Alcohol Unit

Here is a Health Education Unit on alcohol.  This unit showcases the basic alcohol information as well as its affects our overall health and wellness.

Week 10 Response

In what ways have you found resources that will help you as a professional become responsive to the global needs of your students?

During this program I have been introduced to many resources I can use in my professional life.  Not only in this class, but also many other classes in this program have opened my eyes to items I would not have found on my own.

My Global Literacy class in particular, I really enjoyed looking into the iearn website.  The website opened my eyes to various, already established, programs with the one essential objective in mind, connecting people and classrooms all across the world.  When looking at the iearn website, I really enjoyed the dancing programs they have.  As a physical education teacher I feel this program can help connect my students to various students around the world. 

Not only was the iearn program beneficial, I also found the micro talks beneficial.  I am currently in a blended learning committee.  Within the committee we have to become familiar and develop programs to share with our school. The micro talks have provided myself with an overwhelming amount of information to help share with my peers.  Lastly, the most beneficial resource I have found during this program was my peers.  After a little under a year I have gotten to know and develop friendships with professionals, knowledgeable in technology. 

How is your school culturally responsive to the needs of your students? How can you help broaden students’ world view?

My school culturally responds to the needs of my students through various ways.  Much like any other school system there are always avenues of improvement but ultimately our school provides my students with a healthy and safe environment to learn.  Within this environment they also provide opportunities for our students to connect to sister schools.  One area I believe should be broadened is our expansion among the world rather than neighboring towns. Much like what the article stated, “We hope to share pedagogical ideas with our international counterparts, to develop some classroom exchanges and projects, and to form one or two new "sister school" relationships.”  I would like to see the same happen in our school.

What additional resources do you need to support your students into becoming globally literate?

           

            I believe our school needs to continue to enhance our professional resources through development programs.  I also believe we can continue to enhance our learning by providing an opportunity to allow “experts” to form.  For example, the blended learning committee provides our school with opportunities to connect with technology and hopefully on a global level.  Without the knowledge, many teachers may not have the opportunity to become familiar with these programs. 

            Another resource our school can adopt is a program to reward teachers and students when they connect with sister schools around the globe.  For example, I would like to see a program develop that researches, connects and share with the community various topics around the world.  The teacher and students can provide this information to the community through a showcase event. 

Newsela for Teachers: Micro Talk

Here is my PowToon micro talk on Newsela for teachers.

Panel Discussion Topic #4

Pick one panel discussion you find interesting and discuss how it connects to the Task Force recommendations.

The panel discussion I choose to look at was improving international support for education. The reason I picked this panel discussion is because I feel it closely related to many of the task force recommendations discussed.  At the beginning of the discussion, the Global Monitoring Report was addressed. Mr. Antoninis stated, "A lot of people have focused more on some of the projections we have made for some of the poorest and most vulnerable children who perhaps would not be able to reach the education for our goals well into the century, in the case of lower second education even well into the next century." I believe this statement to be true yet scary.  No matter how often we try and predict the outcome, it is always just that, a prediction.  Teaching is like the weather, very unpredictable.  Now, school systems are trying to be on the "same playing field" as other schools. But each playing field and its given conditions are different depending on where they are located.  What do we lose when we require everyone to test the same and learn the same information?  Do we lose anything?  I believe we lose the essence of how students learn. As Heidi Hayes Jacobs stated in our discussion, "the question should be what is the experience we want our students to have."  Below are four task force recommendations and how I feel the discussion connected to them:

Recommendation 1: A Global Paradigm Shift 

The task force recommendation discusses the shift from globally opening the door to access plus learning. The discussion panel addressed this recommendation numerous times.  In one statement the panel discussed, "of course, as we know, that is the lion’s share and it will grow, and I think for an organization like Save the Children our view is increasingly our role is going to be targeting our advocacy at the country level to empower our partners to advocate to their own governments for the better spending of their taxpayer’s money on education and other basic services".  The word empower stuck out at me.  How can we empower our teachers and also our students.  The global paradigm shift suggests just that.  Learning on a deeper level is an idea many teachers are pushed to pursue.  Yesterday, my school had a faculty meeting regarding the "flipped classroom."  The man who invented the flipped classroom spoke.  In his closing statements he said, "if any teacher can be replaced by YouTube, they should be."  At first I was taken back by that statement.  But looking at the statement more clearly, I realized his meaning behind what he said.  The speaker challenged us as teachers to be irreplaceable.  Everything we teach is on YouTube.  Knowing and understanding is a basic concept students can do at home. It is the applying, creating and empowering students that makes us as teachers irreplaceable.

Recommendation 2: Learning Competencies

The task force recommendation, learning competencies, talk about the various levels of learning and the connections made based on a variety of set standards. This task force connects with the panel through various discussions.  The panel stated, "I do think that we need to help our countries work on the efficiency piece in addition to how much money’s being deployed".  As stated in a previous response, my school has been given devices for both the teachers and students as well as an updated technology system.  Does this help our students be on the same playing field as some other affluent schools?  What does learning competencies look like then at our school?  I believe learning competencies are different depending on the schools make up.  The only way schools can be on the same learning competency from district to district is start with the demographics and address the necessary need of learning.  For example, it is my experience in my school, that the main goal is connecting with the students.  Once there is a trust, learning can be endless.  If the trust is not there, the students will be resilient to learning from the teacher.

Recommendation 5: Equity

This recommendations discusses the equity between our students and the globally connected world as well as connecting our students to the world on an equal level. The panel stated, "So, I think we’re at a tipping point now, and the replenishment would be fantastic if we came out of that replenishment with real mutual accountability on both sides of the table, this is the money we’re committing, this is how we’re going to report on it, and this is how we’re going to make sure it reaches the poorest and the most marginalized children in this country."  I believe many schools do have funds to provide students with adequate education. I also believe not all schools provide those resources equally and nessecary to the programs in need. For example, my schools has made many budget cuts. Programs that once flourished are now gone; however, each teacher has a smart board and each student has a Samsung Galaxy. Does this provide our students with an equal opportunity as other schools? I am not sure I have that answer. Every school is different and therefore needs to be looked for their needs and not what every other school is getting. By losing teachers and classes the students miss out on smaller classes as well they now have a less variety to choose from.  At the beginning of the school year a speaker stood in front of our staff and discussed discipline in our schools. Once statement stuck with me. The speaker said, "treat every child fair but do not treat them equal." Powerful statement that to this day, still makes me think.

Recommendation 7: Taking Action

The last recommendation I would like to discuss is task force seven, taking action. In my opinion, this task force recommendation is the most important. The recommendation discusses applying all the recommendations to become a globally competent school. The panel addresses all of the task force but the most important one they discuss is applying the information in schools. Discussing the issue is one thing, acting on it is another.  The panel says, "a lot of time and effort wasted in reporting. When governments have to do a multiple of reports to all of their donors every year, they’re taking effort away from what they ought to be doing sort of as their day job, which is promoting better education". Many times schools focus on implementing initiative after initiative. Before we know it we have many different initiatives, but none are applied to the full capacity.  The panel touched upon some important questions we need such as, "does the child feel safe? Is the child learning to learn? Is the teacher focusing on the child? Is the teacher punishing the child?" Those are the driving force behind what education should be. I believe we can meet these goals and objectives as long as we continue to ask, are MY students led to learn.

Task Force Recommendations; Discussion Points #2 and #3

Choose two of the following to discuss:

     The article Toward Universal Learning, discussed many different task force recommendations.  The first task force I would like to focus on is recommendation one, a global paradigm shift.  This task force suggests  "a shift in global focus and investment from universal access to access plus learning." This task force recommendation discusses how learning should provide students with an equality of both connection and knowledge. Not only should we provide students with the ability to access this information on a global level but also allow access with a deeper connection to the information they seek. 

     

     Looking at this recommendation, I remember an assignment I was given in elementary school.  We were required to provide a family tree.  The family tree must provide examples of where you family originated from as well as pictures.  Making this a starting point, I showcased pictures of myself and what I liked to do with my family. Based on this task force recommendation, why not take it a step further? Why not provide food from my various cultural backgrounds? A tangible item might make the project more meaningful to students.  It could have the ability to connect with learners in those parts of the world my family extends from. Now, not only can a learner showcase who they are but they can connect on a deeper, more globally connected meaning.

     The second task for I would like to discuss is recommendations two, learning competencies. This level discusses the seven domains of learning as seen below. 

Image CC from the Toward Universal Learning article

This task force recommendation, allows our systems to provide students with the essential knowledge they will need for their future.   The competencies are broken down into various age groups as well learning settings and therefore can be designed to the needed of the individual students. Looking at the spectrum of learning across the various age groups, one can then develop a lesson and curriculum around the needs of each student.  The task force recommendation provides teachers with the information they need to help the students and it also provides the students with areas of need.  I believe this task force has more of a connection to the Common Core State Standards. Not only do we need to provide our students with accurate information but we are also requiring them to obtain and apply the information with modern day learning.

Discussion #1

How well do you think our schools are meeting the goals of this document?  Why or why not? What needs to happen or what are the next steps?

The article Succeeding Globally through International Education and Engagement discusses goals set for our students in different areas in our education system.  Some of these goals are:

• A world-class education for all students
• Global competencies for all students
• International bench marking and applying lessons learned from other countries
• Education diplomacy and engagement with other countries.

The article suggests, "a globally competent student is necessary because of economic competitiveness, global challenges, national security and diplomacy, and a growing diverse society."

Image CC from Succeeding Globally through International Education and Engagement

In order to answer the question whether or not I believe our schools are meeting the goals of this article I must first look at the objectives.  The article discusses four main objectives:

1.      Increase the global competencies of all U.S. students, including those from traditionally disadvantaged groups.

I believe there is a strong push to help diminish the gap in disadvantaged groups such as inner city schools and less fortunate communities.  In contrast, there is a very strong part of education that seems to be lacking when one is solely focused on global competencies and marking every student on the same higher education page, connection.  I work in an inner city school and therefore get to see this first hand.  Within the past couple years, we have updated our systems, classrooms and devices.  Every classroom has a smart board and every child has a device.  Do those updates put my students on the same level as an affluent community? I do not believe so.  Sure it is one thing to provide these opportunities to our students, but it is another to utilize it in a way the students can connect.  Although my students now have these opportunities to "open new doors" how many actually take them?  When looking at my population, there are many kids who leave school thinking about their job they hate but have to keep to pay bills for their household.  Or another student who is in a violent home just waiting to go back to school so they be out of that environment.  I believe the more important question is, what is global competency in those traditionally disadvantaged groups and then we can look at whether or not they are being met.

2.     Enhance federal, state and local education policy and practice applying lessons learned from other countries to drive excellence and innovation in the U.S. and abroad.

I do not believe our system harnesses this objective as much as we should.  Traditionally, our classrooms provide students with information they will be tested on to assess our schools progress and therefore driving our classroom discussions.  My classroom had the privilege of having a student from China in our class a little over a year ago.  During the school year we discussed what schools look like in China.  How subjects are broken up and taught to the students and what an average school day consists of. The students in my class were astounded by the educational system.  This particular student discussed how in China, students have to apply to high school much like college for our students.  If you did not meet certain requirements you were placed in a workforce.  Am I saying this is how our country should handle our educational system? No; however, I do believe the educational system is valued more when given higher standards.  The emphasis is more on student responsibilities and expectations rather than other factors. 

3.      Advance U.S. international priorities in strategically important countries through active education diplomacy.

I do believe some school systems meet this objective providing students with a meaningful education through internships and other globally connected resources. So if only some schools harness this objective, how can we improve this? I believe we can bring this into our schools more if we continue to push program such as iearn and the mystic seaport exploration. There are many beneficial programs to help our student acknowledge the world that is around them. Embracing this and developing connections can only happen when there is a want from the student population. I believe this "want" will come after we teach them the basics. Opening new doors to other curriculum around the globe and various cultures may be scary for some and therefore students can be resilient. I found in my classroom, the students were questioning the boy from China more once he shared his everyday school schedule with them. Of course, you will have your students who focus on "oh my goodness you had an hour for lunch and could go wherever you wanted"! But most students valued his education because he showcased how much he valued it.

4.     Develop, monitor and continuously improve ED’s international activities in an integrated and coordinated manner

At first, I did not believe our school systems demonstrated this objective to the best of our ability.  Since programs such as STEM, Common Core, and the SBAC testing, many of these objectives are being met.  All of these tests are done to have a blanket, "bar", or level for the children in the United States who adopted them.  I do this we need to continue this work in order to improve our international activities.  I also think it would be interesting to view these programs on a global level and see where our country matches up to other countries.  Then we are truly see as a country where we stand. 

Response #2

After you spend some time exploring the site, or the one below from Facing the Future, please post 2 or 3 lesson ideas from the site you'd like to try with your students or in your school.

I started to look at the Facing the Future website and found myself engulfed in the lessons they had to offer.  There were many lessons I could use in my high school health education classroom. Below are a couple of those lessons as well as an explanation of how I could use them in my classroom: 

1. Apples to Apples: The lesson looks at the differences in "apples" based on where they are grow, how much water they receive, and other differences.  Although they were grown in different areas of the world, the apples are seemingly identical. I would compare this lesson to my students during the discussion of discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudices.  Although we may come from different places and raised in different ways are are alike and should be seen as the same because ultimately, we are all human.
2. Are You Buying This?  In this lesson, students create and present mock television commercials for products linked to unhealthy behaviors. The students first present the information "as seen on TV" and then produce the same commercial with the products negative impacts.  This lesson can be incorporated in both my health and physical education classrooms.  The students can use this lesson in nutrition showcasing different types of foods as well as exercising/diets.  I believe this lesson would be an interesting comparison to what we see on TV and the true message behind the marketing.
3. Bio Poem: My students already create a BIO poem during the first couple days of class.  They create a poster, chimerical, website, as well as various other ideas to portray a message of "who they are".  This lesson is intended to illustrate students strengths, interests, and the factors that have made them who they are today.
4. The Choice is Yours: This lesson could be used in my nutrition unit for both my physical education and health education lessons.  During the lesson, students look at the benefits and consequences of purchasing different foods. I would like to incorporate different countries as well.  As we know, we eat different items based on where we live.  It might be interesting to extend this lesson and give each student a different country and showcase what a typical "entree" would look like at the dinner table. The student's can then compare and contrast the meals from all over the world. Which foods are healthier? Why?
5. Connections All Around Me: Me, My Food and My Environment: Although this lesson is ideally for K-4th graders, I believe my Freshman can benefit from it as well.  In this lesson we would examine various agriculture places such as dairy farms, a produce farm, or a local garden. Based on how the foods are produced, each student develops a short story or video. Unfortunately, many of my students do not have the opportunity to have a garden or see where their food grows.  I think it would be a great lesson to not only have my students witness but also take part in organizing a community garden the whole town can use.  The students can act as the "teachers" and help the community understand how the food grows and where it comes from. We could also take it a step further and can go into the elementary classrooms to help mentor the students on this subject area.

As you can see there are many lessons I could use in my everyday classroom.  Although they are not specific to health and physical education classes, they are great ideas to start with and incorporate global literacy.

Response #1

After reading Heidi Hayes Jacobs' book, in what ways have you worked with teachers or teaching teams to create interdisciplinary units? Have any had a global perspective? This topic is one that both our department heads and administrators look for in our collaborations, so if you haven't had those discussions yet, this is the time to start thinking about it.  If you've not done a collaboration yet, how might you get the conversation started?

I've not had a great chance to provide my students with interdisciplinary units as much as I would like. At the high school level there are many hurdles to pass over. Even though these hurdles should not be excuses, they are still reality. Our freshman classes are provided with a "team". The teams are named after our schools mission statement: pride, integrity, respect, and lastly courage. The teachers in those teams are given a "duty" period to get together to discuss cross disciplinary subjects. I find testing had a big part in the lack of cross curricular units. I even find myself cramming information due to state testing, field trips, and snow days to name a few. Not only do we have limited time with our students, but teachers may be covering different units at different rates due to our de-leveling of classes. During my nutrition unit I talk with a couple of the math teachers as well as the Foods classes to help enhance the learning. In my opinion that is not enough. 

Another hardship I find is the lack of time. Our school provides our teachers with "half days" on Thursdays. Every Thursday the students leave a half an hour early and the teachers are required to stay late in meetings. Most of this time are set up as data, department, faculty and SWAT meetings leaving no days to catch up or even talk with our teachers. 

I believe technology can be used as a tool to help connect our teachers. By utilizing technology, learning can be done at their own pass and at their leisure. Truthfully does that help our students? I guess we won't know until we try

Reflection on the Face to Face

Yesterday, our #itdml program took part in a couple on air hangouts with Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Lisa Jobson and two ladies from Mystic Seaport Museum.   It was a great experience.  Below is a brief overview of the discussion we had with all of the participants.

Hangout with Heidi Hayes Jacobs, author of Mastering Global Literacy:

• Global literacy should involve relevant and meaningful aspects of  teaching
• There is a total of 5 portals in global literacy and writing in curriculum
• Scaling is an important portal
• We should scale nationally, through our school, as well as an individual
• Literacy is depth and connectivity, mainly making meaning of it all
• Finland gives feedback and not tests, is there a difference? 
• Google earth pro is a great tool to use in our classrooms to help to connect our students with the world.

Lisa Jobson was our second speaker discussing project from iearn:

• We as teachers need to teach our students to learn and work cross culturally
• Students work better with connection to the information 
• iearn is designed by teachers
• Some projects have 60 classrooms working together
• If a teacher wants to use iearn they should:
• start with projects already up and running
• pick one that correlates with their topics
• iearn has a collaboration center for teachers secure
• iearn is project based learning 
• Join a teachers cohort with other teachers around the world to learn how to use iearn (teachers lounge)
• Projects show one day in the life of another student through various journal entry and photos
• To good projects are solar cooking, and the teddy bear project (swap teddy/mascot across world)

The last hangout we did was with two people from Mystic Seaport Museum:

• Website for educators 
• Art and objects are stored in a vault
• Museum offers opportunities for students to connect with artifacts used around the world.
• Teachers act as facilitators of learning
• Student driven atmosphere.

Week 4: Response on Chapters 2 and 3

Silvia Tolisano's chapter refers to building personal learning networks (PLN). Discuss some of the resources from the two chapters this week.  Even if you don't have any personal experience with some of them, which are you interested in trying?  Consider online global programs, wikis, global books, films, television shows, blogs, and news outlets that may be used in schools.  

As a physical educator, I find it difficult sometimes to integrate technology into my classroom.  My classroom is a place of active movement. Before this class I knew technology could be a tool to use but did not embrace it as much as I do now.  Mainly because I was unaware of so many different ideas and things I could do in my classroom.  One thing my district does to incorporate some ideas stated in Edutopia article are Learning Walks.  We have been using learning walks for almost two years.  The purpose of each walk is not to evaluate a teacher but to look at the area of need (school wide) and give suggestions on ways to improve it.  It was interesting to read what other districts do with learning walks in their school systems.

In chapters 2 and 3 in the Mastering Global Literacy book, many creative ways to integrate technology in a various amount of disciplines were discussed.  The chapters stated that global connectedness deals with the following areas:

• raising awareness
• making commitment
• developing your competence with contemporary tools
• building your PLN
• amplifying your curriculum

           I started to think about my classroom as well as how I could tweak the suggestions in the book to meet the needs of my students and curriculum. One area that really caught my eye was watching a TV program with a global perspective. In both physical education and health it is easy to find videos, shows or articles relating to the same areas we discuss here.  I started to think about how to take it one step further in my classroom.  I also teach personal fitness.  I feel it would be a great opportunity to "walk a day in someone else's shoes" in the class.  What do various people around the world do for exercise? Are they required to walk to school, work, or their home?  How does their "steps" compare to my students?  I also really enjoyed +Stephanie Lavado's idea of using pedometers to measure steps.  She discussed walking to Disney with her students.  Maybe my high school students could not only incorporate technology through mapping their steps but also integrate a cross curricular lesson.  For example, discuss the activity with their history teachers and integrate it into where we are walking.

          Another idea I found useful in my classroom was to incorporate global news.  I believe this would be a great "warm up" activity for my health students.  It would only take a couple minutes and we could look at global news articles relating to the concepts we are talking about in class. Some of these concepts would include self-esteem, bullying, health and wellness as well as other areas of health.  Not only can we connect our discussion on a global level but it will fit nicely with our class flow.

 

          The two chapters also discussed Skype, twitter, google apps, and wiki into the classroom.  I do not have much familiarity with wiki as I do the other programs discussed. Since being a part of the #itdml program, I have tried to use google apps more in my classroom.  Now, my students frequently use google as a tool to hand in assignments, take notes and share items with other students.  I believe because I am more comfortable with technology, it is easier to embrace it into my classroom.

 

          There are many things I can do to incorporate more global awareness in my classroom.   Join an established group or create a new project/activity of my own are only a few ideas Mastering Global Literacy has brought to my attention.  Student blogging and an international sports day are great ways to incorporate global connectivsm in my Physical Education/Health classroom.  During the international sports day, the chapter suggested students would perform an activity and upload videos, times, scores and even rules. The students would then connect with others around the globe and "learn" from each other.  As stated in chapter 3, "we live in a world that is easily accessible, if not face-to-face then at least virtually" (pg. 64).  Therefore, learning is able to take place anytime and anywhere.

 

Resources:

 

Alcock, M., & Jacobs, H. (n.d.). Mastering digital literacy.

 

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-global-competence-resource

Dr. Stamblers PowerPoint

In Dr. Stambler's PowerPoint addresses learning and assessments used in the classroom setting. What take-aways could you apply to YOUR work assignment? What collaborations would you need to establish, and how would you go about making them? How may other members in your class PLN be resources to you?

     Looking at the PowerPoint and the readings of the week, I have identified many "take-aways" I could use in my classroom.  One take-away I would like to use is the following rubric:

Learning objective:

1. Analyze growth and trends in world cities and draw

comparisons between these cities, Pittsburgh and Doha.

Assessment:

1. In small groups, students conduct research on a world city, collecting data (on issues such as population density, population growth, wealth disparities, infant mortality, literacy, ethnic/religious demographics, etc.) that they then map and compare with the data collected and mapped by students researching other cities.

     I think this activity would be great to use in a high school health class setting. The students can compare and contrast the growth trends in those cities as well as other cities around the world. What are some positives that would come of the trends and some negative effects we will see? I think this would be a great way to incorporate global competency but also learn about how to communicate and collaborate with other students around the world. For example, once established the students can create a list of positive and negative ideas as a direct result of the growth trends. We then can make contact with other school systems in those specific places and get a first hand communication with its effects on the people there. I believe it is important to gather data and create a hypothesis based on our research. In my own opinion, it is invaluable to take it one step further and collaborate with students in these areas experiencing the growth trend first hand.  In order for this idea to work I would need the help of my coworkers, collaboration of other school districts, as well as PLN in my field. For example, there are many experts in each field. Collaboration with those experts can help expand our knowledge and therefore; help make us more diverse. Collaborating and sharing various ideas from our personal learning networks can help bridge the gap in a distance sense. The information and resources can be at our fingertips rather than miles away.  

Mansilla and Jackson Response

In Mastering Global Literacy, Mansilla and Jackson argue that "globally competent students are able to investigate the world by identifying an issue, generating a question, and explaining the significance of locally, regionally, and globally focused researchable questions."  How might you begin to incorporate this into an upcoming learning opportunity?

To be globally competent is needed in our school systems today. Our youth should be taught how to become globally competent as well as how to practice it.  In my school setting, there are many things I can do to help my students become more globally competent. According to chapter 1 in "Mastering Global Literacy", the text suggests that students are globally competent when they meet certain criteria. So how can I incorporate that into my classroom? 

1. Students are able to investigate the world by identifying an issue. One thing I can do in my classroom to ensure this happens is dedicate the first five minutes of class in sharing of global current events. Ideally, each current event will stem around the topic we are discussing in health but it would not be a priority. We can look at different areas around the world and the students will be able to investigate and share a global issue.

2. Students will be able to generate a question, and explain the significance of locally, regionally, and globally focused researchable questions. One way I can incorporate this into my field is provide guidance to the global topic addressed at the beginning of class. The students can then engage in logical arguments with their peers. We could also widen our discussion to a debate. During the debate the students will need to research the global issue and develop supporting ideas based on their belief.  Lastly, the students can create questions that can be used on their unit test. 

I believe it is important to educate our students in how to be globally competent. One way we can help our students develop these skills are through various guided discussions and peer work. I believe then we can even reach out on a global level to some of these places. Technology is a revolving door and can help our students become globally educated if one knows the tools to help.

Mastering Global Literacy: Chapter 1

How do you teach global competency?

     Chapter 1 of "Mastering Global Literacy" looks at the globally competent student and what we as teachers can do to provide students the avenue to become globally competent. After thinking more in depth I really liked the question, "why do we live where we live?". There are many reasons people many have but what is the main reason. What brought people to where they are now? What even brought people to the United States? Unfortunately, I do not believe many of my students knew this answer, so I asked.  Some of the responses I got were shocking. "I moved here for a better life" and "my family felt I could get the most out of life if I lived in the United States."  I thought to myself, was I wrong? Do they understand global competency more than I thought they did? According to chapter 1 in "Mastering Global Literacy", global competence is he following:

• Investigating the world beyond immediate environment 
• Recognizing other perspectives
• Effective communication with diverse population
• Ability to take action

     Because an overwhelming number of my students are not from the United States originally I feel our school as a whole does a decent job educating our students globally. The global competent student "prepares by learning how to investigate matters of global significance". This can be done through teaching history, language, geography and other cultures. In our school all these areas are covered with multiple others.  Also, our school offers after school programs for the students if there is not a class on it. In history class they study how power effects different people in different countries and how it has developed over time. In our language classes we discuss various speech and cultures. In English class they look at different writing techniques used around the world. 

     Unfortunately, when I look at the things I was doing in my class I did not feel I was teaching and preparing my students to be globally competent.  So I examined our curriculum and looked deeper into the topics we cover. After analyzing my curriculum I found myself saying I do things that embrace global competence. For example, in health class we discuss various health trends. Our discussions do not stop with the United States but are embraced in all parts of the world. We also discuss compassion for others through our self esteem and bullying units. Currently, I am in a bullying unit.  Within the unit, each student must develop their own newspaper. There newspaper must include articles of bullying from around the world. They must then analyze what happened, why, and develop possible solutions people could have done to make the outcome different.  
     In my physical education class is where I believe I could improve upon. The only time we touch upon global competence is through sportsmanship and incorporating teamwork. It is important when thinking on a global level but I would like to incorporate more into my classroom. During their junior year physical education class, students prepare a lesson to present to the class. The lesson provides us with a game played in different parts of the world. The student must learn the game and the rules. They then must present it to the class as if they lived in the country who plays it. Some students love the unit and even dress up for it. Others just do what needs to be done.  

 

Image CC from www.wikia.com

     In conclusion, there are so many things a teacher can to to incorporate global literacy into their classroom.  For example, in this video Zack Morris, from saved by the bell, is told to research his heritage and present it to he class. At first, Zack did not care to look too much into his heritage until he was told he could not participate in the rival track meet unless the assignment was completed. It was then when Zack started to take the assignment more seriously. He became more in touch with himself once he knew where he came from.  Global competency is a topic that should be weaved into each curriculum. After all, "every major issue people face has a global dimension."

Service-Learning and Global Competence

How do you see service learning as an educational vehicle to global competence?

I think service-learning projects are a great tool to encourage teens to venture out into the community and help others. Unfortunately, without a heavy hand, many of my students would not actively go into the community to do projects like this.  Not only does it open our students to view different paths someone took in their life but the student can connect with them on a more meaningful level. Essentially, the students learn to help others possibly less fortunate then themselves. It is scary to look one's own town and see the heartache it may be experiencing. A service-learning project can take the blanket off of some students eyes and see the truth that is happening in their hometown. Struggle, hardships, strength when needed. Even though it may not be a global project, the ideas are the same. Being able to view others form their own perspective can help open our eyes more to the world. Plus, one act of kindness goes a long way. If we help with what is around us in our towns and our neighborhoods, it could only help our world become a better place. This reminds me of the starfish story. A difference can be made, one by one. 

The Starfish

enGauge Response on pages 28-31 of Multicultural Literacy and Global Awareness

How (or do?) you see any of these points in our schools in CT?

Some of the content that stuck out at me is the charts defining a student who is informationally literate compared to one that is a multicultural literate individual.  In my opinion a student should be both.  In order to be a well-rounded student they need to be able to access information quickly and identify relevant sources of information.  They also need to be able to be diverse in understanding of values and beliefs.  I see a large stress on an informationally literate student but not so much on a multicultural literate student.  I believe our school system embraces the differences of all students but the area they are lacking is the connection from them to the rest of the population.  Similar to the article, I believe students who are multicultural literate are not only aware of cultural beliefs but appreciate and accept the similarities and differences. Another area I do not see a large stress on in the school systems today is students actively engaged with other cultures.  Some classrooms may say some stories or introduce various cultures but they do not fully embrace the culture.  I believe in order to do so one needs to connect with the culture on a personal level.

 

Summary and responses of the preface, chapter 1 and chapter 4

Preface

     The preface discusses our educational system today and some of its flaws.  As stated in the preface, "today’s students need a globally conscious education."  However, the preface discusses how globalism are considered as “fighting words.”  How many of our school systems get this globally conscious education?  The preface also talks about preparing our youth and our educational systems today.  We should look at things such as "human conflict, climate change, poverty, the spread of disease, the control of nuclear energy".  Unfortunately, as the preface stated, there is "no deep desire for such innovative education".  Flexible, cooperative thinking is a second priority to some schools.  Testing seems to have taken the front seat in education today.  The youth seem to dismiss Young prejudices that their elders would normally have.  What our educational system needs to focus on is we "learn from countries doing well." Unfortunately, I believe our school systems today have out more of an emphasis on testing than global literacy. 

Chapter 1

    Chapter 1 discusses our digital age.  How can a change the look of the current student to fit the ever-changing technological world? Due to "digital revolution and mass migration" are requiring a new form of a student to be formed.  Now, we need a well diverse student who is capable of keeping up with the digital age.  The chapter states, students need to be more "powerful" so they are prepared to collaborate and possibly compete with the surround countries. The chapter also outlines three focus areas:

• The flattened global economy and changing demands of work
• Unprecedented global migration 
• Climate instability and environmental stewardship

The flattened global economy addresses the idea of students able to look at information differently and creatively portray this information.  Workers need to be able to synthesize this information as well as project it to the crowd in an effect manor.  The flattened global economy discusses how to prepare our students for these changes to come.  A "globally competent student prepares by learning how to investigate matters of global significance." So what is global significance?  How can we distinguish and are some of our students ready to do so?  This leads me to my next focus area, unprecedented global migration.  The world is an ever-changing place.  Immigration is taking place throughout the world.  People are migrating to various places for a variety of reasons.  "Global migration is felt in the classrooms, neighborhoods, markets, and streets of both sending and receiving societies." For example, the United States has many people come into our country with the expectation we understand their culture, values and beliefs even though they may differ from ours.  Regardless of the ongoing blending in our nation, "preparing our youth to participate successfully in a world of increasing social, cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity" is essential.  It requires teachers to incorporate various subject areas such as history, language, geography, and cultural differences.   The last focus area in the chapter is climate instability and environmental stewardship.  The climate has changed.  Many people believe it is because of the gases we add to our atmosphere while others believe it is the ever changing world around us.  The chapter says, "Because the greenhouse gases do not respect national borders, the problem is essentially a global one." The world as a whole is experiencing differences in the climate. In recent years alone we have witness extreme temperatures and an increase number of natural disasters as well as more violent ones.  So how can we help prepare our students to deal with the climate change?  The chapter states, "It will require students to understand how energy consumption in one place affects living conditions of people on the other side of the world and how we all depend on the same atmosphere for life". Without being in another ones shoes this is a very difficult but not impossible task.

 Chapter 4- Globally competent students recognize perspectives

     Chapter 4 looks at the student and how we as teachers can help them recognize differences, embrace them and make their perspectives.  Encouraging a wealth of knowledge in history, culture, and current events is important to instill in our students.  Therefore "students with global competence and be able to make their own perspectives.” According to chapter 4 globally competent students are able to see perspectives in a few ways such as the ones listed below:

 • Recognize and express their own perspective on situations, events, issues, or phenomena and identify the influences on that perspective.
 • Examine perspectives of other people, groups, or schools of thought and identify the influences on those perspectives.
 • Explain how cultural interactions influence situations, events, issues, or phenomena, including the development of knowledge.
 • Articulate how differential access to knowledge, technology, and resources affects quality of life and perspectives.

Chart taken from http://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf

The chapter also discussed teachers giving their students opportunities to explore shelters across the globe.  Todd Elkin is a teacher who brought his students through a project demonstrate ways they can recognize global perspectives.  The students were able to Skype and connect through blog post to various parts of the world.  This exercise showed the students different cultures and values.  The chapter stated, "For the American students, the project raised awareness of world inequality and their relatively privileged lifestyles. This was especially true for suburban students, who saw in the project an opportunity to revisit their own place gratefully and critically.” The chapter went on to say, "the students appreciated their access to technology, not having to work, and the relatively safe and tidy neighborhoods they live in. They came to understand how living in this context influences their perception of standards of living.” A very important lesson for students to see on a global level.  The last focus area of the chapter revolved around humor.  The chapter defined humor as "determined by observations made by one or multiple people.”. In this case, humor in Afghanistan was very different than what we see in the United States.  To most Americans, humor is a demonstration of laughter and joy whereas in Afghanistan in order to truly laugh “you must be able to take your pain and play with it.” A sad but necessary concept to look at.  By looking at peoples beliefs on a global level allows us to develop intercultural awareness.  This enhances our society and enriches our own culture.

Responses to the questions on page 9:
I. From your perspective, in what ways are the societal and environmental
transformations here described affecting your students’ lives today? How will they
be affected in the future?
Looking at the array of points discussed in all three of the readings I find it very difficult to say our society and school exercises the idea of global importance.  Unfortunately, I believe our students are being pushed to connect with sister schools.  Although extremely important, global connection isn't in the curriculum and unfortunately thrown to the side in most subject area.  This will severely affect my students in the future.  As discussed in my comments about the National Geographic Survey, I do not believe my students would do as well as I would like them to.  Unfortunately I believe this because my students seem to be focused on the here and now.  If it affects them at the current time they can address it.  For example, a couple years ago I was discussing the importance of standing for the pledge at the beginning of the year.  To one student it was in his terms "too much work" and unnecessary.  It wasn't until his father was called to into duty to be aware of the importance.  From them one he would become very upset with students who did not respect our beliefs as a country.  I believe it is the "how does it affect me now" concept teachers need to get through to our students.  How does it affect them now and in the future?  Without the knowledge of global education, our competency to be able to protect, help, and give support is hindered.

II. In your opinion, what are the key reasons for educating for global competence?
What are the barriers such an education might confront?
I believe some of the key reasons for education for global competence is partially due to safety but also it is what truly makes an educated person.  The United States for example, has embraced a variety of cultures.  Most of these cultures are still not fully understood by the American people yet we embrace them as our own.  A diverse country "makes many color" whereas a country with little diversity is seen as "black and white".  Unfortunately, there are many barriers in our educational system that hinders this education.  One barrier I see is testing and lack of time.  During the course of a year, a majority of the classroom time is spent on the testing of our students.  Because I teach at a school where our scores are not up to standard, this is more of an emphasis then other schools.  Funding is important in our school and therefore our scores must meet a certain criteria.  Unfortunately, global competency is not on a test and therefore given a backseat to some of the content area.  Although change to this is the teachers themselves.  In my classroom alone, I have 5 very different cultures.  We share those cultures and embrace them throughout the semester.  They add their input based on the unit being taught and therefore gives some of my students a quick insight to their beliefs. 

III. In your current opinion, what distinguishes a high- from a low-quality education for
global competence?
I believe a high education for global competence demonstrates a clear understanding of the various cultures.  Not only does the teacher embrace the culture but also shares various aspects of the culture.  I believe one was to incorporate this into a unit is to develop a relationship with a sister school in a different country.  Talk with them, share blogs and ideas.  The #walkmyworld project seems to do just that.  I believe it would be an interested project to bring into my classroom.  The ability to not only understand the culture but to also embrace and connect with the culture can make it a truly high quality education.  A teacher must stray from the idea of what do I have to teach to how can I embrace the culture and connect my students with it.  Sharing common interests is only one way I believe this can be done.

References:
Mansilla, V., & Jackson, A. (2011). Educating for global competence: Preparing our youth to engage the world. New York, N.Y.: Asia Society ;.