Local and Community Resources
Washington, DC is teeming with resources to facilitate teachers who want to teach Global Education. Below are 6 resources to help you get started. You can click on the picture to be taken to the accompanying website. Do you know more Washington DC Global Education resources that I should include? Please let me know about them through the contact form on my about page!
International Opportunities
There are plenty of resources online to connect you and your students to others across the globe. Intercultural exchanges-- whether online, on paper, on in person-- are transformative for students. Below are some resources to connect you and your students to people and cultures from all over the world.
EPals is a website that connects classrooms in cultural exchanges, language learning, and projects. Students can connect with classrooms from around the world to gain wider global perspectives and investigate the world in which they live. Students practice oral and written communication while making friends from all over!
IEarn is another website which uses the Internet to connect classrooms. Teachers can search for areas of the world they want to connect with, and message through this interface. Classroom communications can be individual or in groups. The one obstacle I found when using this is the amount of time it takes to actually connect with a classroom, so plan early!
Mystery Skype is such a cool idea! Teachers log on to a Mystery Skype database to plan a date and time for their students to meet in an online hang out. Neither group of students knows where the others are from, and classes take turns asking each other geographic questions to figure out the other's location. It's a great idea that uses geography, cultural clues, and language clues to connect students.
Using online, local, and text resources are great ways to get started with Global Education. However, being a traveler myself, I think exposure to the globe and world is the ultimate way to bring the experience alive for your students. Below are some international opportunities for teachers to get out there and start traveling the world to bring a global lens back for their students.
Teachers for Global Classrooms is a program funded through IREX and the State Department. This program gives teachers the opportunity to take a highly rigorous professional development course about global education, to participate in a Global Education Symposium in Washington DC, and to venture out on an International Field Experience. This is the program I did and it was incredibly transformative for myself and my pedagogy.
Earthwatch Institute is a great organization that allows people who are passionate about environmental issues work for a real cause. Earthwatch Institute operates all over the world on scientific expeditions, which regular old people are welcome to join. TeachEarth is Earthwatch's teacher program which selects "talented teachers from all subject areas to work side-by-side with world class scientists on field research expeditions around the world." This sounds like an amazing fellowship for science teachers, regular teachers, or any human who enjoys making a difference!
The Fund for Teachers is an organization that believes in the transformative nature of travel. Fund for Teachers allows teachers, or groups of teachers, to design their own units around something and someplace they are interested in. Fund for Teachers grants teachers the opportunity to travel abroad, which will in turn enrich the lives of the students in those classrooms. The application for this usually opens in fall and the deadline is mid-winter.