Standard 6: Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.
During my 10 week practicum at Nukko Lake Elementary School, I completed a socials unit with my grade 6/7 class surrounding the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This unit was supported by a book called No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis. The book follows the journey of a young girl who is on the streets in India who discovers she has leprosy. My coaching teacher recommended that I use this book for my unit because there are a lot of rights of the child that are broken throughout this book. Throughout the book, students were able to identify child rights that have been broken. After each chapter we read, we would have a discussion about what happened in the chapter, what rights were broken, and how the chapter made them feel. This allowed students to reflect on how they would feel if they were in the situation of the girl in the book and the empathy they felt toward how she was living her life. It also allowed students to recognize the privilege that they have living in Canada and the value of being a part of a democratic and inclusive society. I think this unit speaks to Standard 6, specifically “Educators build upon student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect.” As we were nearing the end of the book, I noticed the shift in students thinking and their perspective on how children live their lives around the world.