The fall of 2014 was the commencement of an experience that has inspired my teaching, and will continue to do so for a long time. As a fellow in the Teachers for Global Classrooms program, a significant amount of time was spent learning, researching, and experimenting with resources in an effort to globalize my classroom. What you will find here is a collection of tools and resources that you can use today if you wish, or maybe they get filed away and used at a later time.
Digital Learning EnvironmentThere are endless digital resources available to teachers, with more being added every day. However, check out this link for a brief inventory of tools available...
Technology and digital resources are an incredible asset for globalizing education. The possibilities to use technology to connect, collaborate and communicate are endless. There are platforms that allow teachers as much (or as little) creativity as they need. Technology can be used to share student work or maybe to work with other teachers. We can use technology for a great deal more than just research! *Please note, any suggestions or additions to the list are welcome, so please feel free to share them! Assessment Tools EndorsementIn the context of the my classroom, school and the community where I teach, I have found the Asia Society's Measuring 21st Century Competencies: Guidance for Teachers to be the tool I turn to most frequently. The ideas, suggestions and resources included in this report have made a seamless transition into my classroom. Teaching in a Common Core state, I have come to find the suggested assessments and rationales are appropriate for what we are doing. Additionally, the tools for assessment I have used from this fit in well with the Global Competency Matrix for Language Arts presented by Boix Mansilla and Jackson in Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage with the World. The matrices provide language for writing objectives and a context for designing lessons that not only meet Common Core State Standards, but that also foster global competency in my students. These are not rigid rubrics or limited assessments. The language and organization of resources in both of these documents is such that it can be easily adapted to meet the needs of most teachers and classrooms, which is why I have come to use them the most frequently in my ongoing efforts to globalize my teaching.
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Consistent with expectations in classrooms around the United States (and the world), standards and assessment are an integral part of global education, just as they are in core subjects like Math, Science and Language Arts. There are multiple tools that exist for teachers, including rubrics, standards and assessments. Below you will find a selection of assessment tools available to schools and individual teachers.
1. The Global Education Checklist Written by Fred Czarra for the American Forum for Global Education, this is a practical checklist that allows teachers, administrators, schools or districts to do a self-assessment. More in depth than the Oxfam School Audit (see below), the Global Education Checklist, when done honestly and thoroughly, elucidates where there may be gaps in what students know and understand about how to face global issues. The questions are such that it does not just generate awareness, but is also promotes the development of goals, the identification of resources and action plans that are realistic, timely, and continuously progressing. 2. Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage with the World Veronica Boix Mansilla and Anthony Jackson have compiled a comprehensive document explaining the relevance of global learning and competencies, as well as suggestions for practical applications. There are case studies that serve as exemplars of effective global education. Based on a generic Global Competence Matrix, there are also 6 subject specific matrices teachers can utilize to reflect on student learning to write objectives and to assess students. In the conclusion there are suggestions for what teachers, policy makers, and higher education institutions can do to prepare students to be more globally competent. 3. Measuring 21st Century Competencies: Guidance for Teachers Published in 2013 by the Asia Society Global Cities Education Network, this document is a thorough and rich report that in addition to providing examples of competencies and frameworks for selecting measures, it provides examples of assessments teachers can use, case studies and rationales for implementation. One feature of this report is the awareness and acknowledgement of h0w the development of these competencies fits into Common Core State Standards adopted by most states in the United States. 4. The Duke University Global Awareness Rubric This rubric provides the profile of a student who is globally aware. It also provides a rubric that is clear and easy to use, giving teachers an evaluation tool and language to begin to assess their students' global awareness and competence. The rubric is set up on a "continuum of progress" that includes the evaluation not just of awareness, but that also evaluates developing the proficiency in skills and that promotes action. 5. The Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric Created by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, this rubric is easily used as is, or can be modified to reflect the skills, knowledge and competencies teachers wish for their students to demonstrate. Developed to encourage learning outcomes at colleges and universities the rubric is based on research about intercultural sensitivity and learning. It also provides a glossary for terms as they are used in the rubric. 6. Oxfam Global Citizenship in the Whole School Audit The Oxfam Global Citizenship in the Whole School Audit is a great tool for schools looking to make changes. The audit begins with a simple checklist of questions that prompt schools to be reflective and consider what they are already doing, as well as to consider what they can and should be doing to be more to promote global citizenship. In addition, the checklists provides space and encourages schools to develop "action points" or specific ideas for what and how schools can change. |
NOTE: This TGC Capstone Project is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.