The Bark Spring 2020 - Aspen Foundation for Labour Education

The Bark
                        Spring 2020

                         Spring is around the corner!

In this edition of The Bark:

     Understanding the Coronavirus
     Building Community
     New Aspen Teaching Resource
     Important Dates
     Resource Corner

                                         How to better
                                         understand the
                                         coronavirus
                                         World failed to learn SARS lessons
                                         for coronavirus fight

COVID-19 exposes miscalculation of
                                           cutting foreign aid

                                           The importance of social distancing

                             Building Community

                                   Amy Jesse

                         Didsbury Career High School

Last year we were the grateful recipients of a grant from the Aspen Foundation
to support our school goal of Building Community.

We had four goals when we applied for the grant for our outreach school:

One - Build community partnerships between our students and community

Two - Build self-worth in students who struggle with social/emotional skills

Three - Show our community that our students can be difference makers

Four - Ignite student passions for community involvement

While some of the goals were reached more completely than others, we had a
really great year building a community here at Didsbury Career High School. It
showed in the willingness of our students to come to school regularly, engage
in town events outside of school, and their overall feeling of belonging and
believing in themselves. The grant allowed us to complete about 25 projects
with our students at the forefront. Though I don’t have space to tell you about
all of the things we did with our grant funds, I’ll mention a few of my favourites.

Our school has always hosted a winter lunch before Christmas break, but this
year we used some of the funds from the grant to invite some special guests to
join us. They were from some of the non-profits in the community from whom
our students benefit. We also invited the community peace officers, who don’t
often have the chance to engage positively with our students. Students were
able to have conversations and “break bread” with a variety of adults in our
community. It was a very positive day for both the school and our community to
see us in a positive light.

Another project was students baked cookies for members of our hospital
emergency department to bring them some holiday cheer.

One part of community building our students were quite passionate about was
the need for increased mental health supports. Students recognized that this
was an area of life and school that most of them struggled with. In collaboration
with our staff, we welcomed 11 weeks of 1-hour sessions with a community
mental health worker in our school. The program had previously been running
in the community. Our students got so much out of it, they wanted to expand it
to more students in our building. The grant enabled us to pay for the activity
supplies the mental health worker brought to our students, such as making self-

care kits and gratitude jars - things I saw students carrying with them to the end
of the school year.

Our final event was a Community Scavenger Hunt. In small groups, we sent
students out into the community. They spent the day exploring the town, but
more importantly, volunteering! They planted gardens, cleaned up at the
museum, thanked our neighbours and more. Everyone had an awesome day
outside. We built wonderful partnerships that continue to support our school this
year.

By spring, the culture in our building had shifted from a bunch of individuals to a
community of people working alongside one another to create safe, comfortable
spaces and opportunities for growth. We are very appreciative of the Aspen
Foundation grant for all it offered to our school. We hope to see lasting effects
of its influence for years to come at Didsbury Career High School.

New Aspen Teaching
Resource
"Citizens in Action: More Than
Just Voters"

If you were unable to attend one of
Aspens presentations at Teacher's
Convention this past February, you
may have missed hearing about the
latest teacher resource developed by

the Aspen Foundation. The newly
developed resource for Grade 6
includes lessons based on the
Alberta Social Studies Curriculum
that encourage students to
participate in their schools and
communities as thoughtful, engaged
and well informed members - ones
who address issues that are
important and relevant to them.

Download it here for free from the
Aspen website.

Upcoming Dates

UN Observances

March 21 - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
March 22 - World Water Day
March 25 - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the
Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 31- Trans Day of Visibility
April - National Poetry Month
April 6 - International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
April 7 - World Health Day
April 22 - International Mother Earth Day
April 23-24 - ATA Diversity, Equity and Human Rights Conference
April 23 - World Book and Copyright Day
April 28 - National Day of Mourning
May 1 - May Day
May 3 - World Press Freedom Day

May 3-9 - International Compost Awareness Week
May 7 - National Child and Youth Mental Health Day
May 8 - World Red Cross Day
May 8-9 - Remember lives lost in WWII
May 9 - World Fair Trade Day (second Saturday of May)
May 15 - International Day of Families

Resource Corner

                          What is videoproject.com?

Video Project is a website that informs people of the critical social and global
challenges that currently exist in our society, while encouraging action on these
issues.

Teach Us All- examines how the present day United States education system
fails to live up to the promise of desegregation as it slides back into a re-
segregation of its modern schools.

Union Time: Fighting for Workers' Rights - Learn about the journey of workers
at the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina and
their 16 year long battle for the right to unionize.

More Resources

     Video: "The Take" by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis
     Resource List: ATA Library - Find access to Aspen Foundations resources
     on the ATA Library Page. Don't forget to ask about our physical resources
      "Looking into Sweatshops" and "Looking into Unions", which you can find
     here.
     Article: Changes to PUF funding model
     ATA workshops: Diversity, Equity, and Human Rights Workshops
     Article: Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to
     "flatten the curve" ( Caveat - Some of the information provided may not
     be applicable to Canada)

Please share The Bark with your colleagues!

We always value your feedback. If you have questions, concerns, or would like
to write an article for The Bark, please contact us at
aspenfoundation@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2020 The Aspen Foundation for Labour Education

                                 Our website is:
                                  www.afle.ca

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