Obstacles to teaching social responsibility

Obstacles to citizenship and social responsibility in schools

"We don't believe in politics," a Virginia high school student wrote recently in a prize-winning essay for The Nation. She undoubtedly speaks for many young people (as well as plenty of adults) who feel powerless in a world of overwhelming problems and cynical, often with good reason, about politics and politicians. A teacher who seeks to develop socially responsible citizens will not have an easy time. But turned-off students are not the only challenge. Others may include:

• curricula that provide neither guidance on how to promote socially responsible citizenship nor the time necessary for it
• administrators who may be more concerned with orderly classrooms than with the
  substance of the teaching and learning that takes place in them
• teachers whose view of citizenship and social responsibility is confined to flag pledges, voting, philanthropy, completing assignments and obedience
• teachers who are fearful about promoting active citizenship (sometimes with good reason)
• parents and community members who think a school's primary function is to get students to memorize facts and score well on tests so they can get into college
• parents and community members who may protest student involvement in controversial public issues

Source: Alan Shapiro @ teachablemoment.org

Morningside Centre for Teaching Social Responsibility

TeachableMoment.Org provides educators with timely teaching ideas to encourage critical thinking on issues of the day and foster a positive classroom environment.

Lesson plans for primary, middle and highschool students.

Learning Goals

These are some of my initial learning goals for the course:

• Participate in online learning communities
• Identify what each web2.0 tool can do for teaching social responsibility
  
• Identify ethical use of online information
• Identify how to develop effective self-directed learning activities
  
• Identify how to teach students to manage time and be autonomous
• Identify good case studies that i can use in the class
• Identify how to develop appropriate assessment criteria
  

Where do i start?

I will start by identifying the questions i have (because I have many):

1) How much time is realistic to dedicate towards teaching students about web2.0 tools? It seems we have precious little time to dedicate to the subject as it is.
2) How can I ensure that the added component of learning a new internet tool doesn't complicate or add too much difficulty to the assignment?
3) How do i determine who is a reliable corporate social responsibility blogger? There are so many unknown individuals out there writing that have no one commenting on their blogs. Myself included!
4) How much can we actually rely on the internet to deliver our courses? This semester I have had so many students give me seemingly valid excuses (about computers freezing and electricity blackouts) for not completing assignments on time.
5) How can I reduce the time i spend on the course as an online teacher? It seems that students send you an email about every little thing and it takes a lot of time to answer.
6) How do I ensure that students actually read and digest information and not just copy and paste?
7) Where do i find lesson plan ideas for social responsibility?

I plan to answer these questions, as well as any new ones that come up along the way, in this blog. Some of the answers are obvious, others require some research. Now I am ready to blog!

Who am i?

I am a professional interested in education and sustainable development currently learning new ways to deliver classes. My goal is to use virtual education tools in my class allowing my students to learn about and engage in new technologies that will be useful in their professions, giving them new ways to communicate and collaborate with others.

This blog is directed to all teachers and trainers that develop and teach social responsibility curriculum online.