"How can global education programs influence the profession of teaching?" I tried to answer this question by:
1. Learning theoretical frameworks 2. Having direct experiences 3. Developing new findings 4. Enacting change Click on any of the bulleted headings above or the pictures to the right to see highlights. |
Based on what I learned in the New Literacies and Global Learning program, I tried to build new global learning by enacting change at personal, school, work, and state levels.
Personal Change
As one of my electives, I decided to take FLP 401, "Brazilian Portuguese for Spanish Speakers." This was an entirely-online course dedicated to helping Spanish speakers learn the differences between written Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Having the chance to study Portuguese was a lifelong dream of mine, and I was shocked to leave the semester-long course able to read and write fairly complicated Portuguese well. I still can't speak almost any, but I've bought the CD's to study in the car. At one point during this course, it seemed that combining new media and global learning was completely appropriate; I was sitting in a hotel in Beijing, China, studying Portuguese in a course taught in Spanish, and turning in my coursework entirely online.
In addition to Portuguese, this program also let me study administration and management. I took two electives that dealt with management - "Foundations of Nonprofit Management" and "Administration and Supervision of Family and Youth Programs." Each course centered on principals of management, and gave great advice on how to deal with common issues in organizational management and personnel management.
In addition to Portuguese, this program also let me study administration and management. I took two electives that dealt with management - "Foundations of Nonprofit Management" and "Administration and Supervision of Family and Youth Programs." Each course centered on principals of management, and gave great advice on how to deal with common issues in organizational management and personnel management.
School Change
As part of ECI 508, "Teachers as Leaders," a classmate and I decided to study a new language program that was developed recently in Lee County. I used to teach at Exploris Middle School, and my classmate in ECI 508 was a current teacher there as well. I had returned to the school in 2008 to serve on the Board of Directors, so both of us had a vested interest in helping the school. We studied a foreign language program in Lee County that was run entirely through Rosetta Stone and was getting very strong results. We knew that despite the many strengths of Exploris Middle School, language learning was not one of them. We also knew that the school was facing budget constraints, and that it might have to get rid of the entire language program, staffed by a French and Spanish teacher.
After researching the ways that Lee County had rolled out its Rosetta Stone program, we wrote a paper on how such a program might be developed for Exploris Middle School. Our claim was that this program would:
We pitched the idea to the Board of Directors, and it was approved. In the 2012/2013 school year, the Rosetta Stone program began, and it is now run by another NLGL graduate.
After researching the ways that Lee County had rolled out its Rosetta Stone program, we wrote a paper on how such a program might be developed for Exploris Middle School. Our claim was that this program would:
- Give students a greater range of language offerings and more personalization in terms of "pace and space" - how fast they wanted to learn and where they wanted to learn languages.
- Save the school money, which ultimately would allow it to retain its language program.
We pitched the idea to the Board of Directors, and it was approved. In the 2012/2013 school year, the Rosetta Stone program began, and it is now run by another NLGL graduate.
Work Change
My research on transformative learning and on the ways that disorienting dilemmas affected participants on my 2011 China program prompted me to change some of our other international professional development programs. I learned through my research that cross-cultural experiences do a great job of creating disorienting dilemmas for participants. I also realized, though, that each participant must have a different "comfort zone." In other words, what might be an OK dilemma for one person might be too much for another. With this in mind, in a 2012 international professional development program to Denmark for 33 teachers, I introduced a "Challenge by Choice" activity. Participants were able to choose from nine colored cards, each with a different challenge. Challenges included finding a spot on the map of Copenhagen and finding their way to that place by interacting with strangers (safely), learning some words of Danish and trying them out with children they met, and trying new types of foods that might make them uneasy. The purpose of this exercise was to give different people who may have very different comfort zones a chance to challenge themselves at the appropriate level. Since reflection is an important part of the transformative learning process, we used the cards and participants' experiences as the content for four debriefing sessions that happened in-country.
The "Challenge by Choice" model of intercultural experiences worked very well, and got great reviews from participants on their program evaluations. It succeeded in differentiating intercultural learning for a diverse group of people. This model has since then been replicated in two other international programs (Singapore and Mexico), and will be used again this summer in India.
The Center has sought grants that will let us put both the "Challenge by Choice" model and the "Chart of Emotions" into an app form.
The "Challenge by Choice" model of intercultural experiences worked very well, and got great reviews from participants on their program evaluations. It succeeded in differentiating intercultural learning for a diverse group of people. This model has since then been replicated in two other international programs (Singapore and Mexico), and will be used again this summer in India.
The Center has sought grants that will let us put both the "Challenge by Choice" model and the "Chart of Emotions" into an app form.
State Policy Recommendations
In late 2011, the NC State Board of Education began looking into a policy shift regarding global education. I had the chance to present recommendations to the Board in March of 2012, and to then join the working group that would help define policy recommendations for the Board. Several of my recommendations stemmed from coursework and research conducted in the New Media and Global Learning program. They included:
The Board received the policy papers that the working group had developed in February, but has not formally ruled yet on the policy recommendations.
- Building a global option for the Graduation Project (assuming it is renewed as a statewide policy), wherein students could use international experiences through technology or travel as part of their graduation project requirements. Direct intercultural experience would be a part of this requirement.
- Determining which international professional development programs for teachers have the greatest effect on global competence and awareness.
The Board received the policy papers that the working group had developed in February, but has not formally ruled yet on the policy recommendations.