As teachers engaged in global projects, we are opening up our classrooms to the world; and exposing our students to different lives and cultures around the world. We are building opportunities for kids to talk to kids, to learn from eachother, … yet this is just the beginning.
We want our students to relate to the children they meet around the world … to understand “we share more things than make us different”. As posed by @brettelockyer in our first #globalclassroom chat:
“Our biggest challenge is making deep connections of co-inquiry, that don’t trivialise culture n don’t just swap facts. #globalclassroom.”
As Edna Sackson so eloquently writes; “there’s more to culture than the 3 F’s: food, flags and festivals!” (June 2011). In her blog post, Below the Tip of the Iceberg, she gives teachers significant food for thought …
“Culture is often compared to an iceberg which has both visible and invisible parts. The tip of the iceberg represents the elements of culture which we can see, such as food, language and customs. Those elements which are less obvious, such as values, beliefs and world view, comprise the much larger portion of the iceberg underwater.”
… By starting with the human qualities, finding what we have in common, we can more easily relate to and connect with people of different cultures.
Edna Sackson (@whatedsaid)
So, our question for our December #globalclassroom discussion is this:
“How can we take our students’ global connections beyond the tip of the iceberg?
How can we help them make authentic, personal connections with children around the world?”
We’d love to have you join us.
Dates & Times
Chat #1: Saturday, December 9 (Europe, Africa, Americas)
12PM Los Angeles, 3PM New York, 8PM London, 10PM Cape Town
(This chat is ideal for early risers in Eastern Australia & New Zealand –> it runs on Sunday morning at 7AM Sydney, 9 AM Auckland)
Chat #2: Tuesday, December 13 (Asia/Pacific)
This chat crosses the day/night meridian, and is held on a Monday night in the Americas, which equates to Tuesday morning in the Asia/Pacific. (Please note the earlier time!)
2PM Los Angeles, 5PM New York (EST) – Monday, December 12
6AM – Beijing, 9AM Sydney, 11AM Auckland – Tuesday, December 13
Miss Cherry, a teacher from Virginia, USA, will be teaching her fifth-grade (ages 10-11) class about the Holocaust using children’s literature, including the book, Number the Stars, in the first week of January 2012. She would love her students to connect with another class or group of classes in another state or country (or countries) and hopes to have exchanges via Edmodo, Voice Thread, Skype, or maybe Twitter during the week (Jan. 2-6) , using Number the Stars and the events of the Holocaust (elementary-friendly) as discussion starters. Ultimately, Miss Cherry’s purpose is to build a context for her students of the roots of the Holocaust in prejudice, to begin paving the way for true global understanding and respect; so that as members of the future generation, they can prevent such prejudice from ever taking hold again!
