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WHAT HAPPENED to #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS? SECONDARY RESOURCES Gnote to EDUCATORS G

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WHAT HAPPENED to #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS? SECONDARY RESOURCES Gnote to EDUCATORS G VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 31 WHAT HAPPENED TO #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS? SECONDARY RESOURCES gNOTE TO EDUCATORS g Te following activities are designed to stimulate a current events discussion. Generative in nature, these questions can be a launching point for additional assignments or research projects. Teachers are encouraged to adapt these activities to meet the contextual needs of their classroom. In some cases, reading the article with students may be appropriate, coupled with reviewing the information sheet to further explore the concepts and contexts being discussed. From here, teachers can select from the questions provided below. Te Michelle Obama tweeted this photo in support of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in 2014. activity is structured to introduce students Photo Credit: Michelle Obama’s Twitter Account. diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to the issues, then allow them to explore BACKGROUND INFORMATION (ALS) or “Lou Gherig’s Disease.” Frates and apply their learnings. Students are ! During the night of April 14, 2014, 276 girls • dedicated his challenge to ALS. His video encouraged to further refect on the issues. were kidnapped from their boarding high went viral, and the Challenge became school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria. Tey connected almost exclusively to ALS. More were kidnapped by a military group called than $15 million dollars have been donated Boko Haram, which roughly translates as for ALS research because of the Ice Bucket “western education is forbidden.” 57 girls KEY TERMS Challenge. (TIME Magazine) were able to escape on their own. ! Social media—Internet web sites or other (AfricaCheck.org) • In February 2012, an organization called digital applications that allow people to • Te hashtag #BringBackOurGirls frst Invisible Children posted a video to raise connect socially and create online awareness about the crimes committed by appeared on April 23, 2014 in Twitter posts communities. from people in Nigeria. By May 9, 2014, the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Over several hashtag had appeared in more than 2.4 decades, Kony’s army has kidnapped an Hashtag—A keyword or phrase that is million tweets from people around the world. estimated 66,000 children to become soldiers (www.reportr.net) or sex slaves, and has driven more than 2 used to connect posts that concern the million people from their homes. Te Kony same topic on social media, like Twitter or ! Te photograph of Michelle Obama, • 2012 video called on the world to take action America’s First Lady, holding a piece of paper Facebook. Hashtags get their name because to capture Kony and bring him to trial. with #BringBackOurGirls written on it, was they begin with the hash symbol - # Within three days, the video had more than retweeted almost 55,000 times. 43 million views on Youtube. Celebrities (www.reportr.net) Activism—Engaging in activities that are ! including Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj • In the spring of 2014, the Ice Bucket supported the campaign with social media intended to create social or political change. Challenge spread around social media. posts. (KnowYourMeme) Participants would video themselves having ! Viral—In the context of social media, viral a bucket of ice water dumped over their • Invisible Children was criticized for oversimplifying the problem and solutions. refers to an image, video, statement or idea heads. Tey would then challenge others to that gets passed along and shared with a do the same, or make a donation to a charity. Te video had called for a worldwide day of large number of people in a short period of In July, the Challenge reached an American protests on April 20, 2012. However, reports named Pete Frates who had a large network from around the world indicated that few time. on social media and had recently been people had actually showed up for rallies. (KnowYourMeme) AN INITIATIVE OF 0!1 THEMES AND COURSE CONNECTIONS chart paper. Allow each group to share their work and post their papers on the board. • Temes: Activism, Education, Global Issues, Politics • Course Connections: Te Arts, English, Interdisciplinary Studies, As a class discuss the connection between all three words and create a ! Social Sciences and the Humanities !class defnition for hashtag activism. On the board write down the word “slacktivism.” Provide students MATERIALS with the following explanation: • Front board Slacktivism is a combination of the words “slacker” and “activism.” It • Student journals or note paper has been used to describe hashtag activism. Slacktivism is described as Writing utensils • a lazy kind of activism done by people who feel good when they share ! and promote issues online but do not take any real action. SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS AND LEARNING GOALS ! Students will: Tell students to listen carefully to the following statements. After each • Develop and express responses to issues and problems. statement has been read, tell students to stand up if they agree or stay seated if they disagree. • Reassess their responses to issues on the basis of new information. • Participate in active group work and class discussions. i. Hashtag activism or “clicktivism” is a form of slacktivism. • Communicate effectively in writing, orally or visually. ii. Hashtag activism followed by real-world action is not slacktivism. • Demonstrate the ability to think critically. iii. Tere is a limitation to “clicktivism” to advance causes. • Develop, express and defend a position on an issue. iv. To be effective, online (hashtag) activism must be backed with ! real world activism. MAP IT v. Hashtag activism can play a positive role in world events by Have students fnd the location mentioned in the article in order to drawing international attention to an issue. gain a deeper understanding of this issue. vi. Hashtag activism oversimplifes complex issues and fails to achieve anything. • Chibok, Nigeria ! vii. Spreading awareness alone is its own kind of protest. DISCUSS viii. Hashtags are effective only when they’re trending. 1. Before reading the Global Voices article, what did you know ! about Boko Haram or the #BringBackOurGirls campaign? Read the following statement last and instruct students to hold their Where did you learn this? positions: 2. What is “clicktivism”? Have you ever engaged in it? Why or Hashtags are an effective tool for social activism. why not? ! 3. What are some examples of ways social media could be used On the board create a T-chart with the headings For and Against. In to promote a cause—something that is happening in the the For column write down the names of students who agree with the world or that someone feels strongly about? Have you or statement. In the Against column write down the names of students your friends/family used social media to support a cause? If who disagree with the statement. so, which one and why? ! 4. In what ways is using social media for a cause effective? In Share with the class that a debate will take place between both teams what ways is it not effective? What determines if a social to dispute the statement. Have each team come up with three major media campaign is successful? arguments that support their opinion. Prior to the debate allow each 5. Another large-scale social media campaign in 2014 was the team fve to ten minutes to gather their thoughts and specifc “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” Did you participate in this information. Encourage students to use the Global Voices article and campaign? Do you feel that this campaign was effective? any other available resources to build their arguments. Why or why not? Did it raise funds for ALS research? Did it ! raise awareness about ALS? If so, what do you know about Once resources have been collected, the For team will begin by saying ALS? “this statement is true because of A, B and C.” Team members will then take turns giving specifc details that prove A, B and C 6. Do you think a social media campaign is enough to support arguments. the issue behind #BringBackOurGirls? Are there other ways we can support the campaign? ! Te Against team must take notes while the For team is presenting ! their arguments and respond to each argument using specifc DIVE DEEPER information to disprove it. Organize the class into three groups and give each group a piece of When all the arguments have been responded to, the teams will chart paper with one of the following words written in the centre: switch roles and repeat the activity. Te For team should take notes i. Hashtag ii. Activism iii. #BringBackOurGirls and respond to the Against team’s arguments. Instruct students to work collaboratively to write as many different Allow each team three minutes to speak at a time and as a class words as they can think of that connect to or defne the word on their develop a new statement that is agreed upon by both teams. AN INITIATIVE OF 0!2.
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