School Discrimination Convention 2015

Assignment #2

School Discrimination Convention 2015

Dear Social Justice 12 Students,

Leaders of our school! Thank you again for participating in this difficult study of genocide, discrimination, and its part in our lives – both as individuals and in the lives of our brothers and sisters across the world.

We have explored some of the global genocidal events of the past. We have also acknowledged that genocide is rooted in the all-too-common practices of racism, dehumanization, exclusion, discrimination, hatred, and persecution. Hopefully, some of you are becoming more aware of just how common these things are, as you work through your Intervention Reflections.

This is why we will be hosting “School Discrimination Convention 2015” in Lesson 3 of this unit. If we hope to effect change in the world, we must start with our own communities – in this case, our school. Your group will come up with its own convention, and you will pitch it to our principal.

This assignment will help prepare you for the Genocide Prevention Convention Development Day 2015 assignment. The rubric will be almost the same (but the Development Day will be worth more). Consider this assignment as an opportunity to reflect and make any changes in preparation.

Objectives:

1)   Demonstrate engagement and understanding of the stages/factors of genocide, and the pros/cons of existing legal documents, by creating a 6- article “Discrimination Convention” that can be applied to our school.

2)   Understand that our words and terminologies impact and create meaning and application.

3)   Create a document that will be ratified by our school, and will have a positive impact on future generations of students.

4)   Demonstrate your skills of collaboration and presentation.

Assignment:

Preparation:

1)   In groups of 6, you will spend 35 minutes coming up with 4 articles (like the articles in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention) about preventing discrimination, persecution, exclusion etc within our school.

2)   These 4 articles should reflect what your group believes to be the most pertinent issues in our school. Be prepared to argue and defend them in your presentation

a.     You will have access to a computer lab during your prep time.

b.     You must consider the language you use when forming these articles. It is not enough to say “We will prevent discrimination against such and such.” You should specifically indicate HOW and WHY. The more specific, applicable, and comprehensive your articles, the better chance they will be selected.

3)   Advisory Committee: The class presidents of the other grades will be present during your preparation time. They are here to enlighten you as to what the pertinent issues are within their grade. You are STRONGLY advised to take their remarks and advice into consideration.

Presentation

4)   You will have 3 minutes to present your mini-convention to the principal (and your classmates), followed by a 2 minute question period. Your objective is to get our principal to accept at least one, but hopefully more, of your articles for a school-wide “Discrimination Convention.”

a.     You may KINDLY challenge other groups articles during the question period. Groups should be able to logically and critically defend their positions.

5)   The final “School Discrimination Convention” will have as many articles as there are groups. It will be published on the school website.

Assessment

1)   Your mark for this presentation will be considered as a part of your “Development Day” mark.

2)   Each group will be assessed by your teacher, your principal, and one class president from a different grade.

3)   Three rubrics will be completed for each presentation. They will be averaged out.

Rubric

1)   Preparation (___/4):

a.     Worked well in your group

b.     Thoughtfully engaged with members of the Advisory Committee

2)   Presentation (___/8):

a.     Clearly and specific wording

b.     Relevant articles, reflecting the needs of all students

c.      Presentation was charismatic and engaging

d.     Articles were well argued and defended.

3)   Bonus: You will be given 2 bonus marks for each article accepted by the principal.

Total: ______/12