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LESSON 3
As a result of my participation in the Fulbright- Teachers for Global Classroom program, our school has allowed me to integrate a global perspectives in a personalized learning format. This is a semester long pilot program for seventh grade students. The course will reach 60+ students to introduce the 2030 sustainable development goals. Two integral parts of the course are the World's Largest Lesson Plan and Learn Out of Eden, that follows world renown photo journalist, Paul Salopek, who traced on foot, the migration of humanity on a 21,000 mile journey beginning in the cradle of civilization.
Lesson plans and additional resources will be posted as they are finalized.
My hope is that students will embrace dreams and ambitions that connect them with classrooms around the world, as we GO GLOBAL!
Lesson plans and additional resources will be posted as they are finalized.
My hope is that students will embrace dreams and ambitions that connect them with classrooms around the world, as we GO GLOBAL!
Introduction to Exploring Global Perspectives through Personalized Learning
The first two weeks focus on the characteristics of the Growth Mindset and the inquiry process. Student autonomy and efficacy is paramount in personalized learning. Students gain confidence in controlling their own learning, and begin collaboration with peers and teacher led inquiry.
Prior to beginning the Worlds Largest Lesson Plan curriculum students completed a webquest using National Geographic for Kids Explore the World on a country of interest. The only parameter was it could not be a European nation, the United States, or Canada.
Introducing the 2030 Sustainable Goals revealed the need for focused vocabulary study. Our seventh grade social studies curriculum provides an overview of world history, but little focus on regions or geographical concepts. (Thus, the most recent curriculum revisions reverse the two.) Several classes focused on building understanding of content vocabulary. Global perspectives become more engaging when connected to stories. So I chose five selections from NEWSELA at the appropriate Lexile level for the students in this class. Students jigsawed the articles to share their discoveries before we delved into the importance of the 2030 Sustainable Goals.
The vocabulary test followed notes, reading assignments, and discussion.
Grouping students according to their interests and abilities creates the basis for collaboration. A STUDENTS SURVEY FOR GLOBAL GOALS provided the information I needed.
The survey results revealed the following:
Students viewed hunger and poverty as the number one problem globally. The second most critical problem was health and clean water. The regions of greatest interest were Africa-chosen as first or second choice, followed by South America and Central America in third place. I now have the framework for my groups.
Following the survey, students used two different sources to explore the regions of interest:
World Atlas and Geology.com. Elaborating on the first assignment with National Geographic Kids-Exploring the World, students used their Chromebooks to create a document in Google Drive and turn into Google Classroom.
More to come...
September 19, 2018 we held our LAUNCH PARTY for Out of Eden Learn! It wasn't really a launch party, but I think it would have been entirely appropriate considering the journey that lies ahead of us. All I can say is stepping into this new web platform designed to take virtual trips around the globe is guaranteed to be revolutionary for our Boiling Springs Middle School students. The first article students read from Out of Eden is "Electronic Oasis" to which the photo above is linked. You are sure to be intrigued and challenged to find a way to weave this amazing platform into your classroom instruction!
Out of Eden Learn follows Paul Salopek, an award-winning National Geographic photojournalist, on his famous 21,000 mile expedition beginning in Africa tracing the human migratory path to the far corners of the earth. Salopek coined the term 'slow journalism' to describe the narratives that spring from walking with villagers, nomads, farmers, and soldiers-ordinary people on their own life's journey.
From this journalistic endeavor came the Out of Eden Learn part of the Project Zero at Harvard University's Graduate Education Department. The website combines Paul's stories and photos with technology enabling classrooms around the world to join 'walking parties' to learn from each other as well as explore the paths Paul took.
My class of thirty students will virtually join students from Marblehead MS, Danville, CA, Washington DC, Monterrey, MX, Chicago, IL, and Accra, Ghana as virtual pen pals to discuss the sights and sounds of Africa, the war zones of the Middle East, India, Europe, coastal Northwest, and the Pacific coastline of South America to the tip of Chile. There is a lot of world to explore, time to get packing!