The Big CityAs classroom or community issues, I think my students are perfectly capable of recognizing them (asthma/student health, community violence, hunger and homelessness, the need for neighborhood beautification, et al) and the fact that each is subject to change over time. My students are aware of similarities and differences among their peers and those are frequently studied and discussed in Character Education and Social Studies classes. They recognize that people have an effect on the environment and suggest changes in science. And they analyze weather data and track changes in math.
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By the time they are in 3rd-5th grade, the knowledge and skills they have gained helps students to recognize the various contributions of the cultures they examine in social studies and in certain after school programming, but they definitely struggle with the idea that any particular issue can be dug into deeply to better understand the perspectives of others or even to create solutions. Discriminating, evaluating, selecting and responding to useful/relevant data is a new skill for almost all of them. What I routinely find particularly interesting is acknowledging how easy it is for our youngest students to suspend judgment when confronted with new information about an issue. This gets far more difficult for people to do as they get older.
Overall, however, cultural skills and global connections in elementary school are a particular challenge. Analyzing and evaluating major events, demonstrating how to state the position of a person from another culture, or recognizing how the U.S. is connected to the world are huge steps for students developing an awareness of the wider community, nation, and world. So in elementary schools, we scaffold these broad themes through literature, current events (when possible), and experimentation. At my school, I know we can do better exposing our students to issues that are relevant to them, especially since many of our students are impacted by these same issues every day. I would like us to do better developing skills that will turn into “global” skills for our students as they explore the issues in depth.
My 4th grade unit plan on Earth’s Water has elements of a successful global plan, but needs to add several specific resources that help my students compare water resources as they explore its unique properties and its necessity for sustaining life on our planet. As I move forward and continue to hone this lesson's global features, I plan to include material that boosts the aforementioned cultural skills, and I am interested in sharing this with colleagues to see how we might best do this as an entire school.
Overall, however, cultural skills and global connections in elementary school are a particular challenge. Analyzing and evaluating major events, demonstrating how to state the position of a person from another culture, or recognizing how the U.S. is connected to the world are huge steps for students developing an awareness of the wider community, nation, and world. So in elementary schools, we scaffold these broad themes through literature, current events (when possible), and experimentation. At my school, I know we can do better exposing our students to issues that are relevant to them, especially since many of our students are impacted by these same issues every day. I would like us to do better developing skills that will turn into “global” skills for our students as they explore the issues in depth.
My 4th grade unit plan on Earth’s Water has elements of a successful global plan, but needs to add several specific resources that help my students compare water resources as they explore its unique properties and its necessity for sustaining life on our planet. As I move forward and continue to hone this lesson's global features, I plan to include material that boosts the aforementioned cultural skills, and I am interested in sharing this with colleagues to see how we might best do this as an entire school.
So how can you adjust existing standards to fit your curriculum? The good news is, most of the work has been done for you. You don't need brand new standards. Your standards just need a global paradigm. Check out a few examples I created for the Earth's Water Unit here.
Local Opportunities
I am fortunate to live and work in one of the greatest laboratories to explore global citizenry: New York City. Like many adults do, at my school, we have had the chance to propose neighborhood beautification projects and the rationale for a National Park System; we have investigated weather patterns to help inform our ideas about the human impact on the environment; we have visited the cold reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula and we have visited rural India from our classroom to explore our connections to the world around us. In many ways, my students’ inquiries are similar to those we have as adults with one huge exception: they are free from external restrictions that too many “grown-ups” impose based on finances, politics, race, and religion. We all possess the ability to create audacious solutions to problems if we can get beyond some of our attachments to those external restrictions. This website provides a variety of local resources if you're living or working in the tri-state area.
International Opportunities
As I have been fortunate to live and work in New York City for 14 years, I've also had the good fortune to see many parts of the world during that time. In all my travels and experiences, it has been my goal to bring back meaningful, relevant lessons for my students. In 2014, I was honored as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, and I had the opportunity to visit Antarctica with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. And in 2015, I was awarded a year-long Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellowship. My end goal in all of these adventures has been to pay it forward however I can. If you are looking for similar opportunities, here are a few excellent places to start.
