Global Studies

My Rights

We have launched our second Vermont unit in global studies this week.  The theme of this unit is government with a focus on rights, responsibilities and leadership.  One part of project based learning units is an entry event.  This can be in many different forms and is the “hook” for the unit.  Many times the entry will be learning about a problem that needs solving and our entry event was just that.  We received a letter from our Head of School, Sage Bagnato, who asked us to solidify the rights of Vermont Day School students.  As the class eagerly accepted the challenge, our first steps were: learning our driving question, critically thinking about what we needed to know to accomplish this task and also brainstorming questions we wanted answered during this unit.

Our flow for this unit will look something like this:

Leadership (what characteristics make a strong leader), VT state constitution focusing on rights and the branches of government (history of our state government), learning the difference between laws, rights and responsibilities and finally creating and documenting the rights of VTD School students.

A copy of our letter:

November 8, 2016

Dear ⅔ Class,

At Vermont Day School students have many rights as community members.  Up to this point it has been up to the faculty and staff to ensure these rights are reserved.  Being a new school we are adding new pieces all the time.  I am not sure where to begin with this problem of protecting students rights but, I do believe it should be done by students.  Could you help me?  I think we need a document that explains student rights at VDS.  Would you be willing to work on this for me as you learn about the rights of Vermont state citizens during global studies this unit?  

I would like a proposal of rights for VDS students made by students (you).  This will help me jumpstart future plans I have for our student body.  Thank you in advance and I can not wait to read this well thought out document.  Best of luck on your learning journey!

Sincerely,

Sage Bagnato