Secondary School Child Rights Curriculum

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Here are a series of links to organizations and resources they’ve created as child rights information for older children, particularly those in middle and high school. Some of this material is also suitable for older students in college.

Here are some of the curricula created for secondary aged students made by different organizations.  Please review them to see if they would be of use to you.  Some are very detailed with reports and lots of curriculum activities while some of these links contain only one activity or focus.

Advocates for Human Rights

List of HRE lesson plans   http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/curricula_links

Many HRE lessons for students grades 9-12  http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/9-12.html

Amnesty International

Posters and Overview Materials on UDHR Articles – The Teacher’s Guide provides a model for the inclusion of human rights education in the existing curricula of a wide range of school subjects.  The intention is to demonstrate how, in an Economics class for example, the right to work (Article 23 of the UDHR) may be considered in a discussion of labor unions; in an English literature class the right to marry (Article 16) may be looked at during a discussion of Romeo and Juliet.   The aim is not to burden busy teachers with additional content but to help them integrate a compelling and important human rights frame of reference into their respective subject areas.  In this download you will find many of the Human Rights Articles over-viewed with posters and teaching materials. These links are worthwhile to look through, as there are many different materials throughout them.   UDHRPosterSeriesAndTeachersGuidePt1  UDHRPosterSeriesAndTeachersGuidePt2

Other materials include:

The American Dream assignment –  american_dream

Born Into Brothels – bornintobrothelscurriculum

Blood Diamonds – bd_curriculumguide_0

Catch a Fire – catchafirecurriculum

The conflict in Dafur and eastern Chad – final_curriculum_draft Chad

The death penalty as a form of torture – the_death_penalty_as_a_form_of_torture

Sports and discrimination – freedom_from_discrimination_-_sports_history

Rwanda – rwanda_brochuredivided_0

Duty to protect child soldiers – dtplessonguide

System failure to protect youth in custody – systemfailurelessonguide

Challenges facing indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru – amazonwatchlessonguide

Women in Afghanistan – rawalessonguide

Education access of Romani children in Bulgaria – equalaccesslessonguide

War on terror and torture – outlawedlessonguide

Children becoming soldiers – innocents_lost_curriculum

The Kite Runner and HRE – kiterunnerhigh_0

Racial discrimination and the death penalty – racial_discrimination_and_the_death_penalty

Poverty and HRE – big curriculum materials – Poverty and HRE act350212011en

Housing and HRE – housing and HREact350052012en

Sexual and reproductive rights – Sexual rights ACT3000102015ENGLISH

The Right Start – a 116 page guide on helping children to develop skills of empathy, communication, cooperation, respect and responsibility and conflict resolution – http://developmenteducation.ie/resource/the-right-start-introducing-human-rights-education-within-the-primary-curriculum/

Service learning and human rights – HumanRightsAndServiceLearningPt1

Environment and human rights – Environment HumanRightsAndServiceLearningPt2

Discrimination of Refugees – Discrimination of Refugees HumanRightsAndServiceLearningPt3(1)

Human Rights of people around the world – HumanRights of people around the world

AntiDefamation League –

Here is their 34 page unit on HRE and cyber bullying prevention – Cyberbullying and Online Cruelty: Challenging Social Norms       cyberbullying

Child Reach International

Here is information on the My School – My Voice project that is in many schools, especially in the UK –  https://www.childreach.org.uk/projects/my-school-my-voice-uk?gclid=CjwKEAiA7MWyBRDpi5TFqqmm6hMSJAD6GLeAZoI6y0yBrVqxg8iIZG6ElvaVAYhsFqk_JhLoWSh2gBoCJWHw_wcB

Children’s Rights Education

Children’s Rights Education Curriculum – Provides 15 units on different UNCRC rights

http://childrensrightseducation.com/curriculum.html

These include the following units:

Provision Rights – Survival

Provision Rights – Development

Protection Rights

Participation Rights

Civics and Citizenship Education

Human Rights – Children’s Rights

This website has a variety of different activities from those who are young to those who are older.  The links to the different activities are on the left of this webpage and there are many, so check them out!

http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/human_rights_childrens_rights_up,9458.html

Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

Ready, Set Respect Curriculum – This is a 68 page tool kit to help children learn how to respect each other.      GLSEN Ready Set Respect

No Name Calling Week – activities to prevent a variety of types of bullying

http://glsen.org/nonamecallingweek/elementary

These activity resources include:

Human Rights Campaign

All Children, All Families – emphasis on HRE and LGBTQ+ families

http://www.hrc.org/resources/all-children-all-families-training-curriculum

Open Education Resources

Global Nomads Project, a semester HRE in our community project .  It is a very extensive program -you will find the  overview link here:  https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/5400-global-nomads-group-child-rights-curriculum-semest/view

You can access the Teacher’s manual here:   Rights of the Child Educator Handbook

The Student’s manual is here:    Rights of the Child Student Workbook

PBS

PBS has provided a handout with activities that promote racial and cultural awareness in the classroom –  Activities that Promote Racial and Cultural Awareness

Rights Site News

Everyone Has the Right to be Safe at School is a 12 page guide that is full of activities that will make learning about child and human rights interesting to students, and help to reduce Bullying   –    rights_sites_bullying_2

Rock Your World     http://www.rock-your-world.org/

This website offers a choice of more than 70 creative, standards-aligned and field-tested lessons, ready for download. Teachers can easily select those that best fit their students’ interests and needs.  You can access their 5 step social action program   here      http://www.rock-your-world.org/who-we-are

UNICEF

UNICEF is the premier child rights organization in the world, and they have constructed a variety of different HRE and child rights information.  You will find their listings throughout Training4Excellence.com.   Here are some of the educational resources they have developed for secondary level students.

Please view PDF files before printing. You may wish to copy and print certain lesson plans rather than the entire files, since some files exceed 50 pages.

Children’s Rights Count

This guide includes experiential activities that introduce students to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic and international legal cases related to children’s rights, concluding with a mock hearing set at the International Criminal Court.

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Parenting the Rights Way

Through the use of this resource for Family Studies teachers, participating students will gain a deeper understanding of their rights and inherent responsibilities. This will in turn provide a framework for their positive interactions with young children as caregivers or future parents.

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It’s About Ability

This publication explains the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to children. Its main purpose is to empower children, with and without disabilities, to play their part in challenging discrimination and promoting the Convention’s principles.

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Get Companion Learning Guide

When Disaster Strikes Secondary Guide

Use this engaging and up-to-date resource to examine UNICEF global education concepts in relation to humanitarian emergencies and disaster relief with students in intermediate and senior grades.

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Child Friendly Cities

This guide has been created to support teachers of grades 8 to 10 and students across Canada who are interested in learning more about student action, engagement and community involvement.

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Teaching Children’s Rights through Art

Nova Scotia art educator Diane Lewis collaborated with Drs. Katherine Covell and Brian Howe at the Children’s Right’s Centre at Cape Breton University to create this arts based curriculum resource, supporting teachers in their efforts to address universal children’s rights.

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Our Stories Our Songs Teacher’s Guide

Our Stories, Our Songs, by beloved Canadian author Deborah Ellis, endeavours to put a human face on HIV and AIDS. Ellis traveled to Malawi and Zambia where she spoke with children touched by the pandemic. This book is appropriate for students aged 12 and older.

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The Children: The Missing Face of AIDS

The film The Children: The Missing Face of AIDS profiles a day in the life of Nyirsabimana, a young Rwandan girl who has been orphaned by AIDS and left to care for her young siblings. The film is appropriate for students aged 12 and up. A French version of the video is also available.

Get Teacher’s Guide

Education for Development

Education for Development: A Teacher’s Resource for Global Learning is a useful book for teachers, containing a useful overview of development education, and teacher-friendly activities and lessons.

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Shaking the Movers:Youth Rights and MediaIt’s Only Right

This book helps educators and youth to understand that rights issues are not something that affect people only in faraway places, but are also alive and relevant in their own communities.

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Students will discuss the concept of human rights and learn about the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Students debate which Articles are most important to their media experiences and defend their choices to the class.