I am thrilled with the country TGC chose for my international travel experience. I will be traveling to Morocco March 8-22nd. In order to reach this destination, I will leave Kansas City, MO for Atlanta, then fly to New York City, then to Paris, and will then arrive in Rabat, Morocco. After a few days in Rabat, my travel partner and I will travel to meet our host teacher, Khadija Nour El Attar, an English teacher at the Lalla Amina High School in Meknes, Morocco. |
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Upon arriving in Washington DC, I caught a cab to the Fairmont Hotel and took in the sights along the route. The last time I was in Washington DC I was in 6th grade- my memories are vivid, yet I now recognize that my ability to capture the spatial relationships was limited at the time. I never realized how close everything is; you can walk from monument to museum, from hotels to the Capitol, from statue to the White House. I made a few mental notes about the proximity of everything and then focused on the weekend ahead- there were people to meet, speakers to hear, and plans to unfold. I checked in to my hotel room around 4pm, took some time to look through my folder of information, and then headed to our soiree in search of my travel partner. After getting awkwardly close enough to read people's name tags for a bit, I found Laura, the teacher I would be spending time with while in Meknes. Laura teaches government and social justice class at a high school in the Bronx, NY. We began to put faces with names of other teachers we had worked with during our online class and slowly people began to find others in their travel cohorts. We went out to dinner with several teachers traveling to Ghana, and while our conversation inevitably always turned back to education and teaching, it was an insightful discussion- not just tired teachers venting their frustrations. It seems no matter where in the U.S. one teaches, we are all facing similar struggles-funding issues, state initiatives, administration teachers resisting change, the same few teachers serving on every committee and sponsoring every club, all the while trying to personally improve our trade of teaching.
Came across this while reading the news this morning. An artistic take on modernity, fashion, feminism, and tradition. The days spent in D.C. left me with a much better idea of the TGC, IREX, and State Department's goals for our travel. We heard from some amazing speakers, had time to meet with our cohorts, shared global teaching strategies, heard a bit about our country of destination, and worked toward creating an essential question to guide our travel experience. My essential question addresses my students' prec0nceived notions about Moroccan students- how much do they know? Where have they gained this understanding? Are their ideas about Moroccan students accurate? If not, how can I facilitate a new framework of cultural understanding? Likewise, I am curious to know Moroccan students' thoughts about American students. How much do they know? Where have they gained this understanding? Are there ideas about my students accurate? Perhaps Moroccan students know more about American students than American students know about Moroccans? What can I do, as a liaison between my students and my host teacher's students, to challenge stereotypes and facilitate cultural understanding? Please feel free to comment or make suggestions on my area of focus- TGC stressed that our essential question is an active entity- likely to change as we go... so the more feedback, the better!
" One's destination is never a place,
but a new way of seeing things." -Henry Miller After arriving in Washington D.C. for the Global Education Symposium, I checked in to my room and then headed for the informal reception in hopes of finding my travel partner. Within a few minutes of entering the room and awkwardly getting close enough to scan people's name tags, I found my travel partner, Laura. Laura and I will be visiting Meknes after our first few days in Rabat. We met a few more people from our Morocco cohort and then joined some of the teachers traveling to Ghana for dinner. Our dinner conversation was enlightening, and of course, centered around education (what's wrong with us?) It was interesting to hear people speak about their teaching responsibilities, workload, district initiatives, and whether their district and building supported global learning. As we talked, it was both encouraging and discouraging to hear that we all face similar challenges, no matter our geographic location. It became clear that the teachers selected to participate in TGC are the ones that put in long days, sponsor multiple student activities, serve on committees, tutor students, pursue their own educational goals, and commit themselves to doing what is best for students. We all acknowledged that this pace often results in feeling burned out, but then something comes along and reignites our passion for teaching. For me, the TGC program and its emphasis on global learning has been rejuvenating. I believe in the relevancy and importance of global learning and I know that my students will benefit greatly as the world around them becomes increasingly interconnected.
Funny how time flies... it doesn't seem like long ago that I was sitting at this same desk, struggling with the first discussion board prompt provided by Craig Perrier... "what is global learning?". I remember thinking that I had a pretty good idea of what this global learning business was all about, but once the question was posed to me, I had difficulty articulating my understanding. I was not alone as it turned out, and as the online course progressed, my TGC colleagues and I began to develop a better understanding of how to address this candid question. Many readings, videos, and webinars later, I sit at this same desk, writing Skype in the Classroom requests and watching TED talks that will apply to my upcoming lessons. As I was reading up on Skype lessons, I came across one that had intrigued me a few weeks ago- a project based on the sharing of students' daily lives with students in Southeast Asia. I decided to contact the creator of the project (my seventh or eighth email of the evening to various teachers across the globe) in an effort to create some sort of connection for my students. Interestingly enough, the project designer's profile noted that he/she worked for IREX, as a coordinator for the Vietnam and the Philippines Connections and Exchange program under the U.S. Dept. of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The world of global educators, I'm finding, is a small one. I am becoming familiar with a network of educators dedicated to creating authentic global experiences for students... an exciting idea for a teacher coming from a background of having little mention of global learning pedagogy. With two days until the Global Education Symposium, I am a bit overwhelmed by my almost obsessive efforts to create global lessons while also writing sub plans, picking up the dry cleaning, grading essays (read: looking at the stack of essays), packing, collecting student examples of global learning, creating my blog, and imagining what the symposium will have in store. Perhaps in a few days I will have a better idea of what can reasonably be achieved, but for tonight I'll take a deep breath and appreciate being chosen for the program... for one year ago from today, I sat at this desk and completed my TGC application.
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AuthorI'm a high school AP geography and world history teacher, traveling to Morocco with Teachers for Global Classrooms to bring cultural insight back to my community. Archives
May 2014
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