After reading through these texts and watching the videos, there are so many different things I agree with in regards to today’s students. The push toward all students improving their 21st century skills relates directly to the importance of being good global citizens. I agree that our students tend to be stuck in our western ways and do not always see the big picture when it comes to what the rest of the world experiences. Students need exposure to other cultures, ideas, and society outside of their neighborhoods. As Hopper (2014) discussed, it is important for teachers to provide an engaged learning environment for students and “videoconferencing is a way to integrate 21st century skills into the existing curriculum.” I agree that videoconferencing is a great way to teach students communication skills and prepare them for a future as part of a global economy and also expose them to views outside the world they know. I also agree with the statements in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills document regarding state action on global education. P21 (2014) states one major action to help global education is to focus on teachers because for “students to be global, teachers must be global” but they also need instructional materials and supports. Teachers need the support and encouragement to feel comfortable implementing more global teaching ideas in their classrooms. I also agree that as teachers we are preparing students for a world in which we have no idea what that world will look like with careers that have not yet been created. As P21 (2014) states, “students must have knowledge and be able to apply it to predictable and unpredictable real-world challenges.” As teachers, we need to challenge our students on a regular basis to think outside the box and address global problems.
While I love all the wonderful ideas in this module’s readings, I still want to argue with the ability to incorporate all these skills and competencies. As a high school teacher especially, there is already so much pressure in my course to teach the standards and now with new standards and the recent push toward incorporating cross-cutting concepts, I do not see how there is time to teach more globally or even take time to engage in regular communication opportunities. I struggle as it is to teach my students the topics well enough to delve deeper into the content and make connections. I would absolutely love to be able to take time to discuss global problems and historical events with my students, especially as related to science, but I fear my students may not perform as well on their end of course test as a result. I just do not agree that it is possible to make all these changes unless there are also changes made to the curriculum and the requirements of teachers. Here is where my frustration also lies in that how a student scores on an end of course assessment (and the importance of this score demanded by administration) has nothing to do with being successful in our world and society and is hurting our ability to better understand world problems in the future. I am curious how (if there are any) teachers that teach end of course subjects find time to encourage students to become better global citizens? What are some small ways that teachers can make little changes while still ensuring students are learning and understanding the content?
In reflecting on these readings, the ability to increase student awareness of global issues provides an incredible opportunity for technology integration. The P21 (2014) Teacher Guide supplies a great foundation for improving global competencies. This teacher guide emphasizes that students “demonstrate an understanding of global concepts, investigate global concepts, and work with diverse peers to synthesize information from multiple sources to present to diverse audiences” (P21, 2014). These topics address society, geography, environment, education, economy, and politics from multiple perspectives and encourage students to have a better global understanding. Technology can be used for the obvious research and presentation of information tasks, but the other technology opportunities to address the topics within the teacher guide are endless. I think it would be great within my school to work toward brainstorming solutions to global problems and using technology to videoconference or reach out to students from other countries to listen to their perspectives and possible solutions as well. I would also love to further explore what Tavangar (2014) discussed in his article about making Earth day a global learning day. I especially liked the concept behind the Daffodil and Tulip Project and think this would also be a great way to work on data skills of science students. Plus, the added ability to collaborate online with students from across the world adds an additional element of engagement for the students. I also really liked the idea behind the True Price activity mentioned by Weil (2014) in her article. This activity is another great way to encourage research and global communication as students work to find the positive and negative effects of any given item in the world, thus encouraging better global engagement of all students.
Hopper, S.B. (2014). Bringing the world to the classroom through videoconferencing and project-based learning. TechTrends, 58(3), 78 - 88.
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2014). Framework for state action on global education. Retrieved from:http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/Global_Education/p21_state_framework_on_global_education.pdf
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2014). Teacher guide: K-12 global competence grade-level indicators. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/Global_Education/P21_K12_Global_Ed_Indicators.pdf
Tavangar,H.(2014).Make earth day a global learning day. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/earth-day-global-learning-day-homa-tavangar
Weil, Z. (2014). How do we educate global problem solvers? Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/educating-global-problem-solvers-zoe-weil