Vanessa Benson
Name of Specialist Organization
Education without Borders. Formerly known as Teachers without Borders-Canada (www.twbcanada.org) Other affiliations are Teachers without Borders (www.teacherswithoutborders.org)
How did I find out about it: through the BC Teachers for Peace and Global Education (www.pagebc.ca)
Mandate & Mission Statement
“Engage, Educate, Empower”
Below are the mission statements and what I think is the purpose of the organization. These statements were selected because I feel, are powerful and are applicable to me as a teacher. I found this to be inspiring and it what caught my eye as I read through the website. All quotes below (from a-e) are taken directly from the website, www.twbcanada.org
a. It is devoted to closing the education divide through teacher professional development and community education.
b. Focuses on building of teacher leaders
c. Works primarily (not exclusively) in developing countries, in order to build self-reliance, health and capacity. Some countries include, Kenya, South Africa
d. Teachers are not just a resource for our children; they are the key to development
e. Logo is supposed to represent: we are all seeds and with education we are set free to grow to be whatever we want to be and my wish would be for equitable education for all. Our logo can also represent a learning circle with teachers surrounding their learners. Also being circular to represent the world and a classroom—a global classroom.
Who are the funders?
I did not see any particular funders; however, it heavily relies on donations. You can place a donation through CanadaHelps.org. Also, it is a non-profit organization based on volunteerism. Funders from the affiliated website, Teachers without Borders, included: Cisco, Webex & The William and Flora Hewlett foundation.
How would you describe the possible link to this group?
This is a volunteered based non-profit organization founded in Canada. The majority of participants of the projects (teacher/education development workshops) have been educators but may also include: community workers, NGO employees, government employees, student leaders, etc. Facilitators of projects are certified educators but may also include trained professionals in various fields. There are over 1000 members currently.
While viewing the website, it seemed that a great deal of work was done in developing countries such as Kenya and South Africa. They hold various workshops and educational sessions. One example, in 2008 a group of educators travelled to South Africa and held a workshop in Information and communications technologies integration. Recently, rural schools have been receiving used computers so the purpose of this workshop focused providing administrators with the necessary skills (basic computer skills) to teach and implement technology in the schools and implement it in the curriculum. The EWB program worked with local NGO’s, such as Edunova (an international org. specializing in effective use of information and communications technologies (ITC’s) and the local department of Education.
Resources
They have a link to the National Geographic website which offers a great deal of resources for a geography lesson. It includes lesson plans, activities and atlas maps. There is also a link to a documentary film on the state of education in Kenya. The documentary: A Small Act is about a Harvard educated Kenyan who was sponsored by a Holocaust survivor. The Kenyan boy went on to graduate from Harvard and return to his country to start an education fund. This is a very inspiring video that highlights the issue of poverty, violence and human rights for children, especially in developing countries. We can use this film as an introductory piece for intermediate and secondary grades. The trailer would be a great way to begin a discussion or use as an opener to a lesson on poverty and social studies.
Strategies
As a teacher, I can create a lesson where the students can learn that there are many places in the world that are less fortunate than us, for example, the children of Kenya that had to bring a chair to sit on at school. We can talk about ways we, as a group and a community can help out:
· Donations to various organizations such as Unicef.
· Collecting items that the children can send to developing countries, such as school supplies. We can learn about and participate in a ‘book bag program’ where the classroom can accumulate or fundraise to purchase school supplies and materials needed. We can pack and send the supplies in a book bag.
· Maybe we can also sponsor a child, the same as Hilde sponsored Chris. We can incorporate Geography and or social studies lessons.
In addition: It is very important for children to learn about the world and the different challenges that each country/ geographical areas face. Through our recognition and action, we can aid in the fight against poverty, and provide a fair and standard education to each child. We can also talk about poverty in our own community and discuss ways in which we can help locally, through food drives at thanksgiving, or visiting a food bank and learn about the processes and benefits of the bank. Poverty is a relevant and predominant topic in our school, communities and around the world and if we are aware of these issues, than it helps us understand different roles and actions we have and can take - we can all make a difference.
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