Yesterday in our Social Studies Curriculum class, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May came to speak to us. To be honest I was skeptical of what her talk would be about and if it would be a political pitch for her party but i was overwhelmed by the amazing words she had to share about the connection between government and the classroom. The main question that I was hoping to ask in our discussion was, how do we teach students about the government beyond a unit on government in a social studies class and Elizabeth May made a great point in her discussion that answered my question. Each person has something that they are passionate about, and everything we do is influenced by the government in one way or another. Getting to know your students and what they care about allows the teacher to help make connections between their area of interest and government. I thought that this was an amazing point and one that certainly relates to my passion of teaching. The government has an influence on who can teach and what they can teach and that is something worth considering in depth.

Another point that was raised was, what narratives do we hear about the government and what narratives do we create about the government both as citizens and as teachers. Based on the people in your life and what their opinions are of the government, as well as the sources we choose to read and listen to, we will form our own narrative about the government that we will contemplate and share. As teachers this must be strongly considered because we are people of influence in our students lives and we will help shape their narratives. I don't think it is our place to decide if we should shape a positive or negative narrative for our students but it is important to reflect on what we hold as truth and what we choose to share with students.

In terms of lesson planning and engaging with government in the classroom, Elizabeth May also spoke about the important of writing letters to people in government. Once we help children to discover what their opinions are, we can help students to have their voice heard on issues of importance to them. Writing letters to the editors of newspapers, will actually be read by people in government (!) and will help to bring attention to government leaders of local issues. Many times letters to MPs and MLAs will get a reply and for students that can be incredibly empowering. For students who do not yet get to have their voice heard at the polls, making sure they understand that the can still participate in government is crucial in helping them feel important and helping them become effective citizens.

The final take away from this presentation for me was that students can be voices of reason and educators in their own right. their is lot of people who are presenting false facts and arguments on line and by having students comment on articles etc. that they have learned and researched about, they can become educators. We must teach students to evaluate sources for their relevance, accuracy and importance, and once they can do this they can contribute to the discussion on issues they care about.

I really enjoyed that Elizabeth made clear that she is first and foremost identifies as an environmentalist and that she now happens to work in politics. It shows her supporters and students the importance of always focusing on the things they care about first. This was something that resonated with me as I have often been told that we may be Social Studies teachers but first and foremost, we are teachers of students and that while the particularities of the job is important, our students need to come first.

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation and hope to have Elizabeth May or other members of government come to my classroom in the future.