Since the beginning of time, people
have shared traditions, cultural nuances and family recipes. Communities were
relatively small and as information was, transmitted people had time to adapt to
changes in society, trends and technologies. Hurdles had to be overcome such as
the idea that the world was flat. In the 20th century, technological advances
began to cause change of attitudes and beliefs in modern society. We went from
eating together, too fast and faster food service with modernizations in
refrigeration and communication. Still, there was time to adapt to change. We
had time to reroute societal norms and expectations for the integration of
technology into our lives. In 1989, the World Wide Web was born, a place where
people would begin sharing information around the world 7/24/365. The advance
and use of technology has caused a knowledge revolution. In particular, through
the mobility of Smart phones we carry the world in our pocket. We are living in
a “Star Trek” world to “go boldly where no man has gone before”.
Teacher adventurers are taking
students to new worlds, recrafting ideas for teaching and web applications to
help students collaborate and create artifacts of understanding. Collaboration
is now part of global classroom instruction. I find teachers across the world
who want to work together on projects via Edmodo and ePals.
Last year, my students in the U.S.
collaborated with classrooms in Greece to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis. Before
the project, my students were virtually oblivious to refugee hardships. We used
an open Google Slide presentation to share a little bit about ourselves, find
stories about refugees and share a summary, and finally find ways to volunteer
and document it on the collaborative slide. There is a large time gap, but on
occasion, students were able to use the chat tool to communicate with each
other. This project helped students practice digital citizenship using
technology respectfully and responsibly as they worked together. At the end of
the project, my students understood effective ways to work with someone in
another time zone. Now they value freedom more while understanding the
incredible hardships young people their age must go through on a daily basis.
On Global Collaboration Day, my
students hosted an event to discuss their Senior Capstone work and after their
session was over, they visited a 2nd grade classroom via Google Hangout. This
was their first experience with Hangout and it was amazing. After GCD, they
started using Google Hangout to keep their classmates engaged in their group
projects. If a student were not at school, the other classmates would ring them
up to work on the project via Hangout.
This year students are creating
presentations about Disaster Management with students in India and sharing
their work via Edmodo. As the world continues to have increasingly more
devastating crisis caused by disasters students are learning the importance of
preparedness. The project bridges the gap between two worlds of population
differences and disaster likenesses. Our school is in Central Oklahoma where
earthquakes were virtually unheard of ten years ago. Last year we had more
earthquakes than California and the largest number in the lower 48 states.
While the devastation is nothing compared to earthquakes in other parts of the
world, it is something that students must now be aware of so they can be
prepared for emergencies. Students use http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
to compare the populations of the world in comparison to disasters. This is
current and applicable information that interests and empowers the millennial
learner.
Our school is a Low SES inner city mid-high
school and one thing they have in common with other young people in the world
is hunger. Many of these students have never seen how a seed becomes a plant
and supplies a harvest of fruits or vegetables. I have received donations from
the community for wood ships and building materials for a community garden. The
cafeteria saves boxes to lay down under the wood chips to prevent grass from
growing and build a base for the gardens. Students are learning about recycling
materials, composting and increasing the value of soil for planting. We have
had small harvests of cucumbers, tomatoes, greens and peanuts that students
were able to eat. This was the first time many had eaten a cucumber and did not
know this is where pickles come from. Students are learning citizenship and
community responsibility by building the garden and picking up trash on campus.
This has given them pride in our school. Students share their work with other
schools via Edmodo and support each other through posting comments.
Teaching students to be
contributing and responsible citizens is a challenge. The Y-generation and
millennial learners are looking for value and how everything is connected to
them. My mission statement is to engage learners so the will want to be
enlightened and become empowered and effective members of society. Continually
using new Web tools and applications, presenting global learning experiences
and challenging students to become contributing citizens through project based
learning opportunities gives them the tools to be Global Ready Graduates.
