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hadn’t figured out the “how” yet. I spent endless hours deciding on the best approach to integrate the SDGs into our curriculum. I decided that before introducing the SDGs, I would use a growth mindset approach to allow for a mind-shift. We spent the first couple of months fully engaged in a growth mindset. My students started building a new awareness about risk and failure: that taking risks and failing is not only encouraged but also an integral part of the learning process. They began considering what it meant to be our best selves each and every day.
Forming Active World Citizens Through the SDGs by Christina Venos, Elementary School Faculty
“M
om, my teacher has given me a purpose to learn.”
What teacher wouldn’t love to overhear these words? Dr. Pelonis has inspired me to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the 2nd-grade curriculum. After introducing the idea of teaching with the SDGs into our school, she asked the faculty, “Why do you teach? What is your reason for doing all that you do?” I immediately thought of an answer, but then she said, “This may take some reflection,” and I reviewed that maybe my answer came too quick. I spent days and weeks thinking about her question, but my answer did not change. I was sure that I didn’t think of my answer too fast. Teaching is what I was born to do. The reason I teach is simple: Teaching feels natural, and I love helping children find their purpose to learn. When students have a purpose, they take responsibility for their learning, they begin to want to learn. When they find excitement in the learning process, they take their knowledge to new levels. This experience marked the start of what would turn out to be a beautiful year, despite all its challenges. Initially, teaching my students about the SDGs was not easy. It was something new, but I knew this challenge would be worth it. I knew it would change me as an educator, and my students as learners. I just
We would start each day with the question, “How can I be a better person today than I was yesterday?” Each morning, we took time to reflect on how we can each do better, whether it is big or small. My students started realizing that when they focus on themselves as learners, they become happier learners. Our classroom was filled with a community of happy learners. This further sparked our empathy toward each other, understanding and accepting that we each have things to work on and that each of us has our personal goals. Once they started working on and reaching their goals, we discussed what it meant to be a role model in the classroom. Being a role model means that while we work on our own goals, we can also help those around us work on theirs, in subtle ways. “What does that mean?” they asked. Well, that means that if a friend’s goal is to raise their hand before they talk, maybe when you are around them, you can remember to raise your hand and remind them of that good choice. Maybe, you can give them a soft reminder, “Remember to raise your hand, it is your goal.” Achieving goals and helping those around us achieve goals takes immense practice, but eventually, I had a classroom filled with students helping each other. And they were doing it just for the good if it! They were not receiving anything for helping each other, except for an internal reward. An internal reward is the feeling you get when you do something good without expecting a material reward in return. This idea of internal rewards comes from the book “How to Fill a Bucket.” We took some time to reflect on these moments of helping others. The consensus was that when you help someone, it makes you feel good too. That being said, empathy was established in our classroom as a whole, but also in each individual student. Once all of the above was put into practice, I knew it was time to introduce the SDGs. One of the units for 2nd grade is Communities. We discuss the different kinds of communities, the people who make up these communities, and what it means to be a citizen of the different types of communities. After these discussions, I introduced the term “world citizen.” We discussed that we are all citizens of our town, school, and country, but what about the world? Do we all live on this planet? Yes, we do! That means we are world citizens, and everyone living on this planet is a world citizen! If we are all citizens together, we all have to help each other, just like we do in our classroom! I asked them, “Are we all citizens of our classroom?” They all yelled, “YES!” “Do we make our own goals?” “YES!” “Do you help others with their goals?” “YES!” This was my “aha moment.” So I asked, “Did you know that
