During one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had since leaving the classroom, I got to see five-year-olds at the Town School for Boys (www.townschool.com) in San Francisco, California, explore photos of children sent by their partner community in Sierra Leone through a see, think, wonder activity. Amid the usual wonderings (for example, I wonder what their houses look like; I wonder what their favorite animals are; I wonder what sports they like to play at recess) were a few difficult questions about how children in rural Sierra Leone live. When one little boy said, “I wonder if they’re poor,” the class erupted; the other boys insisted loudly that this was a rude question to ask. The teacher artfully unpacked the problem, asking the students why it felt rude. “What are we really trying to find out? How might we ask this question differently?” To my surprise, one five-year-old raised his hand tentatively and said, “I wonder if they have everything they need,” and then another followed with, “And if not, I wonder what they need.” This was a demonstration of deep empathy, a central tenet of global citizenship because of how deeply it motivates students to work toward a more fair and equitable world.
If that level of empathy—and the urge to respond—is present in five-year-olds who have personally connected with children in another part of the world, maybe all educators have to do is avoid crushing that hope and connectedness by developing humanizing global experiences. Maybe empathy and global citizenship aren’t things to be taught, but to be fostered.
Maybe empathy and global citizenship aren’t things to be taught, but to be fostered.
What Students Want From Global Education
Understanding what young people want from global education can help you engage them in more meaningful, relevant learning. Each year, the University of Wisconsin–Madison hosts a Global Youth Summit that brings together middle and high school students from across the state for activities and dialogue around global education. In 2013, student attendees identified four areas they would like to see addressed more consistently and authentically in their schools (Hill, 2013).
1. Offer a diversity of world languages, with opportunities for authentic use: Students recognize wide disparities among schools, many of which offer only French and Spanish, and most of which begin serious language study at ninth grade. As students point out, “If we start training for sports at a young age, why not languages? Can you imagine if a high school quarterback had to start freshman year? It doesn’t make sense” (Hill, 2013). Students also call for using technologies to connect them with native speakers and teachers, enabling them to explore a broader array of cultural perspectives and to actually use world languages in authentic ways.
2. Increase direct engagement through travel and exchange: Students recognize that their most powerful global experiences take place because of exchange programs that bring international students into their schools and homes. They also emphasize the importance of developing scholarship opportunities for physical travel, noting that international immersion experiences are inaccessible for the majority of public school students.
3. Connect with the world through technology: Students emphasize the value of more and better technology use to integrate opportunities for nontravel international experiences. They would like their schools to develop long-term sister school relationships with other communities in the world—deep global partnerships between two school communities that include more than just a couple of classes connecting occasionally. Students point out that this is easily achievable through existing and emerging technologies, citing the use of technology as a far less expensive and more convenient way to bring the world into the classroom.
4. Foster open-mindedness; promote awareness and acceptance: Students emphasize the importance not just of learning about the world but also of doing so in ways that develop a less nationalistic lens for engagement. For example, recognizing that most of their schools focus on national themes far more than international themes, one group notes, “Intolerance and ignorance of other cultures must be minimized. Get rid of patriotic egotism” (Hill, 2013). Students also recognize their own roles in spreading enthusiasm and open-mindedness within their communities, noting that young people need to get involved in global causes and be part of creating change in their schools and the world.
Hooking into students’ existing urges and interests does not mean ignoring significant core content; it means creating a space for students to think and create for themselves within the context of our academic disciplines. It means recognizing that education is less about covering a breadth of knowledge and more about uncovering students’ sense of passion and purpose; facilitating their voice and empowerment; and helping them see how disciplines matter across the patchwork of human experience.
Hooking into students’ existing urges and interests does not mean ignoring significant core content.
Why You’re Here
This book is for educators who want to find that middle ground—who want to develop equitable global partnerships based on trust, mutual respect, and a shared vision of global collaboration and development. Accessible for beginners, this book will help lead you through the process of developing project ideas, finding existing programs or partners on your own, designing and maintaining the collaboration, and evaluating your success. Also, to challenge more advanced global educators, this book invites conversations about how to handle more controversial topics in partnerships, build partnerships more equitably for all involved, and spread global thinking and engagement across the broader curriculum and school community.
This book will be helpful for teachers, instructional leaders, and administrators who strive to build direct global connections into the educational experiences they create for students in all disciplines and grade levels across the preK–12 spectrum (though many of these strategies would also work for higher education settings). It is also for specialists, after-school program leaders, camp counselors, and anyone helping foster global citizenship and the urge for collaborative action in young people.
In chapter 1, you will explore the concept and importance of global competency as a central facet of global citizenship, and you will consider how partnerships might foster that competency. In chapter 2, you will begin defining the kind of partnership you hope to build, exploring key elements to determine student learning priorities. Chapter 3 reveals several global partnership examples by age group, to help deepen your vision of what’s possible when you connect your classroom to the world. In chapters 4 and 5, you will explore ways to find a partner, first through existing global partnership programs (chapter 4), and then through building a partnership on your own via online networking or travel (chapter 5). Chapter 6 lays out key strategies for communicating well with your global partner, as well as an overview of several useful technologies for live and off-line communication. Chapter 7 sets you up for an equitable experience by exploring some of the pitfalls to avoid in global