 8s wrote short plays illustrating 'Rights of the child' which we video-taped and used in the same way as the Year 9s' ads.

We then moved on to the chapter on 'Freedom of expression'. The earlier experience of letter writing and attempted discussion with the dictatorial teacher proved to be a practical starting point. We did the 'conformity activities', and the students quickly understood the concept. The discussion was animated. Poems such as Auden's 'Unknown Citizen' proved to be useful input. The students had little knowledge of the Prime Minister (which surprised me) and so we used the question of corporal punishment to emphasise the point about opinions being formed without direct evidence. This topic proved useful in leading us on to the questions regarding hurtful comments and the right to say what we like. The class had fun hurling insults but recognized that intentionality was the criterion of effect. Students were given 'situation' cards designed to clarify values (from my Drama file). In groups they resolved the hypothetical conflict and improvised the situations, which were then presented to the class.

The UN Declaration was re-ad by the class. Some had difficulty with comprehension of course and it's a shame that the paraphrase is not more conducive to easy photocopying. We chose Article 5, regarding torture and degradation, to pay special attention to. Lessons were arranged around such short stories as Bradbury's The pedestrian and the novel Odette. The focus here was largely on literary techniques with subsidiary interpretations directed towards

Article 5. Last year a much more 'active' and 'experiential' unit was undertaken in this area, using articles by Phillip Adams on torture, Orwell's 1984, a guest speaker from Amnesty International etc. Much reading of Amnesty International magazines was done culminating in the writing of 'freedom' letters. Unfortunately only an abbreviated version of this has been attempted this term as time was running too short. I anticipate doing it next term however, as a 'solo' unit with the Year 11s.

The writing and reading of poetry was considered to be a task and a chore by my class when they first came into my care. I discarded the idea of poetry analysis or dissection and promoted free expression; little rhyme and lots of 'heart, soul and guts'. The Human Rights course proved valuable experience for poetry writing and has allowed many students to really 'open-up' to themselves and others. Students were asked to find music suitable to their poems and perform it for the class. It was gratifying to note the consideration and mutual support the class gave to each other in this endeavour. Much indeed has been accomplished. Their efforts were audio-taped and this tape is proving helpful as a poetry teaching resource in other classes. The students have compiled a magazine of these poems which will be published early in third term.

After one term of teaching for human rights I can look back on many frustrations and many rewards. Much could be done to integrate English and human rights resources especially with the growing understanding that 'English' be taught across the curriculum and that literacy assessment become the domain of all teachers. English, i.e. subject English, will need increasingly to justify its existence. 'Human rights', 'life skills', 'self-concept' etc: these are areas we could be looking to. There is much in the way of conventional English resources to expedite a graduate transition.

Wouldn't it be great if somebody could collate this wealth of resources and create units of work applicable to secondary students. I'd imagine it would be quite possible to integrate an action research profile.

Term 3
My Year 8 and Year 9 classes began third term with a solid background of decision-making and group processes. They were also familiar with several aspects of the human rights area; indeed too familiar. Though I avoided overt connection of topics to the human rights theme the question was invariably asked--'This is another 'Rights' thing, isn't it sir?'

I persevered nevertheless explaining that we were a special class trialling material for Canberra, etc. They accepted this. In normal circumstances I would not have persevered, as for much of third term topic selection was non-negotiable, and there arose a somewhat manipulated feel to the classroom atmosphere. This counter-productive quality is avoided in a less forced, experimental environment.

The value of themes covered in term three was never in doubt. Unfortunately the text Teaching for human rights was not a resource to which I could turn with much confidence. Many (most) of the activities were directed towards primary age children and it was disappointing to have to spend hours and days seeking out and devising appropriate resources.

Back to my classroom and teaching for human rights ... Racism interested me a lot and fortunately activities and resources are not hard to come by in this area. Several texts have quality material on stereotyping and there are many appropriate novels and short stories. The 'two box trick' proved a lot of trouble for little worth. Though discussion was generated many children pointed out that the packaging 'trick' was not transferable to human situations. I tend to agree. This is a primary exercise with little to recommend it for secondary students.

The activities promoting awareness of false logic and generalisations were better received. They proved useful in teaching about racism and prejudice but there was little to suppose that attitudes changed.

Activities about sibling ethnic acceptance certainly had the students thinking as they learned of the unreasonableness of intolerance. Combined with role-play activities from the Non-stop discussion workbook and improvised drama presentations, several students volunteered a change of mind, if not heart.

I had also organised an interclass meeting between my own European background children and a class from the Intensive Language Centre (ILC)--mostly Vietnamese and South Americans who had been in Australia less than three months. This turned out to be an unqualified success, helped in part by the consciousness-raising activities of the previous weeks. The kids were invited to mingle and introduce themselves. Hesitant at first, the smiling and open faces of the Vietnamese soon broke down barriers and people were literally failing over themselves to make friends.

Class members at future meetings were able to act as peer teachers for several language and cultural activities devised by ILC teachers. Formal interchange finished at an end-of-term visit to see a play in town. The togetherness and lack of discrimination evident between some of the previously vocal Mediterraneans and their new-found Vietnamese friends was a sight to behold. But during Review, these same kids still managed to maintain their generalised prejudice, but now adding comments such as '. . . except for Nguyen, he's like us!'

'Families' proved to be a theme with a mine of resources and much literature was found that could be turned to good use. My children come from a wide variety of family backgrounds and vigorous debate was conducted; single-parent kids and extended families versus the Anglo-bourgeois model. Reason won the day! The class brainstormed 'What families do' and the resulting comments were used as bases for taped interviews or improvised situations. An architect friend of mine who has researched widely and now builds non-standard accommodation for non-stereotype families was invited to contribute. He was able to bring blueprints and models which motivated a successful assignment for groups on 'Planning a house'. Though initial enthusiasm for model-building soon waned (except in a couple of notable instances), blue-print plans of remarkable insight were produced.

During the Review, students voted the 'Family' unit 'mint'. The politics of Labor versus Liberal ideas of family were introduced by a student with some surprising results. The Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration were scanned for family related propositions and the class generally felt the family was well protected. Some students expressed disappointment that the Articles were not laws which all the countries had to obey.

Some moves towards acknowledging human rights on a whole school basis made third term a particularly rewarding one for me. I was elected to the School Management Committee whose brief it was to investigate other schools' dealings with children in both positive and negative aspects, and to create a more successful management system in our own school. The committee elected me as chairperson and I copped considerable backlash from powerful conservative members of staff, but they proved to be a vocal minority. The plan that the committee eventually put up was adopted by the General Staff by a vote of seventy to eight!! Rank and file outnumbered the power-brokers by a large number!

Self-concept of teachers and students rates high priority and various moves are afoot to encourage awareness of personal esteem both within classrooms and staff- rooms. Corporal punishment, whilst not yet banned, has fallen into disrepute and a more acceptable substitute is being trialled (namely, a time-out room).

A proposal of my own, endorsed by the committee, sort of slid in the back door. It was for a student-centred and devised 'Bill of Rights and Responsibilities' to be drawn up with every student in the school contributing. All school rules in future will be related to this 'Bill'. All English teachers plus fifteen other volunteers were briefed, and talked through the program booklet I had devised (with the assistance of some Human Rights Commission material). It was important that extra-curricula work was not expected of anyone. December 10th, being 'Human Rights Day', was selected as a most appropriate date to implement the activity.

Years 8 and 9 only were at school at this time, which left many teachers free to contribute. Every class was divided into small groups with an adult facilitator for each. The day was voted a great success which led to the Principal asking me to continue with the plan to include the upper school next year.