We Day Waterloo

This Friday, I am meeting with the director of programs for Me to We, the organization founded by Craig and Marc Kielburger.  Me to We and Free the Children support opportunities for children around the world to be free of poverty and slavery.  I am hoping to have some of our Laurier teacher candidates attend some of the workshops they will be doing in partnership with our local school boards over the coming months.  Also, on Nov. 16, We Day Waterloo will be held and I've received 10 guest passes for our Laurier students to participate.  Last year, 6000+ local students (including two of my children) were able to attend and hear speakers like Al Gore and Jesse Jackson.  It's a great opportunity for young people to learn more about the world in which we live and to explore opportunities for service and action.


Today, We Day Toronto, with some 18,000 students is taking place!  You can watch the event live (click on the link here): We Day Toronto Live Webcast

Ride for Refuge

For those interested in joining the WLU Glocal team on October 1, here is the link:

http://www.rideforrefuge.org/canada

Here is where you can sign up to join our team:

https://secure.e2rm.com/regV2/regV2.aspx?EventID=66357&LangPref=en-CA

You'll go through a few steps - choose Waterloo as location, sign off on the waiver - then Join a Team (either search for Steve Sider as the captain or for WLU Glocal).

Our first glocal meeting @ WLU

Today, I met with Laurier teacher candidates who are interested in raising awareness and funds to support glocal education.  It was encouraging to have over 20 students there!  They provided some amazing ideas of things we might be able to do this year.  We're going to have our next meeting at the aboriginal resource centre here at Laurier and find out more about how teachers can support First Nations students in our classrooms.  It looks like our first event will be the Ride For Refuge on Laurier's Homecoming weekend.  Stay tuned for more details!

Bread, naan, pita, bannock...

This year I'm creating a variety of glocal lesson plans that teachers can use, either as "one-off" lessons or as part of a curriculum unit connected to the Ontario Ministry of Education.  My first one is on helping students realize that many cultures around the world share bread as a part of the diet.  The lesson plan provides activities looking at different kinds of bread, where ingredients might come from (globally and locally), providing opportunities for students to consider why bread is so important (and what happens when it becomes too expensive or hard to get) and, of course, a chance to sample different kinds of breads! Younger children can learn how to make a Kenyan bread (Mama Panya's Pancakes) while older children could read Deborah Ellis' The Breadwinner (What does the term mean? What gender-related issues are involved with providing "bread" i.e. support to your family).  Email me if you'd like to contribute an idea or lesson or to get copies of the ones I'm working on.  Once I have a variety, I'll publish them here or on my Laurier web-site.