Passport to Globalizing Your Classroom

By Katie Haney, Greenville County Schools

Summary: The blog "Passport to Globalizing Your Classroom" explores the importance of incorporating global perspectives into education across all content areas. The author shares insights on how to move beyond cultural boundaries and integrate global connections into the curriculum. The blog emphasizes the value of fostering cultural awareness, critical thinking, and open-mindedness in students by connecting local communities to global issues. Strategies such as collaborating with international organizations, hosting video conferences, and utilizing resources like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are recommended. The author also highlights the profound impact of international teacher travel, especially through programs like Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms, as a way to enrich both educators’ and students' learning experiences.

On the surface, you would think that a former Spanish teacher turned instructional coach would have no trouble globalizing the curriculum for her classroom - right? But here’s the crux of the matter: my efforts often stopped at the borders of the Spanish-speaking world. Like some educators, I assumed that some subjects naturally lent themselves to global connections more than others. But what about the world beyond the U.S. and Spanish-speaking countries? What are we missing when we limit our students’ perspectives? More importantly, why should every educator - regardless of content area - intentionally and consistently integrate global connections into their teaching?

Globalizing your classroom builds cultural awareness, open-mindedness, and a strengthening of a person’s individual identity. Value exists in learning that humanity shares more similarities than differences, and all of our differences weave together a diverse tapestry that enriches everyone’s lives. Varied perspectives shaped by unique cultural life experiences produce curious learners adept at critical thinking. Connecting with diverse groups of people opens the door to viewing learning from a variety of cultural lenses. The words “right” and “wrong” take a back seat in importance, and words like “unique” and “different perspectives” permeate one’s learning.

We are living in a global society with the world at our fingertips. We thrive and rely on immediate answers thanks to the worldwide availability and vastness of technology. If we do not teach students to harness the power of knowledge through an international lens, we are not equipping our students to be the best versions of themselves or the best thinkers.

By comparing and contrasting learning experiences across cultures, students develop a deeper understanding of their own culture and learning experiences. When students are confronted with differences in practices, products, and perspectives, they can better define what it means to be a learner in their cultural context. Students more closely relate to the practices, products, and perspectives of their culture and the significance that each plays in their daily lives. But how should educators begin in their journey to globalize their curriculum and produce globally aware students?

Connect the Local to the Global

Start in the space that you are most comfortable with…your local community! Activate your prior knowledge using these questions as a guide:

What international connections exist in the environment around where you live or where you teach?
What common themes do you and your students share with people from all over the world?

A possible activating step could be to reach out to an international business in your community and inquire if someone would serve as a guest speaker in your classroom. I highly recommend utilizing themes that apply to all of humanity. For example, I will never forget the realization that some of my Spanish-speaking middle school students in Greenville did not realize that homeless people existed in our community and in our school family. Our class studied homelessness in Venezuela through the eyes of a Venezuelan photographer. The photographer captured the lives of families living in an abandoned construction project, which was an apartment building without walls. Families created homes on the inside of this building, and the children in the photographs played dangerously close to the edge of their residence on a high floor, steps away from a drop. This exploration of homelessness in another country presented an opportunity to discuss homelessness in our community.

Another possible strategy to incorporate into your classroom would be to host Mystery Videoconferencing with several individuals from all over the world. Educators and students ask questions of participants, and based on the participants’ answers, the class guesses where each person is from. You can also participate in the Happy World Foundation's Global Connect initiative. Educators can participate in this service for free and obtain more detailed information at the following website. I learned of the Happy World Foundation from the Founder, Akash Patel, when I participated in his dynamic session at the annual national world language conference, ACTFL, in 2022. Later in the spring of 2023, my students and I participated in video conferencing with people from Argentina, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Colombia. This learning experience engaged all learners as we reached beyond the four walls of our classroom and discovered similarities and differences between our guest speakers and ourselves while working to guess our speakers’ locations. This foundation is not limited to just the Spanish-speaking countries; in fact, the Happy World Foundation’s reach extends all across the world.

Resources for Establishing a Global Lens Across All Content Areas

United States Sustainable Development Goals - Although this site is currently under review, this list of seventeen SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) originated with the United Nations. This resource provides a list of overarching themes that can relate to all content areas. The SDGs are starting points for opening up classroom discussions to connect the local to the global.

World’s Largest Lesson - This website expands global lesson planning ideas with free resources for utilizing the SDGs in all content areas for students of all grade levels.

United States Education Department’s Framework for Developing Global & Cultural Competencies to Advance Equity, Excellence, Economic Competitiveness - This Framework acts as a self-reflective tool and a guide to implementing global education across all levels of education. This framework begins in early childhood and expands through postsecondary education.

Asia Society Teaching for Global Understanding - This resource provides articles that offer informative resources to enhance any educator’s desire to incorporate global perspectives into their classroom. This website provides information for those just beginning their journey with incorporating global competencies in their classroom and for those who are more experienced with global education.

Asia Society Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World - This text provides detailed, free information for educators wishing to expand their knowledge of global competencies across a variety of content areas. This resource also provides a smattering of instructional strategies that educators can incorporate into their classes to enhance engagement and initiate deeper student learning.

Globalizing Your Classroom with International Teacher Travel

I do not possess the words to fully describe the value of learning through international travel. International travel places people in each other’s paths and creates a lasting bond through shared experiences in an intense learning environment. Not only did I forge lasting friendships with people from other countries, I forged lasting friendships with my fellow co-teachers from the United States. The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program ignited my passion for global education and created a desire to use my international learning experiences to enrich the learning experiences of my students.

Beginning in 2018, I participated in a graduate-level global education class through George Mason University. In early 2019, I traveled to Washington, DC to the Fulbright TGC Symposium to prepare for an upcoming international field experience. At the culmination of the program, I travelled with fellow educators from across the country to Senegal, Africa where we gained an understanding of the Senegalese education system and taught lessons in various schools on a variety of topics. My co-teacher and I, despite our lack of athleticism, taught a lesson on American baseball and football to students at a high school in Saint Louis, Senegal. Kelly, my co-teacher, and I shared our respective love of the Chicago Cubs and Clemson Tigers with students, and the school community shared their custom of hosting a dance complete with drums with all the visiting teachers. These travel programs are more than simply a way to travel for free. These programs, at their core, are about people and the paramount life lessons that these experiences teach educators. In 2023, I was chosen to travel with students as an adult mentor to Cuenca, Ecuador as part of the U.S. Youth Ambassadors Program, but unfortunately, due to an illness, I was unable to travel.

International teacher travel enriches the lives of the teachers participating, but also the lives of the teachers’ students. These international field experiences introduce both the teachers and students to the products, practices, and perspectives of other cultures and ignite a passion for global education.

Programs for International Teacher Travel

Like any new endeavor in your classroom, start small and scale up as you see fit. Focus on one lesson at a time and then expand to a unit. Creating global citizens cannot be achieved in a silo. Build your Global Education Professional Learning Network through social media and cultivate interpersonal connections beginning in your community. Create and support future global citizens through their educational journey!

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About the Author

Katie Haney is a former Spanish teacher who currently serves as an Instructional Coach at J.L. Mann High School Academy of Mathematics, and Technology with Greenville County Schools. Her learning interests include global education, world language and public education advocacy, and improving student achievement through literacy. Connect with Katie on X @ProfeGlobalSC.