Thursday, February 15, 2007

Hearing Raffi Speak

Tonight I went to a dinner put on by the Reading for the Love of It conference where Raffi Cavoukian (children's performer, environmentalist and self named World Troubador) was the guest speaker. He spoke about his new book Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around, his new CD, Resisto Dancing - Songs of Compasionate Revolution with it's lead single Cool It! about Global warning. He talked about the 9 child honouring principles of Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Non Violence, Safe Environments, Sustainability and Ethical Commerce. If you're interested in further explanations go to www.raffinews.com

He sang a few new songs from what he calls his Raffi Renaissance. I got a childhood album signed and was able to get a picture with him to show my students. I was really impressed with his public speaking and of course enjoyed his singing. This was definitely worth the money out of pocket. I've come away with some new ideas to add to my new project at school which is to promote social justice in our school community. I've formed a committee with a few teachers and we are specifically focusing on hygiene and nutrition. We're still brainstorming ways to deseminate more information to a largely ESL community faced with socio-economic inequity.

Looking forward to sharing my experiences at the conference and putting new ideas into practice

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