Pathways to a Culture of Peace: UNESCO Global Contest

Pathways to a Culture of Peace

http://wa1.www.unesco.org/

“Through education, we teach children not to hate. Through education, we raise leaders who act with wisdom and compassion. Through education, we establish a true, lasting culture of peace,” 

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General UN

Pathways to a Culture of Peace: Global Contest for Mutual Understanding is a contest launched at the international level through UNESCO’s networks and partners. 

Young participants of the contest  are invited to express its experience of how peace and non-violence are or should be produced and reproduced day after day in various environments, what has come to be termed everyday peace.

What are the objectives of the Contest?

• To promote a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence through the works submitted, which are to be developed upon a reflection on key-notions of peace and take the format of essays, photos, videos, graphic arts;

• To develop the sense of belonging to, and the responsibility towards humanity, while respecting the value of its plural identities;

• To share concrete experiences of everyday peace at individual, local, national, regional or international levels;

• To reinforce peace-making knowledge, skills and values among young people.

http://www.untogo.org/

Education:

"In the new, turbulent international globalised landscape, a central idea emerges: greater account must be taken of the close links between cultural diversity, dialogue, development, security and peace. One of the most crucial challenges for UNESCO is to rethink these five interdependent notions so as to inform new approaches in all domains. From that perspective, the culture of peace imposes itself as the main strategic focus of UNESCO, along with sustainable development, both of which form two sides of the same coin."

UNESCO | Culture of Peace and Non-Violence

In a world in complete change, young people have a relevant voice to demonstrate their critical thinking and some ideas about a new intercultural dialogue, interconnectedness, capacity building, in order to innovate the society and build a different world  through important values as Peace and Culture.

http://ec.europa.eu/

The Contest consists in:

The participants have to submit a work in a maximum of two categories from the following four categories:

• Essay :  An Essay of a maximum of 500 words, submitted either in English or in French and presenting any type of life experience related to “everyday peace” (an original poetry, a piece of theatre, an interview of key-actors in peace, an illustration of some original ways to enhance everyday life…)
• Video Clip: The video-clip should encourage young people to practice peace on a daily basis (at home, at school, at the University, in the street…). It must not exceed 1 minute, must be submitted in “AVI” format and captured by a digital camera, portable telephone or camcorder.
• Photography: Participants who have chosen this category must provide an (electronic if possible) "album" containing 10 entitled photographs on the theme of "Culture of peace and non-violence”. They must send their albums in  .jpeg or .tiff format (300 dpi resolution).
• Graphic Arts: Participants who have chosen this category must create and design an original logo on the theme of a "Culture of peace and non-violence". Works can be either in paper or electronic format and should be sent in PDF based on a A4 size (300 dpi resolution).

Notes: The video clip, the logos and the photos must be accompanied with a text* explaining the choice of the young participants, and the logic linking their work to the theme of the Global Contest.

*The text:

The text must have less than 150 words for the graphic work and less than 300 words for the video-clip and the photographs.

Works must express the views of young people based on the following “Peace Cloud”:

http://wa1.www.unesco.org/

Guidelines can be read here. It includes registration form, submission form and permission rights.

 Target Group:

The Global Contest is open to all young people around the world, from 14 to 25 years old.

Education levels:

Middle Education; Secondary Education; Vocational Education.

Curriuculum: Cross-curricula Arts, Languages, Civics; Sciences...

Important! The timeframe of the Contest:

30/11/2012 - Registration Deadline.

The registration form is here. Don't forget to send it back by email : peace.contest@unesco.org

21/03/2013 - Submission Deadline, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;

21/05/2013 - Announcement of the eight winners on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

Prizes:

Winners and short-listed contributions will be posted on the Internet, in a digital catalogue. 

A special web-platform will be maintained featuring inputs on the different pathways to reflect and to live peace. 

In addition to the public exposure offered by UNESCO and its partners, each of the 8 winners will receive a personal digital tablet.

Wow! Just do it! Begin working with your students! You have a month to create amazing contributions.

“We want chidren and youth to have quality lessons. And we want to strengthen their core values.”

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General UN

G-Souto

30.10.2012

Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Pathways to a Culture of Peace: UNESCO Global Contest by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

References:

Pathways to a Culture of Peace: UNESCO Global Contest for Mutual Understanding | UNESCO

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/bureau-of-strategic-planning/themes/culture-of-peace-and-non-violence/events/pathways-to-a-culture-of-peace/

UNESCO | Culture of Peace and Non-Violence

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/bureau-of-strategic-planning/themes/culture-of-peace-and-non-violence/

 

KidExpo 2012: une aventure pédagogique?

http://www.kidexpo.fr/

Et voilà KidExpo 2012 le grand événement familial et scolaire de l'année. Dès aujourd'hui, Octobre 27 à mardi Octobre 30, vous pouvez partir à Porte de Versailles, Paris.

KidExpo a ouvert ses portes aujourd’hui à 17 heures, en avant-première. Quelques visiteurs privilégiés ont eu la chance de découvrir l’événement familial et éducatif le plus attendu de l’année. 

Au programme : toutes les animations, des rencontres exceptionnelles et plein de surprises:

• Education & Vie Pratique / Sport, Tourisme & Loisirs / Jeux & Jouets
• Plus de 100 ateliers pour les enfants de 4 à 14 ans
• Idées et solutions pour les parents
• Shows et animations en permanence.

http://www.kidexpo.fr/

Sophie Desmazières, Commissaire Général explique : "KIDEXPO, c’est le rendez-vous de l’année pour toute la famille."

Au programme, plein d’idées et de solutions pour les parents autour de trois grands thèmes :

• Education & Vie Pratique; 

• Sport, Tourisme & Loisirs;

• Jeux & Jouets.

Pour les enfants de 4 à 14 ans, une centaine d’animations gratuites et permanentes : du fun, du sport et des ateliers pédagogiques pour toutes les tranches d’âges. 

Comme en 2010 et 2011, je vous propose le salon Kidexpo. Kidexpo figure dans le top 10 des salons grand public français. 

Un salon de référence aussi pour des enseignants qui veulent faire partager des activités mirabolantes à leurs élèves  par des visites ou bien à en retirer des idées à développer en classe plus tard.

Éducation:

Comme enseignante, cette année, mon choix personnel va pour: 

Michael Jeremiasz

http://www.kidexpo.com/

Rencontre avec les athlètes paralympiques:

Débat sur le handicap animé par Cécile Hernandez-Cervellon, lundi 29 octobre à 16h30, avec les athlètes paralympiques Jean-Baptiste Alaize, Marc-André Cratere, Michael Jeremiasz, Nantenin Keita et Ryadh Salem.

Rendez-vous sur le stand de l’UNSS 6C31.

http://www.kidexpo.com/

Les machines de Leonardo:

À découvrir les étonnantes machines imaginées au XVIè siècle par Léonard de Vinci et marcher dans les pas du célèbre savant en imaginant et construisant des mécanismes incroyables pour répondre à des défis ludiques et scientifiques! Atelier scientifique proposé par Universcience, animé par les petits débrouillards d’une durée de 40 minutes, à partir de 8 ans (inscriptions sur place). 

Rendez-vous stand 6A20.

Euro-culture 

Tester les connaissances sur l'Europe autour de thèmes variés : histoire, nourriture, monnaie unique, musique, sport, institutions européennes. La géographie européenne n'aura plus de secret grâce au puzzle des pays, capitales et fleuves principaux de l'Union Européenne.

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/

Ma leçon de musique:

Essayer la première vraie leçon de piano pour les enfants avec Christophe Astié, professeur de piano et auteur de la méthode pour les 5-8 ans. Mais aussi, participer aussi à une initiation à la batterie numérique. Une vraie batterie qui a l’avantage de pouvoir se jouer aussi au casque ! 

Une opportunité à saisir pour faire découvrir aux enfants le plaisir de jouer d’un instrument proposée par Roland Central Europe.

Rendez-vous stand 6D6

Mais les Activités et Ateliers sont vastes. À voir toute la programmation ici.

Infos pratiques:

À voir ici

Entrée gratuite pour les enseignants : 

Les organisateurs invitent les enseignants (seuls ou accompagnés) à se rendre gratuitement à KIDEXPO les samedi 27, dimanche 28, lundi 29 et mardi 30 octobre. 

Pour obtenir le badge d’accès: à l'entrée de Kidexpo, accueil ENSEIGNANT, sur présentation de la carte ENSEIGNANT.

KIDEXPO en images por kidexpo

Pour la toute première fois, KIDEXPO vous propose son application smartphone. Retrouvez toute l'actualité du salon, les exposants, le plan et toutes les infos pratiques de KIDEXPO. Disponible sur Iphone et Android.

Eh bien! Kidexpo, une suggestion pédagogique à ne pas manquer, si vous habitez dans la région parisienne. 

Ou alors, à suivre sur Facebook ou Twitter hashtag @salonkidexpo et bien sûr sur votre Android.

G-Souto

27.10.2012

Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

KidExpo 2012: une aventure pédagogique? by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Schools : Zoe Makes a Splash ! Apps for water reduce !

Zoe makes a splash/ app

http://ec.europa.eu/

It's Saturday morning and as usual Zoe is getting ready in the bathroom. 
She has combed her hair and is brushing her teeth. 
She doesn't see that the tap in the bath is running.

(...)

Zoe makes a splash! is an app developed by the Environment Directorate General of the European Commission.

The European Commission has launched this environmental app that can be downloaded to Apple and Android devices for free.

The interactive storybook is a resource for teachers & parents. It can be included into the school curriculum or used at home with family to teach kids about the importance of water in our society, how to use it in moderation, the impact of polluted water on wildlife and habitats and the benefits we get from clean water.

Zoe Makes a Splash! is an interactive educational digital storybook aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 11. It can be free to download or to play online.

screenshot Zoe makes a splash | App

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/

The app tells the story of two inquisitive children who are shown the importance of water in society. Their guide is an articulate frog, who also alerts them to the impact of polluted water and shows them how it can be avoided. 

Fun animations and interactive features alternate with more serious educational sections, where students and kids learn about the hidrological cycle and water treatment.

The online version of the story is also available, with a set of teaching notes to encourage project-based activities in the classroom.

screenshot Zoe makes a splash | App

https://lh5.ggpht.com/

Education:

Here I am talking again about Environmental education that is a cross-curricular learning. Schools have an important role promoting environmental education as a Civics value across all school curricula.

All teachers must be "green" in schools and help the new generations to involve in educational projects, national or international about Environment.

I have already published a good number of posts on my blog about Environment & Education along the years. You can read them by searching Environmental Education.

The last one was Iberian Wolf: environmental education (endangered species) and the most popular is Wall-E: a green resource for Earth Day 2012. 

About the same theme, Water, I wrote And what about World Water Day in school? (March 2012).

Since 2005, my students continue writing on two 'green' blogs: Geração Verde (environment education) and Geração Polar (Polar education)

screenshot Zoe makes a splash | App

Teaching Notes

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/children/

• Schools & Parents:

This interactive storybook can be used in the classroom or at home.

Aims:

Children learn about the importance of water in our society, how to use it in moderation, the impact of polluted water on wildlife and habitats and the benefits we get from clean water.

Target: 7-11 years old.

Devices: Smartphones; tablets (Android & Apple); Online

Languages: Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish;

Curriculum: Cross-curricula;

Teaching Notes: here

Zoe Makes a Splash! is an app and a digital story book that feature two children and their adventures with Fred, a well educated Frog who teaches them some errors at home with family and at school.

It is packed with fun animations and interactive features. There are some challenging sections where students learn about the hidrological cycle and how water treatment works.

screenshot Zoe makes a splash | App

https://lh5.ggpht.com/

On the practical side of this app, there are plenty of tips of how to conserve water.

The app is free and available to download:

• Google Play
• iTunes
• Online version
  

Other EU environmental initiatives:

The app is launched as one of several water-related initiatives.

A number of other environment-related publications are also available for children, notably the hugely successful Tom and Lila stories for 5-7 year s-old. They are available here. 

Ten titles appeared between 2001 and 2011, and nearly 2 million were distributed around the EU.

screenshot Zoe makes a splash | App

https://lh3.ggpht.com/

For years, I shared my "green" thoughts and values with mystudents in Languages and ICT curriculum. 

I hope this app & teaching notes give you some inspiration to include into school curriculum developing interesting activities and projects about Environmental education.

Young students will have fun with Zoe and will learn how to care about environment, the importance of water and not to pollute or waste it.

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."

Rachel Carson

G-Souto

25.10.2012

Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Environmental Zoe Makes a Splash ! Apps for water reduce by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Credits: video European Commission

References:

Children and Youth Publications | EU Environment
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/children/children.htm

International School Library Day 2012

http://www.iasl-online.org/

Throughout October, every year, the world celebrates International School Library Month, the perfect time for students to visit their own school library and browse through the hundreds of books and several e-books available to them!

International School Library Day was proclaimed by the IASL President, Dr Blanche Woolls, in 1999 and reaffirmed by the IASL President, Peter Genco, in 2005.

http://www.iasl-online.org/

The 1st International School Library Day was celebrated on 18 October 1999, with the theme, "A Day in the Life...".

The change to International School Library Month was approved by the IASL Board in December 2007.

This change coincides with the 10th anniversary of IASL celebrating school libraries. International School Library Month will allow those in charge of school libraries around the world to choose a day in October that best fits their specific situation in order to celebrate the importance of school libraries".

The SLM theme for 2012 is:

School Libraries: a Key to the Past, Present & Future.

In Portugal the ILSM is on the 22th October. This is the reason why I write this post today.

Bibliotecas Escolares

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/

Education:

"We should teach great books; we should teach a love of reading."

B.F. Skinner

Some Suggestions:

Let's begin our lesson today watching this awesome animation about books with our students:

Of course, you must not forget The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. 


Activities:

• If you have your own blog for students as I have, ask your students to create a special post to publicise 'International School Library Day'. They can write some ideas or some opinions about a book they read in the classroom;

• If you don't have a blog for students, but your school library has a website, create with your students a special page to publish the work of the students about ISLD. Tell the IASL webmaster so he can link to your blog or page;

• Tell people (teachers, students, parents) in your school community about International School Library Day and the importance of school libraries in teaching and learning. Ask students to create some posters (you can do it in a cross-curricular Languages & Arts. Then spread the word by sharing those posters with other classmates, teachers and students;

• Invite an illustrator or a writer, even one of your students that now is a young writer led a talk with students in the school library;

• Let your students to pick a book or a e-book at the school library. Then in the classroom, distribute all the books for different students. They must be included in different groups;

• After reading the book, every group of students must work one or two activities: creating a different end, including other characters, developing the story in a different way, preparing a discussion about the authors and books, after some research on their tablets or smartphones;

• Prepare a school newspaper and include on it some of the best creative works well written by your students;

• With your students, search on the Internet, Twitter or Facebook for information  about School Library Day in other countries; 

• Organize a Google Hangout inviting a teacher and students from a different school and discuss the theme, some books, or the importance of reading in curriculum:

• Use the hangout conclusions or students exchange project as the aim for a discussion on the ways International School Libraries or just school libraries differ around the world.

Bookmarks

Other Activities:

Take part in one of the special activities organised by IASL to celebrate International School Library Day this year. There is some information on this website to help you. 

For example The Bookmark Project:

"The ISLM Bookmark Project involves matched schools making homemade bookmarks that reflects the International School Library Month theme.

Last year 16,691 students, ranging in ages from 4 to 17 years, from schools in 23 countries participated in the Project."

Portugal, Spain, UK, Croatia, Hungary, the USA, Hong Kong China, Canada, India, Australia, the West Indies, Romania, Italy, Mainland China, Russia, Scotland, the Ireland, Singapore, Slovenia, the Republic of Georgia, Indonesia, Poland and Nigeria all enjoyed bookmarks from new friends living in another part of the world.

The Bookmark Exchange Project is a fun way of sharing the pleasure and delights of books, e-books and libraries and of making new friends through school libraries worldwide. 

You and your students can participate now. Read more here. 

Submissions received after th 31 October 2012 may not be included on the ISLM "What people are doing" web pages.

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/

Some thoughts :

Well, of course my usual readers know that I write often about reading books and e-books. 

A school library in the XXI century must have the new gadgets: e-books, e-readers and other devices  in order to involve  the new generation of readers. 

A school library must meet the needs of many different kind of learners. Never forget children's preparation for e-readers, especially with students from disadvantaged social backgrounds or special needs. 

Integrating digital and media literacy as critical elements for education at all levels in school, is essential to keep our students near the school libraries.

As I already wrote on this blog, implementing e-readers into the school libraries program is about more than just jumping on the latest technological bandwagon or attempting to reinvent the library in order to stay relevant. It’s about 'good practice in school library', and 'impressive support to students'.

School library

via BerkeleyCarroll school

School libraries must be prepared to introduce innovative devices. The teachers librarians must be very innovative. School directors are not so open to new ideas. But fight for your ideas.

In their efforts to implement e-books, school libraries face a set of challenges that differ from those confronting their public and academic counterparts. 

At the school libraries around the world are continuing to look forward to a future rich with ebooks.

School libraries are integrated learning spaces that values connections between home, school, community, and the world.

Flexibility, creativity and the ability to question are some of the most important transferrable skills that children and young people will need in the fluid, changeable and unpredictable world of work they will emerge into when they eventually leave school. So pay attention at the front!

And finally! You do remember this video? Just lovely!

You see, we have the "Net-Gen" in our classrooms! But a book is still an enchantment!

Read with your students! Show them the wonders of their imaginations!

Encourage their creativity, and never let them lose their sense of wonder.

"Books belong to their readers"

John Green


G-Souto

21.10.2012
Copyright © 2012G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®


International School Library Day by GSouto is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribuição-Uso Não-Comercial-Proibição de realização de Obras Derivadas 3.0 Unported License.


References:

IASL's Coordinator of International School Library Day: Rick Mulholland (Canada)

The International School Library Day Logo: Peter Rugendyke (North Pinjarra, Western Australia)

International School Library

http://www.iasl-online.org/