T he views and information presented are the grantee’s own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State
What is this?
This site was created as part of my IREX Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship and is intended to be a springboard for implementing global competencies and skills into our classrooms.
How do I use it?
My hope is that this site becomes a resource guide crafted by teachers from Gunnison, the Western Slope of Colorado and beyond. Please feel free to contact me with any resources or ideas you have! On this page you will find rubrics, lesson plans, globalized standards, a rationale for global education, as well as information specific to my international field experience.
What is global education?
Global education is not a course and it is not a unit. Global education is a lens to see our classrooms through. Technology and policy have created a world that is more interconnected than ever. We must prepare our students for a future where students will work, consult, collaborate and compete with students from across the globe. The challenges we face are increasingly global in nature and we must widen students perspectives, making them culturally competent, internationally aware leaders of tomorrow.
Standards based education has been the norm in the U.S. for over a decade and global education complements this push nicely. The Common Core and 21st century skills are exactly what global education works towards.
In Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage the World, Mansilla and Jackson, describe four components. They are: 1. Investigate the world beyond their immediate environment, framing significant problems and conducting well-crafted and age-appropriate research.
2. Recognize perspectives, others’ and their own, articulating and explaining such perspectives thoughtfully and respectfully.
3. Communicate ideas effectively with diverse audiences, bridging geographic, linguistic, ideological, and cultural barriers.
4. Take action to improve conditions, viewing themselves as players in the world and participating reflectively.
Please take the time to peruse this site and begin your journey towards being a globalized teacher!