Canadian Women's Foundation –TAG-V Project
Summary of Sept to Dec/ 2013 School Workshops and Presentations
Abrigo Centre is currently working with two school communities. Below is a summary of the work being done at each highschool.
School: Central Commerce Collegiate
Workshops take place twice weekly in the grade 11/12 Leadership class
Students- 26 students (male & female)
Program Description
At Central Commerce, we focused on activity based presentations that would engage the students in learning about gender violencethrough skits and presentations. We debriefed each skit and identified feelings and context. Films and ads focused on male and female role stereotyping and we introduced the topics with detailed questions and discussions. The students responded with poetry, spoken word and art work. Self-reflection was used to have them define what abuse is. Our goal was to engage the boys and girls in a lengthy discussion about what the ideal man and woman are and how these conditions impact our relationships. We moved onto understanding their roles, to family violence, anger triggers and conflict, relationship violence, bullying and cyber bullying. We used the concept of how we socially create our identity through these roles.
Some of the topics discussed included:
Safety rules; Anger iceberg and Anger Mountain; violence around the world; what is a real man/ what is a real woman; images in the media; impacts of social media; identifying underlying feelings that give rise to violence; gender stereotyping/ roles of men and women; gender violence; teen power and control wheels; healthy relationships and dating relationships; intolerance of others; racism and LGBTQawareness, as well as the difference between tolerance and intolerance as this relates to their own experience.
Skits and plays conducted: dating; stereotyping; intolerance; gender violence;
relationships and violence; cyberbullying; conflicts with peers; family violence.
Films & Clips viewed:
Tough Guise; Killing Me Softly; Human Barbie Doll;images through ads and media;music videos; Ecole Polytechnic shootings and Disney films.
Highlights
-Having the male students wear high heels and walk around after learning about the campaign, Walka Mile in Her Shoes.
-Mindfulness sessionincluded a workshop to follow our breath and focus on calming our mind when strong emotions rise up inside of us.
-The class is comprised of mainly boys and after viewing the video, Tough Guise, they felt dismayed about the statistics which shows boys as being the main perpetrator of violence. It created an opportunity to bring greater awareness to their roles and a response letter was created by the group facilitator to address their concerns.
Leadership skills demonstrated:
The students have demonstrated their leadership skills by presentinga violenceagainstwomen skit and performing spoken word on violence to their school peers. Furthermore, murals and posters on violence and poems on intolerance and tolerance will be displayed for all grades to view at the Violence Against Women Memorial on December 6th.
______
School:Loretto College
Workshops take place twice weekly in the Grade 11Mentoring & Leadership class
Students- 25 students (female)
Program Description
Starting in October, the students were quickly immersed and trained to be leaders on topics related to cyber bullying, bullying, healthy relationships, peer relations and violence against women, dating, rape culture, sexting and stereotyping. The Girls created and rehearsed approximately 15 skits on various topics. Skits were selected and performed at three different elementary schools ranging from grade 5 to 8, reaching over 300 students. Some of the key issues that were addressed included: bullying; cyber bullying and healthy relationships. Please see highlight below for details on these mentoring presentations.
Some of the topics discussed included:
Safety rules; feelings rising to conflict; bullying and cyber bullying; peer relations;
gender violence; rape culture and impacts; idealized images of women; healthy relationships and peer relationships.
Skits and plays conducted:
Bullying and cyber bullying; peer relations;family conflicts; dating violence; sexting; healthy vs. unhealthy relationships and teen power and control wheel.
Films & Clips viewed:
Killing me softly, Run Away Girl, Men and Control,Tough Boys
Highlights
-Students benefited from identifying feelings that give rise to violence andthe impacts of gender roles. They had the opportunity to reflect on how they are learningas well as being aware of group and leadershipdevelopment processes.
-students demonstrated great initiative and established leadership skills through their presentations to the elementary grades. As a result, they would like to continuebeing peer mentors in the future. They have expressed feeling confident and capable in presenting issues related to violence and healthy relationships.
Mentoring Grade 5 to 8 Students in Three Elementary Schools
Part of the workshop consisted of presenting two skits on gender based violence and making comparisons to the teen power and control wheel. The other half of the workshop consisted of the leadership class facilitating small group discussions. In the small groups, ideas of how to change things and what makes up a healthy relationship were discussed. Following these discussions, the students made a poster based on these ideas that they took back to their classrooms. The students were engaged and expressed that they did not want the workshop to end. Both the teachers and principal were very supportive and discussed wanting to follow up with more sessions and bring the TAG-V team back again next year.