TGC Cohort #2 has arrived in Morocco!

Morocco

Morocco's location in Africa

One of the TGC teachers in the Morocco cohort posted about 20 minutes ago via Facebook that they have arrived by bus in Rabat after their flight landed in Casablanca!!! I will share more details as I get them.

It is so very exciting & weird to realize I will land in Kyiv, Ukraine four weeks from today. Yes, that would be a mere 28 days (27 until departure)!!!

Update at 7:45 pm (EST) Sunday:  Later this afternoon I learned they could not land in Morocco's capital city of Rabat due to high winds. That is why they were rerouted for landing to Casablanca & then bussed to Rabat.  Of course, to me it sounds pretty cool to say you landed in Casablanca!!!

On the right side of my blog you can find a list (Blogs I Follow) with many of my colleagues Teachers for Global Classrooms travel blogs. Maintaining a travel blog before, during (as possible) & following travel is one of the requirements/expectations as a TGC fellow. The most recently updated blogs are on top with a few exceptions (depending on blog hosting platform). One exception is a Morocco colleague; so if you look at the bottom of the blog list, it is Travel Blog - ASKIvinsTravels :). This is the fellow I've been following this afternoon via Facebook.

Ukrainian Moments: Highlighting Where I'm Headed

Last Tuesday I began a weekly segment of 10 minutes or so in my four social studies classes entitled "Ukrainian Moments." This idea was greeted warmly by my students as they enthusiastically labeled several pages in their ISNs (interactive student notebooks) for this special section. Of course, giving all of them a Ukraine sticker (the wonders of white labels & a color printer!!) for either the first page or either their ISN cover didn't hurt either. However, there is a real reason we created this section last week and add to it later today.

As I travel to Ukraine in less than five weeks, I believe it is is important that my students know more about Ukraine than the required GPS elements about the lingering environmental impact of the Chernobyl disaster and that Ukraine was a part of the former USSR.

For them to be able to write postcards to students I will be meeting in Ukraine and for them to authentically follow my journey on this blog, Edmodo, and hopefully Facetime or Skype, they must know more.

In last Tuesday's Ukrainian Moment, I highlighted the Ukrainian flag and the last presidential election in Ukraine (only their 5th) since it was primary voting day in Georgia and Super Tuesday across the country. I never dreamed the age, historical overview & symbolism on such a simple flag could be such a powerful teaching tool.

Seeing them make connections of why something happened with the Ukraine flag related to things we've studied earlier in the year such as the Russian Revolution was, in a word, cool. But the neatest part for me was when I was showing the colors on the LCD projector. So, in the words of our beloved, late Larry Munson, let me help you "Get the picture, now." Imagine the room dimmed so that the the flag image is more visible. As I explained that the blue represented the blue sky so visible in Ukraine and the many streams a young lady spontaneously blurted out "I see the sky!" as she looked intently at the flag image. Suddenly some other students (not all, mind you) could "see" it too. The same thing happened as we moved on to the yellow representing the wheat fields. This of course led to connections to both Canada's Bread Basket area and the agricultural regions of our own country in relation to the significance of Ukrainian wheat in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and in the USSR during the Soviet era.

 
I realize some folks likely think I should spend quite a deal more time teaching my students about Ukraine before my travels. That, however, is not a realistic option. Practically speaking, this is THE busiest time of the year in regards to teaching the required curriculum. The Georgia CRCT testing (Criterion-Referenced Competency Test) occurs while I'm in Ukraine. While in Washington, DC at the Global Symposium,I learned that some of my colleagues from across the country do not have standardized testing in social studies as it is not mandated my No Child Left Behind. Needless to say, that puts us in two different camps as far as preparing for the trip and to be out of our classrooms for two weeks.

I do anticipate being able to spend more time with my 3rd period AC Enrichment/Literacy class over the next few weeks as we begin the final quarter of the school year. 

Given the implications of a required set of performance standards to teach coupled with the upcoming state testing, I've had to find a way to address both time-sensitive needs. That reality is what has developed into weekly Ukrainian Moments.

We are excited that tomorrow will bring installment #2 of our weekly Ukrainian Moments! :)

Flag overview from WorldFlags101:

Ukrainian Flag Meaning:
The blue half represents peace, the sky above Ukraine and the country's streams and the yellow represents prosperity and the color of the country's wheat fields.

Ukrainian Flag History:
The Ukrainian flag was adopted on January 28, 1992. The blue and yellow national colors of Ukraine originated in 1848 and came from the coat of arms of the city of Lviv. Ukraine officially adopted a blue and yellow national flag in 1918. The flag was the same as the one flown in 1848, yellow on top of blue. In 1918, the colors were reversed. Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991

Interesting Ukrainian Flag Facts:
When Ukraine was under Soviet rule this flag was forbidden as a symbol of nationalism. The Ukrainian SSR had its own flag

 WorldFlags101.com

Global Thinking, Girl Scout Style

"Come right over! I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!" 

  -Juliette Gordon Low to her cousin Nina Anderson Pape on March 12, 1912

Happy 100th Birthday Girl Scouts!!! Today in 1912 Juliette Gordon Low established the American Girl Guides in Savannah, later known as the Girl Scouts. 

Why am I putting this on a blog about Global Education? Well, Girl Scouts are about global education in two realms: the global education far away and the global education that occurs as we learn to interact with those different from ourselves in our local communities.

If you've never been very involved or been around a very involved scout, you likely have never heard of  World Thinking Day (called Thinking Day when I was a scout and up until 1999). To celebrate Girl Scout Thinking Day, I remember learning of other cultures and distant lands yearly,  usually on a February Saturday in some gym in Northeast Georgia. At the start of this paragraph, I used "very involved" because just attending a weekly meeting and selling cookies is NOT what Girl Scouting is truly about. 

The last two years my school has had an International Night. Both years I've had students participate because of a country they had initially learned about on World Thinking Day. I might also add that one of the most genuine and exceptional students I have ever taught is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient and scout through high school graduation.  How many high school students would tutor young children as well has her high school classmates in French? Now as a sophomore at Georgia Tech, she still comes back every year to help me with a service project that she became involved in going on 10 years ago. Scouting is more than cookies. It is about a wider world and inspiring young women to embrace and contribute to that wider world.  Global Tour of World Thinking Day 

What did I gain from being a Girl Scout? More than you can imagine. I learned how to change a tire and basic car maintenance, became 1st Aid & CPR certified for the first time, practiced public speaking and presentation, helped publish a cookbook, rode Amtrak to New York City where I saw the only Broadway musical ON Broadway I've seen to this day, went to Washington, DC, visited the state capitol and many more things. The list of life lessons I gained could go on and on. Those lessons make me a better person, and most certainly a better global educator.

That is why HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY to GIRL SCOUTS belongs on a blog about Global Education!!!! :)

Check below this image for a Ukrainian message to Girl Scouts!

The message below came from the Association of Ukrainian Guides on World Thinking Day in 2010!!

Dear friends in Guiding and Scouting!      
                      
We would like to send you our best World Thinking Day wishes!
We are happy to be a part of an amazing family of Guides and Scouts from around the world. Having such good friends as you are we are sure together we can change the world!

Best regards,
Association of Ukrainian Guides

GPB Georgia Stories highlights Juliette Gordon Low's life and the founding of the Girl Scouts.

Global Education: Swimming Upstream?

In an article published recently, Samara Green, a high school senior in Potomac, Maryland, wrote a great commentary about the need for greater emphasis on Global Education in the United States. A link to her piece is at the bottom of this post.

I really resonated with her take on the minimal nature of globalized learning in this country. In my state of Georgia, for example, the only required courses with ANY world//global focus in grades K-12 are the 6th & 7th grade Modern World Studies Course and in high school World History.

This is problematic. Do you realize there isn't even an expectation that children be taught the seven continents' names (much less location) in elementary school? This helps explain why every year I have a few students identified as "gifted" who live in GEORGIA (on the East Coast) and don't know the difference between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While Honors, AP & on-level Human Geography are becoming more popular as elective choices in high school, they are not required. How can we truly produce competent 21st century citizens when they are exposed very little to the world in which they live? This also helps explain why I had the mom of a former student send me a message to say that her second-semester college-freshman daughter said that my 6th grade class was helping her more than anything else in her college world history class.

I am befuddled and NOT amused at the state of where global education fits into our K-12 education. Even with opportunities such as the one I am participating with IREX through the Teachers for Global Classrooms program, it is hard to convince principals and district officials to allow teachers to miss two weeks from the classroom when they don't teach a subject that directly correlates to global education.

The focus of STEM education is admirable, but I firmly believe we as a country are "missing the boat" when we raise scientists, mathematicians, and technologists without providing them opportunity to truly learn about the world in which we expect them to use those extraordinary STEM skills and abilities. (At the bottom of this post, there is a link to a very recent blog article highlighting the gulf being created by hyperfocusing on STEM education at the expense of humanities)

Social Studies Georgia Peformance Standards (Courses):


Elementary:
Kindergarten: Symbols of America
Grade 1: American Heroes
Grade 2: Georgia, My State
Grade 3: Our Democratic Heritage
Grade 4: Unites States History to 1860
Grade 5: Unites States History since 1860
 
Middle:
Grade 6: Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada, Europe, and Australia
       Sixth grade is the first year of a two year World Area Studies course. Sixth grade students study Latin America, Canada, Europe, & Australia. The goal of this two year course is to acquaint middle school students with the world in which they live. The geography domain includes both physical & human geography. The intent of the geography domain is for students to begin to grasp the importance geography plays in their everyday lives. The government/civics domain focuses on selected types of government found in the various areas so as to help students begin to understand the variety of governments in the world. The economics domain builds on the K-5 economics; however, the focus shifts from the United States to how other countries answer the basic questions of economics. The history domain focuses on major events in each region during the 20th & 21st centuries.
Grade 7: Africa, Southwest Asia (Middle East), Southern & Eastern Asia
     Seventh grade is the second year of a two year World Area Studies course. Seventh grade students study Africa & Asia in a course with focus concepts mirroring those taught in 6th grade.
Grade 8: Georgia Studies
  

High:
High School Graduation Requirements: (IV) Social Sciences: Three units of credit shall be required in social studies. One unit of credit shall be required in United States History. One unit of credit shall be required in World History. One-half unit of American Government/Civics shall be required. One-half unit of Economics shall be required.

In high school, World Geography is the only other course with a global focus that has Georgia Performance Standards.While many of my former students take AP European History, it is often taken instead of World or AP Human Geography.


" Catch Up, America!!"  by Samara Green
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samara-green/catch-up-america_b_1324144.html

" Why STEM Is Not Enough (and we still need the humanities)"  by Valerie Strauss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-stem-is-not-enough-and-we-still-need-the-humanities/2012/03/04/gIQAniScrR_blog.html

Um...Teachers Can't Wear Trousers???

I should be grading or finishing up the two different tests I will be giving tomorrow morning, but this afternoon 1) knowing the Ghana group is there and hearing via technology from two of my colleagues in that cohort, 2) e-mailing back & forth with my Ukrainian partner teacher (for the week in Odessa) complete with a bit of shocking attire news (for me anyway) & finally having a specific school address to zoom in on both maps & Google Earth, 3) e-mailing my US partner teacher for the time in Odessa & arranging a time to talk on the phone this week, & 4) realizing I can add WIDGETS to this blog are making it really, really difficult to focus on anything other than my upcoming adventure to Ukraine!!! I guess #5 would even be that someone responded to my question in the TripAdvisor "Ukraine" forum!

I also realize I have to back up and give some overview of what this program is and how I would up going to Ukraine. That post is in process. I promise it will be finished "relatively" soon. Just ask me questions if you are completely lost! ;-)  Now, on to my list from above!!!

1) Ghana cohort: In addition to Karen, Eric has now posted on his Facebook wall that he has arrived and is enjoying resting tonight. 

2)  Let's just cut to the chase about what REALLY got me going about an hour ago with trip "hyper-focusing" & such. As some of you know, I have to be selective with my shoes for multiple reasons involving foot pain & my propensity to find any crevice, little rock, or other object that might make one trip, stumble or fall.

Well, here is an exert of an e-mail I got this afternoon: "Concerning the shoes. Well, I hope the hotel  will be not far - 15 min of walk (sorry I don't know about km - I am not a driver), but I would suggest having comfortable shoes for after school (something like trainers) and comfortable, but nice shoes for school (we have a kind of dress code at school - neither students nor teachers are supposed to wear T shirts or jeans, and teachers can't wear trousers - I know you are surprised.)"

Forget the shoes. HANG ON a minute. By TROUSERS does she mean DRESS PANTS???? Talk about getting me off my shoe worries.  No black dress pants?? The funny thing is I made it through the entire adventure of of the 2006-2007 school year I'm pretty sure w/out ever wearing a skirt. I worked those dressy pantsuits & heels like you wouldn't believe....& have the pictures to prove it!!!

When I asked for clarification she responded: "Well, Jennifer, I can imagine your panic when you got the news about our notorious dress code with pants! I realize it is funny and not funny  :)  I think as visitors you can be excused , if you wear nice slacks  (not jeans) - maybe it will help us to change our school rules. (I doubt it  :) Our school does have its funny ways !" 

So, while I feel a bit better, I do believe I will be in search of more black skirts over the next few weeks!

The other part is that Elena provided me a specific address for her school in Odessa so I can find it on Google Earth. Yes, that is a whole new level of trip excitement for me!!

3) My partner teacher, Karen Kelly, teaches high school social studies in Scales Mound, Indiana. We got to know one another in DC by spending some time on Sunday in the Museum of American History together and then having dinner with a couple other folks at Old Ebbitt Grill near The White House. We are both excited and anxious about the VERY blank schedule form IREX sent us to fill out. We are working on a time this week to talk by phone to work on it collaboratively. I am excited to be working with Karen on this adventure.       

4) As more teachers have created their TGC blogs, I've noticed cool clocks, weather forecasts, & maps appearing. Those of you that know me likely need no further explanation except that I've discovered that widgets on blogs are way more fun than those we were told about for our teacher laptops!! ;-) For now they are near the bottom because I haven't figured out how to rearrange gadgets on this blog without deleting and starting over. That would take even more time....so not today.

Below are a couple pictures Elena sent from Final Ceremony for the 11th formers (graders) when they were about to leave school. These were taken last May.

 

TGC Cohort Arrives in Accra, Ghana!

One of the neat things that emerged following our intense 9-week on-line course (the initial part of our participation in the Teachers for Global Classrooms program) was that one member from Oklahoma, Laura, initiated a TGC 2011-12 private Facebook group. Those of us who chose to join have been able to share our country assignments, research, struggles with the Capstone part of this program, experiences with the Global Symposium, and many other things. I would say there were about 20 us that were active in the community before the Global Symposium #1 and the group has grown since we were in DC two weeks ago.    

By far the most exciting thing that has been shared in our private FB group thus far occurred less that 15 minutes ago!! Drum roll please......Karen, a member of the Ghana cohort,  just posted that they have arrived in Accra, the capital of Ghana!! This is not planning, packing, or even boarding a plane; they are THERE!! I can't wait to follow their journeys over the next few weeks.

It is also exciting and a little weird to realize that I could be the person posting virtually the same message from Kiev, Ukraine about this time exactly six weeks from today!

Finally, in the right sidebar I have links to blogs of some of my colleagues headed to all six countries if you want to follow the adventures! Below are the dates when all of the groups will be traveling.

Ghana: March 3-18, 2012

Morocco: March 17-31, 2012

Ukraine: April 14-28, 2012

Brazil: June 9-23, 2012

India: June 30-July 14, 2012

Indonesia: July 17-31, 2012