{"id":34253,"date":"2022-04-11T10:41:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T02:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenschool.org\/bali\/?p=34253"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:15:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T01:15:45","slug":"you-say-you-want-a-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenschool.org\/bali\/bnmag\/you-say-you-want-a-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"You Say You Want a Revolution?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Green School, one of our learning units this year is about helping our High School Students take more intentional action. Through this unit, we show our High School students that their voices matter, that there is power in their voice and that they need to take that power seriously and be conscious and creative about the ways they use it. Read reflections below from our High School teacher, Robin, and Head of High School, Harriett, on the students’ experience of their class that explored these topics.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe wanted to have a deeper discussion of \u2018who are we\u2019 and \u2018how are we really living into these ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion?”<\/em> – Robin, High School teacher <\/span><\/p>\n

At Green School, we talk often about our mission as an education institution – to nurture a community of changemakers who will make our world sustainable. It\u2019s always exciting to talk about change-making, about going out and <\/span>doing<\/span><\/i> things, having <\/span>impact<\/span><\/i> and maybe even starting a revolution!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about the other part of that mission statement?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to \u201cmake our world sustainable,\u201d we need to go beyond simply inspiring change and make sure the change we inspire is indeed sustainable. To do that requires a quieter, less flashy but equally important part of change-making – reflection and introspection. This is the goal of the High School unit, \u201cTalking About a Revolution – Social Action in our Communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the many things we love about our High Schoolers is their deep commitment to our <\/span>school values<\/a><\/strong>, and to exploring important concepts like <\/span>Diversity<\/b>, <\/span>Equity<\/b> and <\/span>Inclusion<\/b>. We see them get fired up when we talk about these values. We understand their eagerness to take action on them. First, however, we need them to undergo a process of deeper inquiry. In this unit, we guide them through that process by first looking at ourselves as a School community – discussing the assumptions we make about ourselves when it comes to these values, discussing the assumptions others might make who view Green School from the outside. Finally, we examine how we do or do not live up to these assumptions, especially whether we\u2019re truly walking the talk when it comes to inclusion and belonging.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\" Our High School students hosting an International Women\u2019s Day panel on diversity, equity and inclusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur students have been super engaged and willing to be reflective about who we are,\u201d says Robin, one of our High School faculty who teaches this unit alongside our Head of High School, Harriett. \u201cOne of the main aims of this class was for our students to really think about ourselves as a community before we start asking others to take action with us,\u201d says Harriett. \u201cHow do we create belonging and inclusion for different identities within our community? And when we look at gender identity and equality, how are we considering things beyond just boy vs girl, for example? What about other aspects of identity like race, religion, family size, socio-economic background, etc?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talking About a Revolution unit was designed to stop students <\/span>before<\/span><\/i> they take action. To create space and time for them to dig deep and really understand the <\/span>intention<\/span><\/i> behind an action. They may have an idea for a desired outcome, but to get to where they want to go, students first need to know from where you\u2019re starting out.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the unit, students worked with Shiza Malik, campaigning expert, journalist and <\/span>Regional Media and Communications Lead for <\/span>Oxfam in Asia<\/a><\/strong>, <\/span>to learn how to run a social action campaign that is intentional and thoughtfully executed in order to have the greatest impact possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Teaching the students about campaigning was an incredibly rewarding experience,\u201d Shiza shared. \u201cTheir passion for social justice causes is inspirational. I hope they’re able to take their learnings from our time together to develop campaigns and lead real change.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The students indeed took lessons from their workshop with Shiza and applied them to Green School\u2019s <\/span>annual V-Day movement<\/a><\/strong> to decide which actions would make the most sense for V-Day 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a conversation about what V Day is about, and reaching a consensus on that was actually really challenging,\u201d says Robin. \u201cWe did an exercise where students wrote down responses to the question, \u201cWhat do you RISE for?\u201d – it was an exercise in taking part in a revolution that already exists, the <\/span>One Billion Rising<\/a><\/strong> movement,\u201d she explains. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t