I recently took a course called Teach Sustainable Development Goals, that was created by Microsoft. During the course, I learned a lot about the many goals that the United Nations want humans to reach by 2030. 193 countries have adopted these goals and to reach them by 2030 will take heroic effort, determination, and the ability to adapt to change. All of the development goals should be taught to schoolchildren because they are the ones that can have a big impact on being able to achieve the goals. Children are where change starts and teaching them young will get them ready for the future when it comes their time to make a difference.
Aside from reading about the goals while taking the Microsoft course, I did my own research on The United Nations SDG’s. One goal that I believe is very important for children to learn at an early age is goal number five, Gender Equality. I went onto the United Nations Developmental Programme website to learn more about gender equality. The plan for this goal is to put discrimination against all women and girls to an end. Empowering women helps economic growth and development, which is just what the world needs. This website is full of lots of information and many facts and figures to help people better understand why it is important to end discrimination towards girls. After reading through the section on goal number five, I thought of a way to teach this specific goal in my P-3 classroom.
The lesson that I have come up with is easy, informative, and fun. Since I want to teach younger grades, lessons should be fun/exciting and not too difficult. My idea on how to teach my students about gender equality is to make a game about it. I would have a set of questions or facts that relate to both males and females and ask them to the class to see if the students think if it relates to a male or female. By doing this they will be learning about what gender equality really means and that girls can do anything boys do while having fun playing the game. I will also be sure to treat all my students the same and make sure all their voices are heard. I believe that doing that, will set an example for the children to follow throughout their whole life. Making sure they understand that everyone is equal and no person should be left out or left unheard.
