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Blogs on Global Education

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One Day in the Life: An Antidote to Insular Living

Chris BaerNovember 11, 2011

Tags Classroom Technology, Global Education, Project-Based Learning, , Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Geography

I teach high school visual arts on the same island where I was born, a 45-minute ferry ride from the mainland. It's a small community here.

Deeper Learning: The Coaching Model

Bob LenzNovember 2, 2011

Tags Global Education, All Grades

Today's post is from Brandon Wiley from the Asia Society International Studies School Network (ISSN). Brandon describes the ISSN approach to coaching teachers towards deeper learning for their students using the SAGE strategy.

Social and Emotional Curriculum: The Seven Doors to Happiness

Randy TaranOctober 28, 2011

Tags Bullying, Curriculum, Global Education, Mental Health, , Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Student stress, bullying and depression are some of the most critical issues facing our schools and communities today. In the past five years alone the rate of depression has doubled among youth aged seven to 17. Likewise, 77 percent of students report having been bullied mentally, verbally or physically in school. Most everybody knows someone who has had to deal with repercussions of this.

Using Project-Based Learning to Teach World Languages

Don Doehla, MA, NBCTApril 21, 2011

Tags Curriculum, Diversity, Global Education, Lesson Plans, Project-Based Learning, Travel, High (9-12), California, Geography, World Language Learning

Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Don Doehla, French teacher and instructional coach at Vintage High School in Napa, California. Don recently stepped up to become the new facilitator of our World Languages group. He's got some great ideas for teaching world languages, including the use of project-based learning. He shares a few of these tips today. We hope you'll join him in the World Languages group as well.

The world may be small and flat, but it is also multilingual, multicultural, and more and more, it is an interconnected world. Consequently, cross cultural communicative competencies are increasingly important for mutual understanding and cooperation - how is that for some alliteration?! Our students' need to be able to communicate with their neighbors, here and abroad, is increasing with every moment which passes! The borders separating our countries are diminishing in importance as the global culture emerges. The definition of who my neighbor is has changed as well. No longer are we isolated from what is happening across the globe. Recent events demonstrate this quite well! Examples abound for everyone on the planet. We must be able to communicate well and proficiently across the kilometers which separate us.

Online Learning: The Next Great Debate?

Dr. Katie KlingerNovember 18, 2010

Tags Digital Divide, Global Education, Online Learning, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

I recently read with interest an article, "British Kids Log On and Learn Math - in Punjab" published in the New York Times. It reports that schools in Britain are outsourcing both supplemental and private education to math tutors in India via online technology.

A Web 2.0 Class: Students Learn 21st Century Skills, Collaboration, and Digital Citizenship

Andrew MarcinekOctober 11, 2010

Tags Classroom Technology, Comprehensive Assessment, Digital Citizenship, Global Education, Integrated Studies, Professional Learning Network (PLN), Project-Based Learning, Student Work Examples, Teacher Development, Technology Integration, High (9-12), English Language Arts, History

Christopher Columbus was wrong when he reported to the King and Queen that the world is round. In fact, the world is flat and so are many of our classrooms in this great nation.

For years, students learned within the parameters of a building, which then separated them into rooms. Students would attend class daily and the teacher would present the daily lesson. This is how a school day has progressed for years. And in many US classrooms, it still does. However, this not the case in three high schools in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

Should We Give Up on Foreign Language Programs?

Claus von ZastrowJuly 5, 2010

Tags Global Education, All Grades, World Language Learning

Foreign language is on the chopping block in school districts around the country. So when Jay Mathews wrote a piece a few weeks ago about the foreign language study basically being a waste of time I was floored. Now is not the time to grease the rails for further cuts to language programs.

How to Go Global in Your Classroom

Bob LenzJune 30, 2009

Tags Global Education, Teacher Development, Technology Integration

Given the level of technical sophistication of today's students, why not use technology to extend the classroom and collaborate globally?

Creative Thinking, Part Two: China Imports Project-Based Learning to Promote Imagination

Jim MoultonNovember 20, 2008

Tags Global Education, Project-Based Learning, Travel, International

This is the second part of a two-part blog entry. Read part one.

I guess I should not have been surprised by the rigid structure in Chinese schools when I visited the country. After all, I was in a nation that is one of the most capable at taking someone else's idea and efficiently reproducing it. To do that, each individual has to be willing to do what he or she is told to do and not worry too much about self-direction. To put it simply, the Chinese are, as a nation, very well schooled in doing what they are asked. This fact, and the resulting ability to make things to order efficiently and in great quantities, has led to China's current economic boom. The country makes so much of the stuff we buy.

Creative Thinking, Part One: A Traditional Country Flirts with Nontraditional Learning

Jim MoultonNovember 18, 2008

Tags Global Education, Project-Based Learning, International

I recently returned from a week in Beijing, where the Beijing Institute of Education was my host. I was there to do workshops around project learning, to visit Chinese schools, and to speak with Chinese educators, parents, and students. My collaborator in organizing this trip, and my translator through much of it, was Ren Wei, a professional facilitator and a new friend of mine who lives in Beijing. Project learning is our connecting point. Ren Wei translated the Buck Institute for Education's Project Based Learning Handbook into Chinese.