Tuesday 18th September

During this workshop we were divided into small groups with the aim to come up with a resource that a new student would find useful. Each group was giving a brown envelope which had a variety of objects. In my envelope, there was only one pen, one pencil, two sticky notes, two paperclips, a small piece of blue tack and two rubber bands. We had a long discussion about what we could do in order to help a new student. At first, we found it quite hard as there were little resources in our pack. After a few minutes of discussion, we came up with the idea of a simple map of the Dalhousie building – where we said most of the student’s modules would be held. All the groups had to share their ideas and it was not until that our group started to notice that all the other groups had a lot more resources. We did not complain at the time as we just respected the lecturer and assumed it was perhaps a mistake.  However, she explained that it was a deliberate action and questioned the groups whether or not they noticed.

The groups with the most resources explained that they were too focused with their task to realise that there were groups who had a lot less that they did. The groups – like ours –  who had very little – agreed that we noticed we had a lot less when each group were presenting and getting very high grades. We did not think it was fair, but were content with what we had.

This happens everyday where children go to school with very little. The one hot meal at lunch could be some childrens’ only one. Whereas some children are more privileged. They do not see themselves as any superior because they just do not realise the inequality around them.

What I have taken from this workshop the most is that each child experiences life differently. You have to know as an educator how to support each child without making them feel left out or different to their peers. It is important to help guide each child and support their wellbeing.