Global science literacy with current events

One of the best things about teaching science is having it happen all around you, all the time. For Earth science in particular, what better way to learn about events like earthquakes or severe weather than for a student to experience it herself? Tragically, it always seems like there are major devastating global events happening right when I need to teach them. Students can learn the science behind the cause of the event and what effects are likely to occur on the landscape. It's important to build a student's global awareness and empathy, with the goal that we can avoid the "well, there are too many people in the world, anyway," or, "they should've known better than to live there," remarks that can make their way out during class.

Because you never know when current science events will happen (the recent earthquake in Nepal, for example), you need to be prepared to make some quick adjustments during class. There is a document that I created for current events such as this that can be used for almost any type of natural disaster, no matter how big or small. It is designed to get students on the Internet looking for reliable news sources, just like we would as adults if we wanted more information about a global event. The last question, "What can we learn from this?" looks for students to relate what is happening globally to their own lives and futures, citing evidence from what they have learned throughout their research.

Global Literacy in English 10

Because I am linked to Global 10, I have over the years touched on Global Literacy. However, I am weak in Global Literacy, and cannot envision myself EVER "switching fluently between local and global perspectives." As Megan said, I would have to consider baby steps to be successes.

Last year, I had what I thought was a great idea for the students to advise President Obama on issues around the world as part of an "advisory team" of bloggers. Each team chose (from a list) two diverse countries in the same part of the world (e.g., China/Japan or Israel/Syria). The plan was for each group to research topics of interest to their part of the world, and report the perspectives of their two countries. I intended for them to read many articles from each country and "advise" the President through their blogs. They would be learning all about their countries and world issues, plus working on effective writing. I had hoped to have a "summit" at the end of the year, where students would "meet with the President" to discuss a current topic from the view of each country.

As is often the case, the plan turned out to need considerably more background than I planned on, and we never got past the initial stages. We spent a lot of time working on the basic information about the countries (type of government, geography, leaders' names, etc.) and never got to the meatier stuff. It wasn't as engaging as I had envisioned, and I felt I spent too much time on it for limited benefit. I did not try it again this year, but now I am feeling guilty for giving up!

If I do it again, I will use a resource Mrs. Olson shared with me, newspapermap.com, which has links to newspapers all over the world. (Even if I don't do the Presidential Advisory Blog, I will be using this resource.)

Small Steps to Go Global

The Global Literacies seem the hardest for me to wrap my head around.  Because of this, the first small step I will take is to build a Personal Learning Network.  I feel that connecting with other educators with a global focus will help me gain a better understanding of Global Literacies in action.  My first step will be to follow these global educators on Twitter - @lindayollis, @mscofino, @whatedsaid, @mgraffin, @langwitches, @coolcatteacher, @nzchrissy, @MumbaiMaggie@surreallyno.

I think part of the reason I don't feel as confident with integrating Global Literacies is that I am not worldly.  I need to expand my "walls" and make my own world more flat so that I can help make the world flat for others.  My step here will be very small and will focus on expanding my media sources - news outlets, movie selections, etc.

Reading Globally

This month I am going to expand my thinking as a Globally connected educator by expanding what I read.  I am going to begin reading The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, which I have read about for years, but never gotten around to actually reading.  I also started following the Around the World in 80 Books blog, with the hope to create my own global book list.  This will need to be a long term plan, as I always have so many books to read, and can never get through them all.
I think it would be really fun to create an interactive Google Map of my reading though, and that will give me an opportunity to learn more about Google Earth, which has also been on my "To Do" list for a long time.
Another small step has been to add the suggested Global Educators to my Twitter feed.  I am lucky enough to be a part of a Google+ group, Global TL: Librarians without Borders, which has been a great resource to me this year- sharing project ideas and connecting classrooms across the country and internationally.  I am excited to start participating more there, rather than being a passive observer.

Why learn Rhetorical Devices

PSA on Speaking and Lisstening

I will use my PSA  on Speaking and Listening at Lake George for Kindergarten Roundup Registration night next week.  The video was too large for Blogger so I am providing a link below.

PSA Speaking and Listening

PSA Focus: Why come to school?

For our most recent assignment to create a PSA, I've been collecting responses from teachers about the question, "Why do kids come to school if they no longer have to come there to get the information?" In my survey, I asked teachers to summarize their response with one word or phrase. Here's what a Wordle of what those responses looks like:

One of the other questions I asked was about which ideas teachers think are the most important ones to convey to their students, and I provided a list of 14 options, asking teachers to rank their top three choices. To get an overall sense of what teachers valued the most, I weighted the responses so that first-choice ideas got more points than third. Not surprisingly, skills such as problem-solving, responsibility, and adult accountability ranked the highest. I also found it interesting to see reading and writing literacy scoring ahead of content knowledge. It's nice to see that data validating what literacy experts have been saying over the past decade. Here's the accumulation of results, as well as a link to the interactive graph:

I've been very pleased to get nearly 40 responses to the survey so far. I shared it with colleagues at SUNY Plattsburgh as my goal is to provide them with a PSA that they can use to encourage the pre-service teachers in their education program. As is the case with most projects that I undertake, it now promises to take on a life of its own, thoroughly draining me of any last remaining time and energy that I had been reserving for a special occasion. But of course, I wouldn't have it any other way!