Who says you cannot learn something from watching TV? As I was watching TV this afternoon, a commercial came on (surprise surprise) ... This is the commercial I saw ...
I went on the website that was mentioned at the end of the commercial - www.youthforhumanrights.org and found that there are a total of 30 human rights advertisements produced by this company. This is the direct link to the advertisements, which you can click through on the left side of the screen (in orange) or just scroll down the page to view them all: Youth for Human Rights International.
The site also has materials that you can buy (teachers and educators get a discount), but you can view the commercials online for free. I just think that this is a really interesting tool that can be used in the classroom very easily to discuss human rights issues. The majority of the commercials seem to present the information in a way that is easily accessible and understandable for students because it relates to their experiences.
One of the human rights featured was "No Slavery" (video below). I think that this video in particular can open OUR (meaning teachers') eyes to some issues that we discuss in the past tense, but are really still a struggle for our international, world society. What I mean by this is that, in America we do not think twice of issues of being enslaved or tortured, having basic rights and being protected under law for these rights, or other rights that we take for granted in this country. In other countries around the world, these are the realities of life.
So, I just thought that I would share this site with everyone, as well as some of my insight as to the content's usefulness.
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15 comments:
Anna, I am SO glad that you made this post. As I watched the "No Slavery" video, I got chills up and down my spine. I couldn't believe how powerful a one minute advertisement could be. It is definitely something that opened my eyes and makes me want to look deeper into. I feel that once we, as educators, research the information the advertisement provides, we can use it in the classroom. It would open up discussions on very serious issues that the students are effected by. Also, I like how you brought up the point that these clips are understandable for the students because it relates to their experiences. I couldn't believe how much the clip of the little boy wanting to play soccer related to my own life. I am sure it would relate to the lives of our students.
Furthermore, closely aligned with the idea of Human Rights is acceptance. We want to create accepting environments for all our students, so these clips would be another great way to help the students understand it. By placing themselves in the position of the youth on the advertisements, they will be able to better understand the perspectives of others.
I am glad to hear that TV watching actually has some positive effect. I’m actually glad that you brought these to our attention because there is a good chance that I will try to use them/one in my classroom. I agree with the last posting that these videos could be used for our knowledge as educators on how to approach these concepts into the classroom, but what about integrating them into our lessons? Just these two alone I can see being used in various subjects in different age levels. I would suggest even integrating technology and having the students search 5 each and write their own thoughts on each one. This could be an assignment in the beginning of the year to start students’ prior knowledge to subjects in the curriculum. Since these are obviously kid-friendly (on TV) and easy understand I believe that using them, especially in their short length, would be quite beneficial for enriching certain lesson/objectives. Once I write my lesson that incorporates one of these clip into Ill report back how I believe it will work best for my lesson and classroom. Thanks for the investigation….
Wow, I can't believe how much impact a one minute clip can cause! I think these are a great resource to use in your classroom. Not only does it engage students in technology they are used to using, but can connect their prior knowledge and own feelings as well. I really felt the video on Slavery would be a perfect way to start a discussion within your classroom. I feel too often we think of social studies as something that happened in the past. Even I have a hard time grasping the fact that slavery still exists in some parts of the world. By using this in your classroom students see it's not just some words written in a text book, actual children are involved.
After going to many of the other videos I can see there are a variety of Human Rights that would easily fit into the curriculum. Many are very powerful, even to me. I think this is something that would be better used late elementary/middle school level. Though there are some that would be appropriate for el. school too.
I can't believe how powerful these one minute or less clips are. I really like how they use children and adolescents to get the message across. I think this makes it easy for students to be able to connect with the topics. Some of the videos even used situations that students could find themselves in quite often. I think these videos would be great to use with students to discuss issues they are having or to begin a discussion on something you want to get them thinking about. For example, the privacy video would be perfect to bring into your classroom if your students are not respecting eachother's privacy. It would be a way to bring the issue up to the students and show them what their right is.
I think these videos and the booklet on the website would be a great resource to use in the classroom. A teacher could use them all or just choose ones that they think apply to their students lives at the time. Students could even spread the knowledge of human rights throughout their school after learning about them. I think that it is great that this organization has these comercials on television and think that by teachers also incorperating them into the classroom students will begin to become more accepting and also stand up for their own rights.
I really enjoyed watching the video clips. It was a way to get information across in a modern and different way. So many times students see video clips,but they are not engaging. These are short and powerful messages that students can easily have a converstaion about. These clips, like many have said, are great springboards for social studies topics. Many times I think students believe that social studies is history and that it is in the past. These clips bring it to the present and let them see that the past is not behind us. For example the slavery clip is very real and is still happening today. Many students believe that it is something that happened a long time ago and is only associated with blacks in America. Slavery is a term that becomes over generalized and the clip can cause some students to look into slavery in other countries, not just America.
As teachers we need to be looking out for this type of media that can be used in the classroom. Many times we rely on videos that we already know of and forget to search out new things. Thank you for finding this and sharing it with the class.
Anna thank you for posting these commercials! I completely agree with what everyone has posted in regards to these human rights commercials. I learned so much about human rights in these short commercials, so I can only imagine what kind of an impact they would have on elementary students. I would love to use these commercials in my future classroom for a variety of reasons. These commercials would be an excellent way of bringing technology into the classroom. I know that in my own educational experiences, I understand and learn more when I can make personal connections to the curriculum. I believe that students would be able to make connections and be able to relate to the human rights commercials. These commercials fit perfectly with the Acceptance Unit we are creating for our C&I 211 class; I could spend a whole lesson discussing these commercials with my students. If I showed these commercials in the classroom, my first questions to my students would be, “How do these commercials make you feel?” I feel that anyone who watches these commercials will have some emotional reaction to them. Like many other people have posted, I think that students could relate to these commercials because young children, like them, are making strong statements about human rights.
I think the Youth for Human Rights Organization is a wonderful association. Their commercials are geared towards a young audience. Because of this, students can begin to make a difference and reflect upon human rights. These commercials can be incorporated into a variety of subject areas and used at any grade level. I plan to show this website to my cooperating teachers and hopefully I can incorporate the commercials into a lesson.
Thanks a lot for passing these videos and the website along, Anna. I finally had time to watch some the pieces, and while I like some more than others, I think they are a fantastic teaching tool that could be used in multiple ways. (I ordered the DVD already -- always looking for new resources.) And the fact that they're so short is, in this case, really a bonus. They can be fit into a school day even if you don't think you have time to devote an entire lesson to each one.
These commercials are so powerful. What I think is really great about them is that they incorporate children into them, which can allow our students to have more of a connection. I think that sometimes seeing something is more powerful than actually hearing about it and this website can help with, as well as others.
I feel that I could use these commercials in my future classrooms to begin a unit and create a very powerful discussion among the students. These short clips can also play a nice role in introducing a unit on acceptance and different aspects of that issue. I enjoy that the clips are short and this little piece of information really can go far. Anna, thank you so much for making this post because I feel that it will be a great help in the classroom.
I agree that these videos can be used in a variety of ways! There multiple ways I would use them in my classroom I am in now. One of my students does not like where he lives because everyone fights too much in his neighborhood; I might use the "Freedom to Move" video in a morning meeting to begin a discussion on how student's feel about their environments. These video clips are so powerful, I think they could just be viewed and reflected on independently (especially because the issues could be very personal).
The more videos I watch, the more I realize how many unresolved issues there are in our students' lives. As a teacher it can be difficult to approach these touchy issues but I think these videos do a great job of exposing the subject manner in an appropriate way for kids.
Thanks Anna for sharing this!
I agree with everyone, as well, that these are great videos. I watched quite a few of them and the ones that stuck out the most to me were ones that made me think about things I will do and not do as a teacher. The right to privacy video was the first video that really made an impression on me. I remember in elementary school how teachers would always read a note aloud if they caught a student with one; if they didn't do that then they would atleast stop the class and read it to themselves. Thinking about it now, I don't see any reason for teachers to do this. A teacher could just as easily take a note and just throw it away rather than mortify the child by reading their note aloud. Some of my teachers used to do a similar thing with grades, in fact, my CT now will do this from time to time; they will have the student yell out their grade and record their grade that way. When teachers do these things they are taking away students' right to privacy.
Innocent till proven guilty was another video that stuck out to me. Quite often teachers blame things on students that they have no proof of.I remember sitting in Science in junior high and the teacher saw paper go flying by. He didn't see who threw it and just assumed it was the kid who always did that sort of thing. He gave the kid a detention without knowing for sure if he did it or not. These videos really made me think about things teachers do that take these rights away from their students.
Wow Anna, I am happy you came across these videos and decided to share them with us. As everyone has been saying, these videos are deep and very moving. I really enjoyed watching the advertisement with the little boy and discrimination. That advertisement would go along perfectly with a lesson I did a few weeks ago. I taught a lesson to the students about not judging a person by the way they look and to always listen to both sides of a story when there is a conflict. Basically the purpose of my lesson was for the students to learn to not jump to conclusions in certain situations. If I would have known about these advertisements a little sooner I could have used the video with involving the boy waiting to get picked for the soccer team as my opener or attention getter. :)
I think these videos are valuable teaching tools that most definitely can be used in the classroom. Although the videos are short, they provide strong massages. I agree with what Sara said about using most of these videos in a late elementary grade age and up. And it looks like kjkearn will be able to use these videos in her C and I 211 class which is great!
I just got a chance to watch these videos. Thanks for sharing! I actually can't believe they are on television, that's awesome. It's really great that the videos have children in them and take into account their perspectives. These are very powerful tools and since they are so short, great attention getters to build into a lesson. The issues that they address aren't always ones that can be comfortable for a teacher. I think they help with opening up our minds.
When we watched that video clip on slavery in class, everyone was completely silent. It really made an impact and it causes you to think. I think it would be a great way to introduce human rights and create so many thoughtful, compassionate discussions. Sometimes I think students and adults need time to remember the good and the bad things that go on in this world. We live in such a fast paced environment that students are programmed the same way. Teachers need to take the time and reflect on issues that affect everyone such as human rights. It is a great way to get kids to discuss and keep them interested. They are so powerful and I think the truth really opens a lot of people's heart and eyes to the world around them.
I know this is an older Blog, but I know I have been trying to keep up with a few at a time.... in my last posting (awhile ago) I mentioned that I would really like to use this in my classroom. More specifically I tried to implement it into my required unit that I had to write. Yes, you read that correctly, I TRIED!! It didn't work out as much as I was hoping for. It would have been an excellent way to incorporate technology into the classroom.
But I did suggest to another INtern how she might be able to use one of the link in her unit here was my suggetions-- She was writing a unit on the Civil War. My thought was to show the no slavery clip and have student pre-write before seeing it. Then post write after seeing it (remember that might only take 10ish mins since the clip is so short) Then you have have the students act out (tape if you can/want) a scripted public announcement from the time of the civil war about what the conflict was on slavery. It would be a great way to compare out society now to what happened so long ago.
Another idea is--
In the beginning of the year in my third grade class we have out students re-write the school's student handbook to learn the rules of the school and how they would impliment it. You can also have groups after seeing these clip come up with taped performances of these rules, to bring it town a level-- from society to the classroom/school. Possibly even show it to the entire school to teach the rules of the school!!
Just wanted to share those thoughts, incase there are others out there still trying to read all these great suggestions!! :-D
Ashley,
I did take your advice and work this video and another into my Civil War unit. In fact I tried to take it even a step further by making an underlying theme of the unit modern connections to slavery and conflict. In doing this I was hoping that it would pull students into history and make it seem applicable to their own lives. What I ended up doing was having the students watch this video and a longer video that shows children in forced labor in the country Uzbekistan. After the watching the videos they reflect on what they saw, how they would feel if they were forced to work and how would being forced to work shape your perspective of the world. After this then there will be a hands on connection made to American slavery and picking cotton. Thanks Ashley for the tip and I am so excited to teach that particular lesson, especially to the students at our school (some or many of them may have relatives that are forced to work in poor conditions in this country or in their native country). In regards to the first video that is on the blog, I was so excited to see it on here because I actually have seen it on TV and when I saw it on TV I Loved It but then remember saying I wonder what it was for? I must have missed the credits at the end that stated the organization. Thanks Anna, now I know.
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