Schools Across Borders

Two weeks ago, we had a talk with Darren Irvine, the founder of "Schools Across Borders" about the work he does with students in areas of conflict. Darren has worked with students all over the world. He helps young people to connect with their peers, both locally and internationally,to help work for a more just, equal and peaceful world. 

We are taking part in a project they are running called Global Citizens Network 2013-2014. This is a network of schools in Ireland and it also includes other schools around the world. There are two main stages to this program the Research Stage and the Campaign Stage.  We will be learning from each other and discussing different key themes in the world. 

Our class has started the Research Stage. During this each school group shall research, reflect and debate key local-global themes. We have been coming up with a theme that we will be researching. First of all we put our ideas forward and we wrote the top 7 ideas on sheets of paper. We got into groups and went around the classroom writing down what we know and what we would like to know about each theme. In the end everyone agreed with the overarching question that we came up. It is: "Is the world child friendly?".

We will be getting into groups and researching the life of children all over the world from different points of view like education, gender, conflict, etc.. In the end we will answer the question from all these aspects of a child's life, discovering where in our world is the most child friendly.  When we have finished this we plan on developing a “mini-NGO” type campaign.

You can find out more at http://www.schoolsacrossborders.org/

Caught in the web of the Junior Spider Awards

This month 7 TY's entered the eircom Junior Spider Awards. Well done to each and every one for having such good blogs that they were very worthy of entering this competition. Each girl had put in a lot of work to their blogs, designing them, updating them, and making sure anyone who read their blogs would go away with a real idea of what we do in TY.

Well done to Abbie, Katie, Eilíse, Shannon, Aideen, Chanice and Katie H

An extra well done to Katie H for being shortlisted in the Best Concept category. At least she doesn't compete with the TY 2011/2012 St Brigid blog that was also shortlisted but in the Best Project category. Katie will join Meg, Aoibheann, and Kate from last years TY classes as we all go to the RDS on March 5th for the finals.

Good luck Katie and TY 2011/2012

Poems for St Brigid

This month TY have been collaborating on celebrating St Brigid. We hope to collaborate further with the Brigidine College, St Ives, Sydney, Australia and learn about the influence of St Brigid outside Ireland. Watch this space......or rather this space http://swtystbridget.blogspot.com/ because we set up a blog to gather all our information together.
We hope the students from St Ives will add pages to the blog as they research the Brigidine Order in Australia.

Meg, Aoibheann and Kate wrote and recorded these poems. Click here for more...

Storyboarding an issue.

In Religion we are exploring the MDG's and for the past few classes class Fódla have looked at MDG No 3 and the issue of Gender by watching the film Desert Flower - the Waris Dirie story.

We took part

I am delighted to see so many TY's actually remembered to write a blog post last Sunday for Blog Action Day.

Here is a list of their posts. Perhaps readers will leave comments for them?

Eiru

Elaina http://eleanastyblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-east-african-famine.html

Eimear http://eimearelephants.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-food-glourious-food.html

Martha http://marthabradyty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-dayfoodnom.html

Laragh http://laraghty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Catriona http://tienies.blogspot.com/2011/10/bia-oh-mamma-mia.html

Sarah M http://sarahlovesirishdancing.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-on-food-home-baking.html

 

Niamh Mc http://sniamh.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-love-you-food.html

Isabelle  http://isabellety.blogspot.com/2011/10/dinner-time-for-some.html

Kasia http://kasia-ty.blogspot.com/2011/10/vitamins-vitamins-vitamnis.html

Alswyn http://alswyn.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-2011-food.html

Elizabeth http://elizabethty.blogspot.com/2011/10/food.html

Laura W http://whelanlaura.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-food-glorious-food.html

Grace http://gracexx.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Aoife O http://aoifeoneillty.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-we-all-take-food-for-granted.html

Banba

Claire http://clairety95.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-fooood.html

Sally http://sidekick-sally.blogspot.com/2011/10/eat-until-you-cant-see-your-feet.html

Ellen http://perryyy.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-is-cool-oh-yeah.html

Fodla

Sive http://sivefitz.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-glorious-food.html

Niamh http://niamh23.blogspot.com/2011/10/gone-off-food.html

Aoibhaeann http://aoibheann-apples.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Sarah http://sarahlikessmarties.blogspot.com/2011/10/getting-lucozade-shakes-and-scrambled.html

Louise http://louisetransitionyear-louise.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-dayfood.html

 

Lisa http://lisalikeslettuce.blogspot.com/2011/10/extremely-hot-sauce.html

Sarah B http://sarah-sausages.blogspot.com/2011/10/whats-obsession.html

 

Elaina http://elaina-ty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

 

Aoife http://aoifelikesapples.blogspot.com/2011/10/nom-nom-blog-action-day.html

Laura http://laurasmyth1996.blogspot.com/2011/10/mcdonalds-mcdonalds-kentucky-fried.html

 

Aisling http://aislinglovesaustria.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-food.html

Blog Action Day 2011 #BAD11

Today is Blog Action Day. Yesterday I was redecorating my kitchen and didn't get to have lunch because 1)  I was busy painting and 2) the cupboards were all covered with splash sheets and I couldn't get to the fridge. By 5pm I was very, very hungry. I did not enjoy the hungry feeling and could not wait for food.

I woke this morning and remembered it was Blog Action Day and World Food Day. I started my breakfast with a lovely cup of hot clean water and then had some cereal. I turned on the TV to check the news and watched an interview with a representative from the Red Cross on Sky News. I scribbled down these statistics:

There are 13 million hungry in East Africa today.
They spend 80% of their income on basic food.

It's only been an hour or so but already I want a cup of tea and my toast to finish my breakfast routine. How wrong is this inequality? I could not imagine having to go without food everyday. The Blog Action Day focus on food has made me think.

In St Wolstans we deliver a Development Education programme in Religion with the help of Self Help Africa and Mr Patsy Toland, so I turned to the Self Help Africa website for some inspiration.

Here it is - It starts with a seed.




@blogactionday11

#BAD11

#WorldFoodDay

Blog Action Day 2011

Last year TY took part in Blog Action Day in October and the theme was WATER. All we had to do was register and join bloggers all over the world by writing a post about water.

This year's Blog Action Day 2011 coincides with World Food Day, so BAD's topic this year will be FOOD.

Food is something that we all share in common, but is distinct to each of our cultures. The way we produce, distribute and consume food is crucial to our shared future, and the unhealthy imbalance of food scarcity in developing world and food over-abundance in the developed world is unsustainable for us all.

Blog Action Day 2011 will be an opportunity to open the conversation about how food impacts all of us – individually and globally.

The big event is only a few days away. I am hoping that TY will take part again.

To kick things off register for Blog Action Day 2011 by clicking the link below:

http://blogactionday.org/register-for-blog-action-day/

Mrs L :)

Suggested Topics for Blog Action Day

• My favorite food
• The famine in East African
• To be organic or not to be:
• Best and worst food memory
• Slow Food, Fast Food: What does it actually mean
• Malnutrition
• Conflict over Food:
• Is your hamburger hurting the enviroment?
  It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.
• Vegan, Vegetarian, Meat eater – Which one are you?
• Will we be able to feed 9 billion people in 2050?
• Freeganism
• The scandal of Food Waste.
• What is the best way to farm food.
• Growing your own – the joys and heartache of growing what you eat.
• Too much or too little taking food to extremes
• Strangest thing you have ever eaten.
• What food means to your culture.

Can you think of any more?

Summer tests!

TY will be doing their summer tests in class this year.

Mrs KB and myself have decided to have our Religion summer test as a form of workshop next Tuesday at 3.20. Here is the test so you can all gather your resources and thoughts:

Using A3 paper (supplied by teacher) and the Visual Verbal Square methodology, compose your personal response(s) to films studied on the theme of conflict. This year we watched the following movies:
Sometimes in April
Hotel Rwanda
Once Brothers
Gran Torino
Pursuit of Happiness


You will create your poster in class. This week gather your thoughts and images for your poster. Please bring glue, markers, and anything else you want or need for your poster.

Good luck!
Mrs L and Mrs KB

Amina on Retreat

Read some of the TY's posts about their retreat this week, and see some of their photos at the blog posts below.

Chloe

Eimear

Aoife

Niamh C

Steph H

Thanks go to Mr Kerrigan and Ms Kavanagh Bracken who accompanied class Amina on their retreat in Glendalough.

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

.
I came across this on Fiona's blog tonight. Great work Fiona for posting this.

Fiona says,
"I thought this video was really interesting and its amazing what happens if a girl is given an education and has access to a doctor. Also what makes this video different is that it's an ad yet it doesn't feel like one. "



Read more of Fiona's blog here.

Mrs L :)

.

Desert Flower story boards

Below are some of the story boards class Emnet created about the Waris Dirie story - Desert Flower.

We were covering the issue of Gender in Religion class and we watched this film to see how one woman fought against the harsh 3000 year old African tradition of female gender mutilation (FGM) and how she became an activist to permanently abolish this rite of passage to womanhood.

Afterwards class Emnet got into groups and made a story board of Waris's life and then wrote a film review for their blogs.

Well done girls.

Click on each image for a larger view and please feel free to leave a comment.

Ailbhe, Leah, and Sarah's story board.

Mia and Eileen's story board

Aisling, Hayley and Michelle's story board

Ciara, Grace and Laura's story board

Poverty Wall

Use the Scroll tabs to view the wall below, then Click the pink 'Post a Sticky' tab below to post your own thoughts on poverty.

Emnet Poverty Wall

I have created a Wallwisher wall for class Emnet. It is a simple webpage where we all can post our messages easily. The theme of this one wall is Poverty. I'll post the final Wall here when everyone has added a thought or comment to it.
So simply go to http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/emnetpoverty and post your message there
Happy Posting!
Mrs L

First month of TY finished!

Grace posted this on her TY blog and I've copied it here. She seems to be enjoying her TY experience.
Mrs L

First month of TY nearly finished; & so far it has been really fun, I’ve laughed so much throughout it, :)

On Monday the 20th of September we all went to Naas to the Moat theatre and discussed setting up our businesses in Mini Company, my group has a few good ideas for it but nothing is set yet.

In Science we are still questioning our one-page proposal for the Young Scientist competition. It’s hard work.

All last week was Friendship week and in Religion we had to make an outline of our hand and pass it around the room so everyone could write a positive comment on you, I got back a lot of nice things, thankfully, haha. Also on Friday we had our annual Fun Run. Transition Year’s colour was yellow and we were all wearing yellow t-shirts. We made up a dance, and we won!
Even though it’s Transition Year, it’s still very tiring.
Grace D

Millennium Development Goals

Today in RE we started by looking at the MDG's. Watch this video for more information.

Class Desta's Retreat

On Thursday 22nd of April class Desta went on their retreat to Glendalough with Sr.Susan. We got the bus from school and it took us an hour to get there. When we got there we met our guide Fr. Micheal and started our retreat. We walked around a sort of maze on the ground and then afterwards Sr.Susan told us that about 500 TYs had walked it before us which I thought was pretty cool.

After this we saw St. Kevins well and went up to see the foundations of his house. Which was up a very steep and tiring hill I might add :) Then it was off to lunch and we had a great time in the lovely sunshine with Katie and Pamela doing cartwheels on the grass :)

After lunch we went to see Mary's church and then went to see St. Kevin's cross. We got to make a wish at the cross and give it a big hug. The day was great and really peaceful we were also blessed with a really sunny day. Thanks to Sr. Susan and Fr. Micheal for the day.

I was relaxed and felt very peaceful after it :)

Emma
xxx

Ellie says of her retreat;
"Our retreat was very much about having time to reflect on our thoughts. We were given time to sit above the water alone, to think and be quiet. Everyone found this time particularly enjoyable and relaxing. Overall the day was good, we had good weather and even more time to bond with eachother and have a fun day out.

The Girls taking part in the Gaisce hike in May, will find themselves back in Glendalough again very soon, for the "Adventure Activity" Part of the award."

Thanks Emma and Ellie

Movie Time in TY

On Friday, the last day of term, both TY classes got together in the Demo room to watch a movie called "Sometimes In April" which was based on the Genocide in Rwanda. This was a topic we were looking at in our RE classes. The movie was very good and everyone enjoyed it. It was a good chance for both the TY classes to come together.
It was hard to watch at times, but very true to what happened at this time of conflict in Rwanda.

Ellie xox

Schools Across Borders

On the 16th of November, we had a talk with Darren Irvine, the founder of “Schools Across Borders” about the work he does with students in areas of conflict. Darren has worked with Protestant and Catholic students in Northern Ireland and in the Republic in order to help the young people make a change by helping them to realize how similar they are.

Darren has also been working with Israeli and Palestinian teenagers which we discussed during his visit. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict began in 1948 when the State of Israel was established and Palestinians were forced to move into small areas of land in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The conflict in Israel and Palestinians was started during World War 2 when Jewish people fleeing from Hitler and his persecution, took over the area, sending Palestinians away. Since this event, there has been a conflict between the two communities. Palestinians feel angry that they are being confined to small areas of land and that they are not being acknowledged as a country. The Israelis feel they rightfully own the land. However on both sides, there are many people who want peace.

There is an incredible amount of injustices and lack of human rights in this area. Israelis are under conscription meaning that all people over 18 must join the army which takes away all other job opportunities. The Palestinians rights are being violated by having their houses searched daily by armed Israeli soldiers and being
arrested for no other reason than being a “bad influence”.

The entire day was a real eye opener for me and made all of us think about how many people suffer in the world and how very lucky we are. I was very moved by the stories of families whose lives had been torn apart and the entire experience made me want to help. We were delighted that we would get the chance to communicate with
Israeli and Palestinian students through the “Schools Across Borders” programme as it was a chance to help other young people and by working with each other to make very worthwhile difference.


We're all having an amazing time in TY, every week it gets better :D

See the work of SAB at http://www.schoolsacrossborders.org/

Louise GM