Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: What are Human Rights?

30 minutes

Part B: Exploring Rights and Freedoms: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

10 minutes

Reflection

Part A: What are Human Rights?

Preparation

Before your class arrives, set up the required equipment to watch an online video and stick the four Seed Discussion Prompts onto the classroom walls at even intervals. Leave a couple of markers under each prompt for students to use. Arrange the classroom so that chairs are in a horseshoe formation facing a screen. Two rows may be required depending on the size of your class. It’s also advisable to push the tables to the sides of the room, so that the space doesn’t feel cramped. Once the class arrives, invite students to be seated.

The tables can stay at the sides of the classroom for the rest of lesson.

Step 1

Let students know that the learning intention for the lesson is to understand more about the rights and freedoms that people are entitled to. Throughout the lesson, students will have the opportunity to think about what they know, and extend their understanding.

Tell students they are going to watch a short video. Invite students to turn their attention to the screen and foreshadow with the class that while watching, they should look out for:

Information that they don’t understand
Things that seem surprising or interesting
Vocabulary that they want to know
Things that remind them of other things they know

Step 2

Create a sense of focus for your class by dimming or switching off the overhead lights. Play the video through from start to finish.

What are Human Rights? (https://youtu.be/WJsUfck01Js)

Step 3

Invite students to move to one of the four Seed Discussion Prompts attached to the walls of the classroom, grab a marker and write their response to the prompt directly onto the paper (encourage students to distribute themselves evenly and reassure students that they will be rotating around to each prompt). Once all students have contributed their responses, encourage them to circulate around to the next prompt until they have responded to all four.

Step 4

Move the prompts to the front of the classroom and place them where they are visible. Invite students to return to the horseshoe formation. Take some time to highlight this activity as an example of working collaboratively to build a deeper understanding and acknowledge the contribution that students have made. Draw the class’s attention to some of the key responses as well as the diversity of responses. Some of the responses could include:

Rights and freedoms can be defined in many ways - there is no universally agreed definition, and our understanding of human rights is continually developing. Some definitions include:
- The recognition and respect of peoples’ dignity
- A set of moral and legal guidelines that promote and protect the recognition of our values, our identity and access to an adequate standard of living
- The basic standards by which we can identify and measure inequality and fairness
- The rights associated with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an international document that recognises the basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings are entitled.
Some rights are written into law and you can defend them in court. Some rights are ‘moral rights’, and are based on people’s sense of what is fair or just.
Human rights are not privileges - they don’t need to be earned and can’t be taken away as punishment.
The Magna Carta (1215) was an important milestone in the incorporation of human rights into national law.

If students haven't noted some of the points above, highlight them for the class, and inform students that in the next part of the lesson, they will work together to deepen their understanding of human rights as they are formalised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Part B: Exploring Rights and Freedoms: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Step 1

Invite students to form groups of 4-5 and arrange themselves so that they are seated in small circles. Let students know that a circle formation encourages people to work collaboratively and inclusively - two things that are really important when working together.

Step 2

Distribute one (pre-cut) copy of the Categories of Human Rights Match-Up and a set of UDHR articles to each group. Inform groups that their challenge is to work together to match each category with its definition, and then assign each of the UDHR articles to a category.

Allow groups enough time to work together to read each article, discuss their thoughts and complete the challenge.

Step 3

Project the Categories of Human Rights display so that the class can see it on a screen. Work together as a class to assign the 30 Articles of the UDHR to each category.

Categories of Human Rights	Definition	UDHR Articles
Rights of the individual or Personal rights	Summed up as ‘my right to be me’. They are rights that protect one’s freedom to act, work, think and behave as they wish, to be themselves and live as they wish to live.
Civil and political rights or Rights of the individual in relation to the social group	Summed up as ‘don’t interfere with us.’ They are a group of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from abuse by governments and organisations, and ensure one’s ability to participate in society.
Civil liberties and political rights or Rights of the group	Also known as collective rights, these rights concern people as a group, rather than the individual. They concern issues to do with spiritual, public and political rights such as the right to freedom of religion and freedom of association.
Social, economic and cultural rights	This recognises rights such as the right to work, to housing and the right to an adequate standard of living.

Reflection

Ask students to move/arrange themselves so that the class is sitting in a large circle formation. In a class discussion, challenge students to respond to the following question:

Where do you see human rights in action in your life?

Encourage students to think in a considered way about their response. They may even like to note down a couple of dot points so that they have a reflection to refer to. Facilitate a class sharing session where each student shares their response. You could invite students to volunteer to share their response; alternatively, start at a point in the circle, and work around it one-by-one to ensure participation from each class member.

Summarise the class discussion by drawing students’ attention to the universal nature of human rights. Remind students that all humans, regardless of where they live, have human rights simply because they are human!

Connect this Tuning In lesson to the unit’s upcoming Finding Out lessons by letting your class know that there are systems in place in Australia that act to protect the rights and freedoms of people. In the next lessons, the class will be exploring those systems and the connection to our rights and freedoms.

Take It Further

Encourage students to complete these interactive lessons to further explore human rights and responsibilities. The two lessons facilitate the exploration of the meaning of ‘rights’ and develop an understanding of human rights and the responsibilities that complement them.

Access the lessons here.

Differentiated Learning

Extension

Students research and share their understanding of the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

OR

Collaborate to create an illustrated class poster that details each of the articles in the UDHR.

Provisional learning support

Students could be encouraged to pair up and discuss their ideas for the Seed Discussion Organiser. Students may benefit from writing down their ideas on the reflection question before the class discussion occurs.

Story of Our Rights and Freedoms - Tuning In

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