Vocabulary

Equality is the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.
Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
Human Rights are rights that are believed to belong justifiably to every person.
Peace is freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility. It is also freedom from, or the cessation of war or violence.
Principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour, or for a chain of reasoning.
Pursuit is the action of following or pursuing someone or something. 
Social Justice implies fairness and mutual obligation in society, meaning that we are responsible for one another, and that we should ensure that all have equal chances to succeed in life. 
Solidarity is unity, or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

Purpose - Social Justice for Peace

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Social justice implies a fair and mutual obligation in society where everyone is responsible for the welfare of all people, including self. It further means that each person is free and has an equal chance to succeed in life. True peace can only be accomplished when all people unite in their pursuit of social justice and love for all people. In this sub-unit, children analyze the value of social justice in creating a society that understands the values of human rights, freedom, equality, and dignity. 
Child Asks: How does social justice lead to peace?
Children's Rights Education enables the child to analyze the value of social justice in creating a society that understands and values human rights, freedom, equality, and dignity.
Child Answers: When human rights, freedom, equality, and dignity are preserved, then there is justice and peace. 

Classroom Learning Activities

1. Reviewing Terms
Social Justice
=
Freedom
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Equality
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Solidarity


Social justice implies fairness and mutual obligation in society, meaning that we are responsible for one another, and that we should ensure that all have equal chances to succeed in life. 






Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.









Equality is the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.









Solidarity is unity, or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.
6 Elements of Social Justice
  1. Self-love and Knowledge - Teachers provide opportunities for students to learn about who they are and where they come from. A sense of dignity in their culture, heritage, ethnicity/race, religion, skin tone, gender etc. is cultivated in the classroom. Students learn about different aspects of their identity and history associated with it. Negative stereotypes about students' identities are deconstructed.
  2. Respect for Others - Teachers provide opportunities for students to share their knowledge about their own cultural background with their classmates. The goal is to create a climate of respect for diversity through students learning to listen with kindness and empathy to the experiences of their peers. Students deconstruct stereotypes about their peers' identities.
  3. Exploring Issues of Social Injustice - Teachers move from "celebrating diversity" to an exploration of how diversity has differently impacted various groups of people. Students learn about the history of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, religious intolerance etc. and how these forms of oppression have affected different communities. Teachers make links that show how the historical roots of oppression impact the lived experiences and material conditions of people today.
  4. Social Movements and Social Change - Teachers share examples of movements of iconic and everyday people standing together to address the issues of social injustice they learned about in element three. Rather than leaving students feeling overwhelmed and defeated, teachers help students understand that working together, ordinary people have united to create change.
  5. Raising Awareness - Teachers provide opportunities for students to teach others about the issues they have learned about. This allows students who feel passionately about particular issues to become advocates by raising awareness of other students, teachers, family and community members. It is important to recognize that while raising awareness is a necessary and important pre-cursor for action, it by itself does not translate into change.
  6. Taking Social Action - Teachers provide opportunities to take action on issues that affect students and their communities. Students identify issues they feel passionate about and learn the skills of creating change firsthand.
Retrieved from 6 Elements of Social Justice Education.
2. Social Justice in Literature 
Please note:  Below is an annotated list of children's literature for the elementary classroom.  The books are organized by the Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design (Picower, 2012).  It is based on work by pre-service teachers at Montclair State University. Teacher candidates have read and reviewed these books and provided insights into how they can be used in K-5 settings. If you have any questions or comments, please email bree@nycore.org.

Grandmama's Pride by Becky Birtha

Grandmama's Pride is a fictional story that takes place in the south during the 1950s. Sarah and her little sister lived in the north with their family. One summer the girls and their mother travel to  grandmama's home in the south. It didn't seem odd that they had to sit in the back of the bus. Sarah and her sister did not question why they could not eat at the lunch counter. They did not think much about the local bus station that only offered seats to whites. Mom always found a polite way of explaining away these restrictions.The girls begin to notice some peculiar habits about their grandmother. She walked everywhere instead of taking the bus.She also refused to drink at the public water fountain. Once Sarah learned how to read, she realized the many signs of segregation posted throughout town. This form of discrimination clearly marked services available for whites and colored.Sarah and her family eventually return home, continuing  to read about the civil rights protest taking place in Montgomery Alabama.
The following summer, the ride down south was surprisingly different. The girls did not encounter  restrictions of public services for blacks. Once they arrived,Grandma excitedly explained that black citizens proudly held their ground to get segregation laws changed. Sarah realized Grandma was demonstrating pride all along by boycotting the double standard of services. The steadfast efforts for social change had made a difference.
Element #4- Social Movement and Change
This book describes segregation faced by African-Americans in the south as view through the eyes of a child. Once Sarah can read she understands the blatant signs signal a difference in treatment of whites and colored. She was not aware that refusing to uses public services was a form of boycotting. She is also not aware of her grandmother's silent involvement in the civil rights movement. Newspapers and TV communicated the struggle for civil rights to American's not residing in the south. The whole country watched boycotts, bus rides, protesting, and the March on Washington. It was a time of tremendous change and milestones  for blacks. Sarah was both surprised and proud to discover that her grandmother was involved in the fight for equality. Grandmama's pride in boycotting became Sarah's pride. When Sarah returned to the south, she was proud to see  that changes in segregation laws had occured. This was accomplished by her grandmother and others working in a unified civil rights effort.
Follow-up Activity
  • The teacher can facilitate a classroom activity to increase awareness of unfair treatment based upon colour of skin. A lesson can be presented on civil rights and segregation. To increase  understanding, the teacher will separate the class into two teams. Team members  will wear name badges in red or blue. Class privileges will vary based upon the colour of a student's badge.
  • Sentence strips will be posted in the back seating area stating ; you can not drink at the fountain, you cannot try on clothes, you cannot sit up front, you will receive lower pay. For 10 minutes, only students wearing red name tags will be allowed to sit in the front of the class and participate. Students wearing blue name tags will be told to sit in the back or on the rug. They will also not be allowed to respond to questions about the lesson. After 10 minutes the teams will switch seating locations. The red team now sits in the back and can not participate.
  • The class holds a  discussion around how it felt to experience different treatment based upon the color of their name tag. Students connect  their  activity to segregation of whites and blacks. Students will write an opinion paragraph using the prompt: Is it right to treat people differently based upon the color of their skin?

Cyberbullying by Lucia Raatma

The book Cyberbullying is a resource children can use to learn about and overcome online bullying. It has four chapters. The first chapter describes cyber bullying, explains where on the internet it can happen, how it happens, and what it looks like. The second chapter explains the seriousness of cyber bullying and the negative effects it has on a persons well being. The third chapter explains what to do when being bullied online, who to go to for help, and explains ways you can support your friends who are being cyber bullied. The fourth and final chapter explains multiple ways you can prevent cyber bullying from happening. In addition, the book has real life stories of cyber bullying, statistics on cyber bullying, and gives other resources on bullying.
Element #6 - Taking Social Action:
Cyberbullying represents element 6 because it guides children to take action against an issue that is affecting them. Bullying is a major issue for children as it can happen anywhere: in school, on the playground, online, at home, etc. Bullying can also negatively impact a child's self esteem and confidence and cause them to feel depressed. In extreme cases, people who are bullied commit suicide. I feel the awareness of bullying is improving and think that books like these should be used as resources in elementary classrooms. They definitely are informative and provide children with ways to stop and prevent bullying. 
Activity: 
  • First you can read the book to the children. 
  • Next, you can have a whole class discussion on bullying and cyber bullying. Ask the students if they ever been bullied anywhere or ever witnessed another person being bullied. Tell them to describe how they felt during these experiences. 
  • Then discuss with the children what they can do when they are bullied and refer to the book. 
  • After this, have the children write and draw about one experience they had with bullying (either personal or what they witnessed). 
  • Then have the children explain what they would do now to stop the bullying and prevent it from happening again. This activity is valuable because it gives children a framework on what to do when bullying occurs. 
Bullying is an extremely serious issue and its very important to empower children and let them know they have the ability to take action and stop it from happening. 

Say Something by Peggy Moss

At this school, some children push and tease and bully. Sometimes they hurt other kids by just ignoring them. The girl in this story sees it happening, but she would never do these mean things herself. Then one day something happens that shows her that being a silent bystander isn't enough. Will she take some steps on her own to help another kid?

Bright, fluid, realistic watercolors illustrate the story, set in a school with lots of diversity. Resources at the end of the book will help parents and children talk about teasing and bullying and find ways to stop it at school. One child at a time can help change a school.
Element 6 - Taking Social Action:
This book ties into Element six because it presents a scenario for students to see opportunities to make a change. It targets the students in the classroom as well as outside which makes it a universal learning topic. The narrator took initiative to sit with a girl who was alone to avoid what had happened to her the day before. Saying something or taking action is what this element is all about. Instead of being a bystander, the story can drive children to get involved and help a situation or quickly get authority involved. This book helps aware students of situations that could happen to them and also showing an alternative for how one can handle the problem. It sends children a powerful message and how to deal with an issue regarding bullying.
Activity: 
  • After reading this book to a class, it is vital to have a discussion afterwards because it fosters the students in coming up with more ideas on how other bullying issues can be handled. 
  • After the read aloud and discussion, I would allow the students to make groups. (4 to 5 students in each) Each group could make up a skit that shows a bully/ bullies, victim/victims, and a bystander. 
  • After they acted out the skit, the audience has to come up with one or two ways the bystander can make a change that makes sense for that skit. 

Our Community Garden by Barbara Pollak

If you could plant a garden that would represent your personality and heritage, what would it include? Maybe cherry tomatoes, green peppers and delicious blueberries? Audrey Aubergine and her neighbourhood friends do just that in a community garden as they play hide-and-seek amidst giant sunflowers, count ladybugs and make compost mazes. Readers will enjoy following the garden's progress and will be inspired to start one of their own. Author and illustrator Barbara Pollak's colourful illustrations highlight the children's daily adventures in the garden. At the end of the story, the children and their families gather for a potluck to celebrate their garden and enjoy the fruits of their labour.
Element #5-Raising Awareness
Our Community is a great story that describes a group of young friends who are passionate about nuturing a community garden. Elementary school students learn that growing and nuturing a community garden also helps to nuture and develop friendships in the neighborhood. The planting and harvesting of diverse foods provides an opportunity to learn about foods enjoyed by families of different backgrounds. Children and neighborhood residents learn how to come together for a common good through teamwork that benefits diverse cultures. Readers also discover how a garden can be used to improve the neighborhood environment by adding green space that can also be used as a food resource. All of these aspects increase understanding of respect, and promote the benefit of community sharing.
Follow-Up Activity:
  • Students can use this book to promote developing a community garden in their school yard. A small plot of land can be utilized to plant vegetables. 
  • Students form a garden club and look for seeds that represent vegetables eaten in their culture. During recess students take turns watering and weeding the plants. Parents can be invited to participate in caring for the garden with their student. 
  • Once the plants are harvested, the class can conduct a presentation to explain what they learned about growing plants such as the  need for soil, sunlight and water. They can also discuss how their selected vegetable is used in a cultural dish. Families can share the vegetables harvested in the small garden. 
This activity increases awareness of cultural foods, and develops teamwork and respect for others.

Relevant Convention Articles

Article 3
1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.
3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.
Article 6
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 38
1. States Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.
2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
3. States Parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen years into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, States Parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.
4. In accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.

Online Resources and References