Global+Citizenship

Lesson One

 * Materials Needed:** Blank A3 paper and tape or magnets to display A3 papers around the room

Ask students to write down the following definition in their Seminar journals:

**citizen:** a person who lives in a particular community

Watch the citizenship video clip and consider the following question: "What does it mean to be a good citizen?". Pause the video after each section to give students an opportunity to answer the questions. Discuss the students' responses and their overall response to guiding question of the video exercise.

Divide students into teams to consider the following guiding question:


 * Think about how you would like yourself/your school/local area/country/world to look in ten years time. Consider the characteristics of good citizens. What would there be in the world that there is not now? **

Discuss which of these things are most important and most realistic, and how each may be achieved. Discuss the following questions in your teams:


 * Who has the most power to change things?
 * What do you think you can do?
 * Who could you influence to change things?

Present the ideas on posters or maps in writing or drawings to the overall group.

Display the posters or maps at the end of the Seminar so that the class may start with these next time.

Lesson Two

 * Materials Needed:** Blank A4 paper and tape or magnets to display A4 papers around the room; Class set of copies of the Why-Why-Why worksheet (see below); different color pens

Review the posters from the last Seminar session.

Hand out A4 paper and challenge students to write down one answer to the following question:


 * What issue in the world would you most like to change?** This issue can be about the school, local community, country or world.

Display pieces of paper, with one issue written on each, around the room. Similar issues can be reframed as one.

Listen to the following question and move to the place in the room where the issue is displayed:
 * Which of the issues do you feel is most important, and why?**

Listen to a second question and decide whether to move again:
 * Which issue do you think you as a group could improve? Why?**

Discuss and debate the choices you made.

Now, students should join teams with students who chose the same issue they felt was most important or they could improve.

Challenge students to complete the Why-Why-Why sheet and determine why their issues occur. The goal is to fill in all boxes with meaningful causes. Then, students should discuss what they wrote in each box by asking the following questions:


 * 1) **Look at each box and ask, Is it fair that this is happening?**
 * 2) **What can we do to change things?**

Write responses in a different colour by each box, and present them to the rest of the class to end the Seminar.



Visualization Game
Start class with the following activity to help students focus on the issues they focused on in the past two lessons:

Imagine wearing an invisibility cloak. Climb into a flying machine and leave the classroom. Fly inside the school buildings, thinking of the kind of things that need to improve or change. Fly outside, around the yard and above the buildings, thinking of what could be done to make it a better place for everyone. Fly higher and look down at the local area, thinking about what matters in the community and what needs attention. Fly higher still and consider issues relating to your home country and the world. Then gently fly back into school, land on the seat, and remove the cloak.

Challenge students in teams to create an Issue Tree by researching their issues and doing the following:


 * 1) Label the trunk with the chosen issue,
 * 2) the roots with the causes of the issue,
 * 3) the branches with the effects of the issue, and
 * 4) the fruit with possible solutions to the issue.

Research should take the rest of the Seminar session. Students should use key words in the steps above to help them research their issues more successfully. Students' goal should be to complete the Issue Tree by the end of the lesson.

Lesson Four

 * Materials Needed:** Scissors; Team sets of Action Card Game (see below); Team sets of Action Plan sheet (see below)

Teams should begin Seminar by presenting their Issue Trees to the rest of the class.

Challenge each team to cut out the Action Card Game handout into individual cards and follow these directions:

Discuss the options and arrange the nine cards in a diamond pattern: the single actions at the top and the bottom of the diamond are the most and least preferred; the two actions below and above these are in the next order; the three actions across the centre are of middle-order importance with little to differentiate them.

Consider which actions would have the biggest impact in school, the local area, country and world. Which actions are the most practical to do? Remember to: • Think big. Start small. • Set realistic goals. • Be prepared to work hard. • Use the specific talents of people in your group. • Get more people involved.



Once teams have worked through the different action options, challenge them to create an Action Plan that they will carry out during the next Seminar.



Lesson Five

 * Action Day!**

Carry out the Action Plans that you worked on in the last seminar. Be ready to share what your action is with the rest of the class next Seminar meeting.

Lesson Six
Share what your team did with the rest of the class.

Give each other feedback on your action plans and their outcomes.

Reflect on this unit by discussing the unit question as class:


 * What does it mean to be a citizen of the world?**

Prepare a presentation for next week's assembly where you can share what you did with the rest of Secondary School community.

Resources adapted from Oxfam Education Get Global program.