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OSSTF District 11- Thames Valley
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District 11 Office |
Education Matters Online
Volume 4, Issue 3: February 27, 2006
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| Common Threads is the name of
OSSTF’s international solidarity program which offers members the
opportunity to travel abroad and conduct research resulting in the
creation of new progressive curriculum on critical issues. The initial
project released in 2003 was called
Globalization, Sweatshops and the
Clothes We Wear. The latest project, From Canada to South Africa: Combatting HIV/AIDS Together, was co-sponsored by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and has resulted in a comprehensive classroom resource investigating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The global AIDS epidemic is one of the greatest threats to development in the world and the country of South Africa which alone has more than five million citizens infected with HIV. The highest rate of infection is amongst adolescent girls and its impact on the education system is enormous. According to statistics, an average of 1,000 teachers per year are dying of AIDS and 420,000 children have lost one or both parents. The classroom resource consists of ready-to-use lesson plans, teacher notes and a short DVD for use during the HIV/AIDS unit. Also included are the appropriate course expectations, activity masters and evaluation rubrics making the material less time consuming in preparation. The package also contains a CD-Rom of all lesson plans in PDF format. Produced with the assistance of the federal government through a Canadian International Development Agency grant, one copy of the resource is being made available at no charge to each secondary school. [In District 11, these were distributed to the Human Rights / Status of Women rep from each branch at the February 14 gathering. If your school did not have a rep ro the rep was unable to attend, the resource will be sent to the Branch President.] It is strongly recommended that the material be stored in the school library allowing access by educators from a variety of departments. It is designed to be used in courses ranging from civics, science, health and social sciences. The project has been endorsed by the Stephen Lewis Foundation which is doing tremendous work in alleviating the pain and suffering of AIDS in Africa.
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