Global Teaching Resources
As I began my foray into global education at the beginning of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, little did I know that so many new resources could help my students and my classroom feel more connected. I began sampling global teaching resources during my interschool exchange with Laura Ramkorun and her Loachapoka High School students, then moved on to use additional resources to help my students learn how to connect with the world, globalize their thinking, and consider how to become changemakers. I also embedded many new global teaching resources into my lesson and unit planning during the yearlong program. To explore two units that utilize global teaching resources, scroll down to the heading "Global Education Units using a Project-Based Learning Framework." To see the way that Ruta Sepytys's Lithuanian novel Between Shades of Gray acts as an anchor for a unit on overlooked and underreported changemakers in the world, scroll down to the "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" Research Unit description and digital poster. To see the way Chimamanda Adichie's Nigerian novel Purple Hibiscus serves as a jumping off point for a Project Based Learning Unit on hope and freedom, scroll down to the unit plan entitled "Growing Freedom: How Plants, Flowers, and Gardens Help Us Understand and Uncover History, Tell Stories, and Find Hope "
First, though, here are some amazing international learning resources, ideas, tools, or organizations that can be used to globalize learning and embedded in daily lessons as well as in larger unit plans:
First, though, here are some amazing international learning resources, ideas, tools, or organizations that can be used to globalize learning and embedded in daily lessons as well as in larger unit plans:
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Padlet
Padlet allows students to compose and share text, photos, videos, map locations, and more. I found Padlet to be useful to help students interact with classmates in their own classrooms, across the building, and even nationally and globally. I found Padlet especially useful due to its map feature, which allows students to pin a place on a map and then attach narratives, photos, or other information. It truly feels like a global experience when students are pinning spots on a map and sharing stories or details about a places around the world! |
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Harvard Project Zero: Thinking Routines
Harvard Project Zero's Thinking Routines have become a part of my classroom on a nearly-daily basis. The routines offer questions (that quickly become 'routines') as a to talk about text, image, and more. They allow for deliberate planning and discourse, and help educators ensure that critical thinking is a key part of each discussion and writing reflection. One especially memorable moment last year came after my class took a field trip to see a British-Iranian show that was complex, layered, and difficult to piece together. We used Harvard Project Zero's "4Cs" Global Thinking Routines to make sense of the show - and it worked like a charm. No more "I liked it" or "I hated it." Students were truly thinking critically about the production, sharing differences of opinion, and taking away a deeper understanding of a multi-layered show. |
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The Pulitzer Center
The Pulitzer Center's work on "Underreported Stories" became a central part of our unit on overlooked and underreported individuals. They offer a very helpful introductory video, outstanding stories, and even letter-writing and poetry contests. Students can both learn about underreported stories but also learn how to raise awareness and make a difference by using their voice and writing letters. The Pulitzer Center website has excellent resources for K-12 teachers and they even offer to send a journalist to meet with and run a workshop for your class. They also offer templates modeling how to write a letter to make a change in the world. Many of my students entered their annual "Local Letters for Global Change" contest and one of my students even made the longlist of winners! |
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The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
This resource - which you could share with students in the form of a simple handout or dig in deeper by visiting the website - is an extraordinary way to help students understand global goals and the way they can be part of making the world a better, more equitable, more sustainable, and more peaceful place. I first introduced the "UN SDGs" to my students as part of our "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" Project-Based Learning Unit, and they immediately engaged with the goals. Students want to be part of solutions, and integrating the SDGs into unit planning and allowing students to choose one or more to focus on as part of their projects helps them feel like their work is making a difference. |
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Documentary:
The World is as Big or as Small as You Make it As part of the fall semester of the Fulbright Teaching for Global Classrooms, each educator was assigned a partner in order to set up an "interschool exchange." At first, we didn't really have a sense of how this would work, how it would look, or how to make the experience engaging for students. This documentary offers an amazing model of how a simple conversation between students from different cities (in this case, different countries) can be compelling, educational, and transformative for young people. Soon after watching it, I met on Zoom with my interschool exchange partner Laura Ramkorun of Loachapoka, Alabama. We decided to ask our students to introduce their schools and communities to each other to start the exchange - much like the students in this documentary began. It was an incredible success, and students from Loachapoka, Alabama and Ann Arbor, Michigan quickly learned about and embraced their partner communities. |
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Canva
Canva is an online design platform that is an outstanding way for educators, students, and really anyone to get their voice heard. You can easily design posters, slideshows, brochures, programs, and more. I used it to design a program for my "Pioworldlit International Short Film Festival," an annual event that serves as an exciting way to conclude my 12th grade Contemporary World Literature course. Students have also used Canva to design posters about causes important to them. |
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Local Resources
Resources in my local community and surrounding areas that might be leveraged for global learning opportunities.
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The University of Michigan
Marsal Family School of Education CEDER Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research This center offers workshops and educational design support in Washtenaw County and beyond. I have found some of their workshops to be incredibly helpful as I plan and refine literature and interdisciplinary lessons and units. Their focus on integrating global and local issues, backward design, and project-based learning as a key part of educational design is especially helpful for teachers interested in global education. |
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The University of Michigan International Institute
This institute offers outreach opportunities that have helped my globalize my classroom. They organize several thematic book study groups for K-14 educators each year. They also partner with the Marsal School of Education to offer workshops for educators in the state of Michigan and beyond. As a National Resource Center (NRC), they are funded by the US Department of Education in order to support international studies and offer resources for educators annually. |
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The University of Michigan Museum of Art
The UMMA has a world-class selection of art, hosts many educator workshops, and is a gem that welcomes my students each year for an annual field trip. The folks who work at this museum cherish student visits, and I bring my students to learn about and explore art from around the world annually. The staff also welcomes requests to help support educators and find ways to help students see the ways that art connects to literature, history, and more. They have even helped by creating informational and pedagogically appropriate slides as part of my introduction to a unit. Wow! |
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The Arab American National Museum
The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan is another fabulous museum that prioritizes education and runs outstanding workshops and tours. They even advertise a food tour of the area surrounding the museum - in the heart of Dearborn. For those who don't know, Dearborn is home to the largest Muslim community in the US. As such, their food offerings - ranging from Lebanese-French bakeries to Yemeni coffeehouses, Syrian kebob eateries to halal beef burger joints - is top notch. And we all know that food is one spectacular way to globalize! |
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The University Musical Society
This organization brings in world-renowned musical artists, dancers, and performers each year. And the best part? They offer school-day performances with reduced ticket pricing. Extra bonus: They write grants for teaching artist programs so that students can engage in pre- and post-show learning. Scroll down to see the poster project I created about a UMS Project Based Learning experience led by UMS-funded teaching artist Andrew Morton. My students got to meet British Iranian performer Javaad Alipoor just before his performance "Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World." He came to our school to do a workshop! |
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Global Education Units using a Project-Based Learning Framework
As part of my global education planning, I created two different unit plans and adapted and tweaked many of my existing lessons to encourage more global thinking and help my students work on their global competencies. First, the "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" research unit description and accompanying poster describes the ways that students engaged with stories that exist "in the gaps" but are far too important to remain hidden. This unit, anchored by text Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepytys, embeds global resources to allow students to understand the value of overlooked and underreported stories - and then to create their own multimedia project to highlight an underreported person making a difference in the world.
Project-Based Learning Unit Plan #1: "Overlooked, Underreported, and In the Gaps"
This unit, Overlooked, Underreported, and In the Gaps," is based around an anchor text, Ruta Sepytys's Lithuanian novel Between Shades of Gray. The unit integrates student research and other resources. In February 2024, I attended the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Symposium in Washington, DC and shared this poster and unit plan:
Poster created and shared as part of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms 2024 February Symposium in Washington, DC.
Project-Based Learning Unit Plan #2: Growing Freedom:
How Plants, Flowers, and Gardens Help Us Understand and Uncover History, Tell Stories, and Find Hope
This unit plan includes many global resources and global teaching concepts. While I have not yet taught this unit, it has offered me an incredible opportunity to reenvision the way that I plan and teach a globally significant novel - Chimananda Adichie's Nigerian novel Purple Hibiscus - in my Contemporary World Literature course. I hope to continue adapting this unit and put it into action in the future. You will notice that it is still in draft form, but I hope you can also see how much food for thought the fall course offered...the unit is full of ideas that I can't wait to refine! This unit also uses a Project-Based Learning Framework to help students work towards a final project as part of their learning.
Growing Freedom: How Plants, Flowers, and Gardens Help Us Understand and Uncover History, Tell Stories, and Find Hope Unit Plan
Growing Freedom: How Plants, Flowers, and Gardens Help Us Understand and Uncover History, Tell Stories, and Find Hope Unit Plan
Global Competencies and Standards in Action
At the conclusion of the "Overlooked, Underreported, and In the Gaps" Global Unit Plan, 125 Pioneer High School 12th grade Contemporary World Literature students completed a survey to reflect on global competencies developed during the unit. The following images capture the survey questions and results. We learned that students felt that as a result of this project, many believed they indeed developed several global competency markers. We also noticed that they were less likely to believe they developed the global competency of "taking action" - arguably the most challenging to build into an assignment, but without a doubt the most meaningful. Our work continues!
12th grade World Lit students completed this survey after one of our global units. Results are below!
Student Outcomes
91% agreed our global unit fulfilled Global Competency #1: Investigating the World
88% agreed our "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" global unit fulfilled Global Competency #2: Recognizing Different Perspectives
88.8% agreed our "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" global unit fulfilled Global Competency #3: Communicating Ideas using Technology and Media
62.4% agreed our "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" global unit fulfilled Global Competency #4: Taking Action
87.2% of students were proud of their work on the "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" global unit.
76.8% of students agreed that the "Overlooked, Underreported, and in the Gaps" global unit was fun.
