Last Monday night, I took part in a Twitter Chat for The Global Classroom Project. I wanted to find out how to collaborate and connect in a meaningful way with educators from around the world in order to be more effective in helping my students become better global citizens. I also wanted to find out how to get participants for a project idea I had called World Class 4 Kids.
What ended up happening, was more powerful than I could have expected. I learned more about a little girl in Pakistan, named Malala Yousufzai.
This is the beginning of our Twitter chat:
MT @iEARNUSA: Why#globalclassroom? Lets kids take action on current events. We’re linking US-Pakistani classes 2day re #Malala‘s story
@ceciliemurray Ok, what is#Malala‘s story? I want to learn and am embarrassed I don’t know.#globalclassroom
What happened after that was a series of back and forths which are now emails between a teacher in a rural town in Australia and a teacher in a city in the United States trying to make a plan to teach our students that violence cannot be the final silencer in what is right. We share a common belief that Malala’s story, her truth, is not just her fight, but all of ours. We are creating a project that we hope the rest of the world’s children can find a way to support.
Launching The #Malala Project
We would like teachers to share Malala’s story and what she was fighting for: the right for girls to go to school and be educated and the right for freedom of speech in sharing her truth. We know this can be a sensitive topic for young children and know that teachers need to present the violence of it all in a developmentally appropriate way. However, we believe, her story needs to be told.
We would like classrooms to send us a picture or short video of 2 minutes or less of students supporting Malala’s cause – a song, artwork, posters, whatever creative way they can think of showing the world believes that ALL girls deserve the right to go to school.
In addition, this is a work in progress and we would love to hear your feedback and suggestions so feel free to leave comments and suggestions here. Please join The Global Classroom wiki and then join The #Malala Project. You can send your videos by posting them to the wiki after you join. You may also email Heidi Hutchison at hhutchison@friendsbalt.org.
For more information on Malala and her story check out the following links:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/my-small-video-star-fights-for-her-life/?smid=tw-share
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/10/09/world/asia/100000001835296/class-dismissed.html
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October 24, 2012 at 1:39 PM
I would like to do this project ever since I watched the news report in Taiwan. It would be a very meaningful learning.
linlin
October 25, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Please visit the wiki link I posted and join! We want as many people as we can! Let me know if you have questions. My email and all the information is on the wiki. Thanks for supporting Malala!
October 25, 2012 at 1:01 AM
The power of the internet! You may be interested to know that Change.org has a new petition on its site – Nobel Peace Prize for Malala. This might be another way for your students to connect with this particular issue.
Good luck!
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