The right to develop individual abilities The right to be brought up in a spirit of peace I have found that students respond thoughtfully and positively to learning about these rights. Many of them have expressed surprise that children are entitled to these rights, that their nation has agreed to the rights by signing the declaration. As we explore together the implications of these rights, the empowering quality of responsibility emerges for them. I always watch with a mixture of enthusiasm and inspiration as their minds expand to grasp the implications. I begin teaching about rights and responsibilities by using cooperative learning groups to review the expectations of group work, then move lightly into an exploration of the meaning of rights.
Students generate personal lists that they share with other members of the group.
From these individual contributions, the group generates a group list of their ten most important points. All the groups share their lists with the class, and we compile a single ten-point document for the class. Sometimes, at the beginning, students' comments seem deliberately uncaring or lack seriousness. They never stay this way, however, and it is testimony to the power of these concepts that students become so strongly engaged. I spend a lot of time looking at the Declaration of the Rights of the Child to enable students to develop a certain familiarity with the ideas and to absorb them and their implications.