It was five or so years ago when our principal asked me to
give a presentation about technology and 21st Century Skills at our
staff’s first meeting of the school year.
At the time, one of my sons was exploring Youtube videos at the
tender age of four. My other son was building Minecraft worlds with new friends
from across America and even Europe.
As a staff we talked about how our society had gone from an Agricultural
Age to an Industrial Age to the Information Age. The current time period could now be called the Connected Age or
the Global Age. I still see it as part of the Information Age, but we truly are
becoming a global community.
“Technology
provides today’s students with unprecedented access to information about
people, places, cultures and events around the world. Young people have grown
to expect that their everyday tools will allow them to go to the Internet for
information, make phone calls to and from almost anywhere in the world, and
communicate with people in other countries with ease via e-mail and instant
messaging.”
Where will you see global mentioned in education?
- 21st Century Content includes global awareness.
- Our Standard Course of Study includes it multiple times across all grade levels.
- It’s mentioned several times in North Carolina’s educator evaluations.
- Global is included in our school system’s mission statement and goals. Surry County Schools’ motto is “Lighting Pathways to Global Success”!
Becoming global is not just geography and culture. It’s also
about language. (Our school system’s students begin learning a second language
in the third grade.) It’s about being able to work with people who are
different than us. It’s about our children growing up and helping to solve
global problems. How can we work together to build a better future?
Last year our principal took the staff to Renfro Corporation
one afternoon. It is a leading global manufacturer, designer, distributor and
marketer of legwear products. With 5500 employees around the world and sales
offices in six countries, it is truly a global corporation. And it is
headquartered in our little town.
Being an Imagination Chapter leader has already brought changes to my teaching and my students’ learning. We are going global this year. It’s not just a little, it’s a lot! The
Global Cardboard Challenge has been so much fun. We’ve learned geography, compared
similarities and differences, and connected with others via Skype and Google
Hangouts. It is a natural fit.
My
son and I just watched TomorrowLand last night. In it the main character asks, “What
are we doing to fix it (the world)?” Our school’s first step is
going global.
Further Reading
From
the University of North Carolina’s
Center for International Understanding
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