About this session
In collaboration with CoDevelopment Canada, Spur Change is pleased to offer a new session of the Share & Learn Series dedicated to primary and secondary teachers interested in Global Citizenship.
In this session, Mercedes Martinez retold the lived experiences of teachers on the front line of climate change and cuts to education, to share concepts of mutual aid, cooperation and collaboration with other public sectors (ie. health), whole-of-community disaster relief, and community organizing in defense of educational communities to discuss how teachers advocated for classrooms and communities in Puerto Rico. She also offered a space to discuss how solidarity can be a tool to promote equity and social justice in and outside schools. Learn more about pedagogical and advocacy tools to use in the classroom and in your community to facilitate more positive and equitable teaching and learning environments by checking out the recording below.
About the Presenter
Mercedes Martinez
This session was facilitated by Mercedes Martinez of the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR). Mercedes Martínez is a social justice and education justice fighter who has been part of the FMPR since 2006 and its President since 2015. She obtained her master’s degree in ESL from the University of Puerto Rico and participated in a 10-day strike in 2008. She also took part in the fight against school closures from 2014 to 2018. She has represented the union nationwide and internationally in events such as the Network for Public Education, the Trinational Coalition Conference, forums held by the CUNY Professors Union, the Journey for Justice Alliance, the Teachers Curriculum Fair in Chicago, the Communities for Just Schools Conference in New Orleans, and workshops in Labor Notes.
About the Share & Learn Series
Starting October 2021, Spur Change hosted a Share & Learn Series on Global Citizenship, acting as the ultimate opportunity for primary and secondary educators to engage youth as effective global citizens, and advocates of the SDGs and Gender Equality. Each event of this online series was hosted and organized in collaboration with the Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation, and is available to all interested teachers across Canada in both official languages.