tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61328185145171028302024-03-23T03:13:34.763-07:00Bringing the World to My Classroom: A Guide to Global Education For the last 12 years, I've been on a journey to transform my high school classroom into one that embodies global citizenship. This blog serves as a resource guide for teachers and educational leaders who also understand the importance of global education and are on the same journey. Use this guide by exploring the categories below. I can be contacted at tkajtaniak@gmail.com. Cheers, Tara Nuth KajtaniakTara Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16148598854336902381noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132818514517102830.post-38008912555480648892019-02-07T14:29:00.000-08:002019-02-07T14:29:57.113-08:00Redwood Writing Project Global Competence Workshop Materials<a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UG8gTMdgXkXwuLZDqdz33OlVWk0l2_i-?usp=sharing">Google Drive Folder for RWP Global Competence Workshop</a>Tara Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16148598854336902381noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132818514517102830.post-71662389437079905862015-08-25T22:43:00.004-07:002015-08-27T23:35:00.446-07:0010 Key Terms for Global Education<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In order to really engage in global education, it is helpful to take a closer look at some key terms. Here are ten key terms that pop up everywhere in global education discourse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Global
Citizenship:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as I love this
word, I’ve come to realize that this word has many different meanings and
connotations depending on one’s culture/ethnicity/geographic location/political-leanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, in terms of practical
application, Oxfam International has <a href="http://www.oxfam.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Global%20Citizenship/education_for_global_citizenship_a_guide_for_schools.ashx">a curriculum guide</a> that defines global
citizenship as thinking critically about complex global issues, understanding
how the world works, and being willing to take action to make the world a just
and equitable place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another definition
from <a href="http://clients.squareeye.net/uploads/global/resources/dea_citizenship_education.pdf">a British education consortium</a> brings in a local dimension to the global
citizenship concept:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>global citizenship,
which is more than just an understanding of complex global issues, also
includes the global dimension to local issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really love the idea of including global
dimensions to complex local issues, because it encourages students to adopt
not only an outward gaze towards the world, but also an inward gaze (toward
themselves as part of the world).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In one project in our 9<sup>th</sup> grade Global Studies program,
students study local indigenous land/water rights issues (we are in northern
California and have several tribes in our community) and connect them to
indigenous land/water rights issues abroad </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Global Perspectives:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span>
</span>In the context of global education, imparting global perspectives means
to push our students beyond binary ways of thinking about the world (us vs.
them, good guys vs. bad guys).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
about ensuring that students are able to identify, understand, and perhaps even
empathize with a variety of complex perspectives about issues of global
significance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we study the
Israel-Palestine conflict, for example, one goal is for students to understand
that conflict is never two-sided in that within each “side” of the conflict, there
are myriad perspectives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Cross-Cultural
Education:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span> </span>One of the major themes of
our 10<sup>th</sup> Grade Global Studies class is “Understanding +
Communication = Trust,” which we borrowed from <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/Arab-American-Handbook-NAWAR-SHORA-Cune-Press/12685422973/bd">Nawar Shora’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arab-American Handbook</i></a> and applied to
our course, and I think that it speaks to not only the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">goal </i>of cross-cultural education (i.e. trust), but also the methods
through which that trust is built (i.e. understanding and communication). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “understanding” of the Arab world comes
from our study of Arab history, culture, literature, art, and music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “communication” piece comes from our
cross-cultural blog project in which students in northern California and students in
Tangier, Morocco, complete mutually-assigned writing prompts and then comment
on each others' writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
transformative experience, especially for students who come into class with
stereotypical and highly negative images of Arabs and Muslims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So cross-cultural education goes beyond an
awareness of the holidays and traditions of another culture; it is about
engaging, understanding, and communicating with another culture in ways that
teach us how to remove our own cultural lenses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. Global Competencies:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span>
</span>I really like <a href="http://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf">Asia Society’s</a> definition and approach to global
competency, because it goes beyond the traditional neoliberal economic competitiveness
rationale for global education and is it truly interdisciplinary and adaptable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At my school site, we “investigate the world”
by posing a problem and researching solutions through the Gulen Institute’s
Youth Platform essay competition that focuses on problems and solutions to
pressing global issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
cross-cultural blogging project with students in Morocco invites students to “recognize
perspectives” and “communicate to diverse audiences,” and our Act Global club
is an avenue through which students can “take action” on issues of global significance.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. Trans-nationalism:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One way we approach <a href="http://global-ejournal.org/2011/05/06/what-is-global-studies-3/">trans-nationalism</a> is by looking at the broad theme of
movements of people, push- and pull-factors of migration, the reasons for and the
impacts of migrations of people throughout history and throughout the world
currently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students are able to make
connections over time and geographic location, and it then enables them to view
current domestic immigration issues through a broader, more global lens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. Cosmopolitanism:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span> </span>In the context of our school, <a href="http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=colleagues&sei-redir=1#search=%22cosmopolitan%20educastion%22">cosmopolitanism</a>
means that we try to impart a sense of mutual respect of varied ways of life
and belief systems despite our vast differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stories really enable kids (and humans in
general) to relate to each other and discover our shared humanity across cultures,
so we love to use literature to accomplish this goal:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chinua Achebe’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Things Fall Apart, </i>Marjane Satrapi’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Persepolis</i>, and Elie Wiesel’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Night</i>,
to name a few.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>7. Transferability </b></span>in
my school context means that the skills they develop in one class can be
transferred to other disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aside
from analytical and critical thinking skills, the skill of working
collaboratively has the potential to be highly transferable across academic
disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I struggle with how to
explicitly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">teach</i> student collaboration,
and I’m always excited to learn new approaches.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>8. Globalization:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it’s a modern-day buzz-word, it has
existed since early migrations of people and the beginnings of mercantilism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At my school site, students learn about the
historic and contemporary manifestations of the globalization of economic and
political systems, as well as cultural diffusion, throughout the two years that
they are in the Global Studies program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They investigate both neoliberal economic perspectives on globalization, including the negative consequences of globalization found in many developing-world
perspectives, such as <a href="http://zinnedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/a-view-from-below.pdf">Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s “Globalization:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A View From Below.”</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we also expose students (on a daily basis
at the beginning of class) to the globalization of music around the world
through our “Global Groove,” as well as many other positive examples of increasing
global interconnectedness found in art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
definition is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the increasing
interconnectedness of the world’s economies, political systems, cultures,
ideas, problems, and solutions.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We very
much view it like a spider web; when one touches one part of it, the rest of it
moves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>9. College and Career
Readiness:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now here's another ed buzz word for you. However, analytical reading, writing,
listening, and speaking skills are crucial for both “College and Career
Readiness” and global engagement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
although Common Core State Standards emphasize college and career readiness, at my high school, we view college/career readiness and globally competency in a
similar light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>10. Interdisciplinary Education:</b></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interdisciplinary education means taking
subjects (and teachers) out of their disciplinary boxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a work in progress at my school
site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes years of communication,
trust, confidence-building, and collaboration among staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes risk-taking; all of us have had to
leave the comfort-zone of our own disciplines, make mistakes, and learn new
skills and content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since our students
will have to find solutions to problems that don’t even exist yet, we have to
prepare our students to make connections between all disciplines if we ever
want them to understand and engage with the complexity of global
interconnectness.</span></div>
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Tara Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16148598854336902381noreply@blogger.com132tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132818514517102830.post-29015200039211800992015-08-14T08:51:00.000-07:002015-08-19T22:37:08.290-07:00Welcome to globaleducationguide.org!<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This site is currently under construction. Thank you for your patience! </span><br />
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