© Taylor and Francis 2015
Chapter 8: Critical Social Practices: Taking Action to Promote Social Justice
Table 8.1 Issues, Explorations, and Actions in Bryan Woods’ Fifth Grade Class
Issues
Explorations
Actions
Construction of a pipeline
Discussed Native Canadian and
Kids created videos to reach
across Canada
environmental concerns.
the world. See the video and
song created by ten-year old
Ta'Kaiya called Protect our
Coast from Oil Spills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9dBrlDXVsk&list=PLCA9663B1DC75E92F&index=36
Global warming
Conducted Internet research on
Students questioned the
the alarming rate at which
intent behind videos
icebergs are melting (see the
privileging some
National Wildlife Federations
endangered animal species
film, Polar Bears and Global
(polar bears) but ignoring
Warming).
others (walruses).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taNTnxtgWTc
Plastic water bottles and their
Explored Internet sites and
Took action as a class to
threat to the environment
watched documentaries that
reduce the use of plastic
examined issues related to plastic water bottles in their school
water bottles (see sites below).
and community
The worldmapper site on polluted drinking water and the unequal distribution of safe water:
http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=186
The Water Brothers Eco-Adventure TV Series about Canadian First Nations communities lack
of access to clean, safe, and sustainable drinking water:
http://thewaterbrothers.ca/
The video Garbage Island: An Ocean Full of Plastic (Part 1/3):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D41rO7mL6zM
© Taylor and Francis 2015
Pennies for Peace Fundraiser
Students read Listen to the Wind Students investigated and
(Mortenson, 2009) and followed critiqued other charities
up by researching the charity, such as Jump Rope for
watching
a
CBS
news Heart and Terry Fox Run.
documentary (see below), and
finding out that it was under
investigation for corruption.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363068n
Discourses of popular video
Examined discourses being used Created and wrote a skit
games
in video games (Grand Theft
from multiple perspectives.
Auto and Call of Duty) in
relationship to the actions being
portrayed characters. Charted the
mental frames that these games
elicited.
Social issues in music
Used Marvin Gaye’s The Ecology Students wrote and
and Michael Jackson’s Man in
performed a two-voice
the Mirror to explore the larger
piece of poetry about a
systems of meaning that were
social issue of their choice.
operating and infer the
perspectives of the singers.
Explored texting and tweeting
Read about the Spelling Debate
Debated spelling and the
as a social practice
(see website below), exploring
role that the Oxford
different perspectives on the
Dictionary plays in setting
importance (or lack of
standards.
importance) of spelling in today’s
digital world.
http://mrwoods.edublogs.org/2013/09/30/the-spelling-debate-3/
Meat recalls by Maple Leaf and Studied food production and fast Students began to start
food labeling; listened to a TED
© Taylor and Francis 2015
XL Foods
Talk (by Jamie Oliver)
small social action projects:
-Instead of pizza days, some
students started to sign up
for salad days.
- Students collected food
wrappers for the whole
school for a week. Their
visual display of garbage
bags showed the magnitude
of garbage collection. As a
result, students took part in
bagless lunch programs.
Teach Every Child About Food
http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html
Connecting Canadian
Students studied working
manufacturers to sweat shops in conditions in Bangladesh and
Bangladesh
Students discussed ideas for
raising local awareness of
found out where the clothes they sweat shops.
were wearing were made.