KEEP THE PROMISE – EDUCATION COMMUNIQUÉ FOR TEACHERS

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) has partnered with Keep The Promise, an anti-poverty initiative involving grades 5 to 8 classroom teachers across the country. We’re creating an opportunity for students to offer their vision for a Canada where all children have access to the food, education and housing they deserve. If you’re a GRADE 5 to 8 TEACHER who wishes to participate with your classroom in this meaningful dialogue and social action project, following are the expected commitments.

• JUNE 2014: Indicate your interest in participating by creating your teacher profile on Imagineaction, CTF’s social justice program.
• MID-AUGUST 2014: Receive additional information and supporting pedagogical resources in mid-August to facilitate your classroom engagement.
• END AUGUST 2014: Fill out a short project application form on Imagineaction, confirming your intent to participate.
• SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014:
• Using a student and teacher developed booklet, have a classroom discussion on the issue of poverty in your community. Teacher booklet will be released end of August.
• Request that your students do the research and answer the six following questions on their community. To facilitate the research, links will be provided in the teacher resource also released in August.
• Population of the community – # response
• People living in poverty – # response
• Children living in poverty – # response
• Food banks in the community – # response
• Unemployment rate in the community – # response
• Temporary housing for people who don’t have a permanent home – # response

Students will upload their community research findings (numbers/percentages) on an interactive map of Canada.

• Students will develop the idea for a classroom-community social action project that addresses the issue of poverty in their community; small classroom subsidies will be available to facilitate the project. (Students have until June 2015 to implement project.)
• OCTOBER 12, 2014 – DEADLINE to upload your statistics and provide your classroom-community social action project idea to Imagineaction.
• JUNE 30, 2015 – DEADLINE to implement classroom-community social action project.
• OUTCOME – A minimum of one school per territory and province will be invited and fully subsidized to send two students and one teacher to participate in Ottawa-based events on November 19, 2014. Selections will be based on all of the above being completed and the merit of classroom-community social action projects ideas.

For additional information, click here for the Keep the Promise initiative or communicate with [email protected]