Social Justice Research Projects

"One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being," wrote memoirist May Sarton

Next week, the 9th grade writing teacher Zac and I will work together for an end of semester project. The corresponding ppt is more detailed and I will use this as their introduction.

302/303: The 302 and 303 class will research a biography of a Social Justice hero or heroine, fill out a Facebook profile page and then choose a final project: interview this person, write an imaginary diary entry of this person, or create a comic book/book of their life.

PROJECT DUE DATE: FRIDAY JUNE 18 4PM (MY OFFICE)

Here are some useful links for biographies:
Asian Americans and Moments in People’s History
Ducksters

301:The 301 class with their higher level English will focus on using the computer lab to research about local NGOs in Taiwan and will  create a local NGO. Their grading rubric for the research and FB page is here.

Ideally if wehad time, their final project would be either to chose to interview someone from a local NGO or write a project proposal for a local NGO.  Here are some sample project proposals.

I realized from their computer lab research during our class debate, they have very little exposure on how to research, so I found some helpful links.

Here are some useful links:
http://www.taiwanngo.tw/bin/ho
me.php?Lang=en
Taiwan Women's Web
Environmental and Conservation Associations in Taiwan
TEIA (Taiwan Environmental Information Center)

A-Z
Asia Pacific Public Affairs Forum
Asia-Pacific Society of Travel Medecine (ASTM)
Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC)
Asian-Pacific Meeting of Religious (AMOR)
Awakening Foundation Focus: Women's rights.
Beautiful Life Television
Begonia Foundation
Bureau of International Exchange of Publications
Center for the Third Sector
Chi Mai Culture Foundation
Child In Action foundation
Child Welfare League Foundation, R.O.C.
Chinag Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange-CCK Foundation
Democracy Foundation
Eden Social Welfare Foundation
End Child Prostitution Association, Taiwan (ECPAT) Focus: International trafficking and prostitution of teen girls.
Garden of Hope Foundation Focus: Child prostitution and sexual abuse.
Girl Scouts of Taiwan
Good Shepherd Sisters of Taiwan
Good Shepherd Welfare Services I-Lan Good shepherd Center (Yilan City)
Institute for National Development
Institute of International Relations, Taipei (IIR)
International Cultural Foundation 
Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace - R.O.C.
Li Tien-Lu Puppet Foundation
Make-A-Wish Taiwan
MRWalker
Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation
Suan-Lien Elderly Center 
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF)
Taiwan Grassroots Women Worker's Centre Focus: Female workers' working rights and health problem. 
Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps
Taiwan Women Development Association
Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation Focus: The rights of abused teen girls. 
Taiwan Zen Buddhist Association
The Big Bear Association
The Dharma Drum College of Humanitics and Social Sciences
The Field Relief Agency Of Taiwan
The Premature Baby Foundation of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
The Society of Wilderness
Tien Cultural Foundation
Tien Educational Center Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation Service Center
Tzu-Hsin,CHI
Vietnamese Migrant Workers & Brides Office
Women Entrepreneurs Association of Taiwan
Women's Federation of World Peace
World Leadership Education Foundation
Youth Pure Love Alliance of R.O.C.


This should fill up the final weeks of their semester which ends June 17.

Social Justice Research Project by KathyBenavides

Latest Research Over the Weekend

During our 3 day 10/10 weekend, I read a couple of relevant articles on learning. Both were in the New York Times. The first article was  a book review of, " How We Learn, the Surprising Truth About When, Where and Why It Happens" by Benedict Carey. It shows the most efficient and effective ways to learn and study for different tests. Its a must read for every parent or educator.

For example, studying for a test on a foreign language, its best to go to bed early the night before the test, and wake up in the morning to review, while for a math test, its better to review right before sleep. He also questions the whole "cramming for tests" as students don't learn or retain anything and he criticizes sitting for long periods of time studying as its an inefficient way to absorb and retain information. He recommends short periods of study in different environments as, "the brain likes variety." To read the full review click here.

I'm all for more time efficient studying and relevant testing so kids have more time with their families and more time to exercise. To support my previous blog on exercise promoting academic excellence (see The Case for More P.E.)  the Times had another article called, "How Exercise Can Boost Young Brains" which reiterates old and new studies that if children take a walk before a math or reading test, their scores improve. The latest tests prove exercise (in this case 70 minutes of moderate to intense playing after school) improved the part of the brain that controls executive functioning, as well as their ability to  pay attention and block out unwanted distractions (everything a teachers wants from students).

Maybe instead of private tutoring with a teacher after school, it would be holistically beneficial to have them run, kick a soccer ball or swim laps with their teacher.