Finding 3: Global learning pedagogy will allow students to examine their own perspectives as a means of going beyond cultural tolerance toward a more inclusive cultural understanding.
The concept of global learning has interested me since my time teaching abroad. During my Theory and Research in Global Learning class, I completed a comprehensive literature review on the subject. I concluded that although scholars have agreed on the need for global education, educators and policymakers have not yet come to a consensus on how global learning should take shape in American classrooms. This class also gave me a chance to explore how the new global environment has impacted education. This helped me step back and understand the context for my inquiry. I was especially impacted by the movie entitled Schooling the World: The Last White Man’s Burden. I found that universal education programs are often tools used to westernize and acculturate eastern populations. Instead of helping underprivileged youth in remote areas, western education initiatives are killing culture and unfairly labeling students as failures. This experience helped me understand that I must be aware of how the western world is perceived in the 21st century. I not only realized the importance of understanding my own place as a western teacher in the global community, but I also desired for my students to understand their roles in our world today. I transformed my learning experience in this course into an activity for my World History classes. During the activity, we watch the film’s trailer and discuss how educational initiatives are an example of 21st century imperialism. As I witnessed my classes’ responses to this assignment, I quickly realized that students must have opportunities to explore their own perspective before they can achieve global awareness or cultural understanding.
eci_524_lit_review.docx | |
File Size: | 26 kb |
File Type: | docx |
I think that maps represent an excellent method for social studies teachers to facilitate students’ self-discovery. I experienced the power of maps as a means of personal reflection in my Contemporary Approaches in the Teaching of Social Studies class. For one assignment, I analyzed historical maps and composed a blog entry about Simeon DeWitt’s historical map of New York. I then reflected pedagogically with one of my classmates and designed a lesson for an eleventh grade U.S. History classroom. I also made a voicethread describing a map that holds personal relevance for my life. Through this assignment, I saw how maps could be used to help students examine their own perspectives and expand their personal definitions of citizenship. During my Theory and Research in Global Learning class, I did another assignment that called my attention to the possibilities for intrapersonal reflection through mapping. I looked at a collection of student maps from the Barbara Petchenik Children's Map Competition and created a voicethread analyzing the students’ perspectives. I shared my presentation and a reflection on the New Literacies Collaborative blog. I found this assignment so powerful that I used it to design an introductory activity for my World History classes. On the first day of class, I ask my students to draw a rough outline of how they see the world. I then show them a selection of children’s maps and discuss how maps reflect perspective. The PowerPoint that I use to guide this activity can be seen below. This exercise has been incredibly enlightening for me and my students. Overall, I have found that maps help students understand their own perspectives in new ways, which is a prerequisite for cross-cultural understanding.
Beyond self-reflection, I wanted to delve into the concepts of global tolerance and global awareness. I designed a creative synthesis project in order to contribute to current scholarship on global learning initiatives and help pave the wave for a globalized educational environment. I posed the following compelling question: Does global awareness require tolerance? I investigated the tension between cultural tolerance and global awareness. I wanted to know if tolerance was requisite for awareness and vice versa. I tried to see if the two concepts could function independent of each other. I hoped to illuminate a new dimension of global learning, which I could integrate into my teaching practices. After completing the inquiry process, I found that scholars not only see global awareness and tolerance as interdependent concepts, but they also push educators to explore self-awareness and go beyond tolerance toward a more inclusive cultural understanding. I realized that the concepts functioned interdependently and represented key attributes of global citizens and cosmopolitans. I published my creative synthesis on the New Literacies Collaborative blog.
After fully exploring my inquiry, I created a lesson to push students past tolerance toward a deeper cultural understanding. As a World History teacher, I searched for a historical example of cultural tolerance from any of the world regions. I immediately thought of Andalusia, Spain. I taught for nine months in Andalusia, and I have a personal connection with the region’s history. I decided to use my knowledge and experience in Spain as a basis for my lesson. The lesson called students to rely on primary and secondary source material to create a definition for cultural tolerance and critically assess the concept in historical context. I prompted students to trace the development of tolerant attitudes in early Spain and present evidence to either support or reject the existence of a tolerant environment. I hope that my students would be able to examine themes of change and continuity, while establishing historical agency. I used the Project-based Inquiry model to challenge students and facilitate deeper cultural understanding. In addition, the plans required students to rely on collaboration in order to shape the results of their inquiry. The lesson called for students to collaborate with a class in Spain using blogging. I planned for students to reach a new cultural understanding through this collaborative inquiry process. While creating this lesson narrative, I sought to exemplify how global learning could allow students to examine their own perspectives as a means of achieving an authentic cultural understanding. I have displayed the lesson narrative below.
Finally, I explored cosmopolitanism and conducted an interview with a cosmopolitan. After reading Kwame Appiah’s Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, I expanded my ideas of 21st century citizenship. I thought that Appiah’s vision of a cosmopolitan provided a useful example for the future of citizenship in the global community. I concluded that I would use global learning in order to facilitate the cosmopolitan development of my students. Today, cosmopolitanism represents the ultimate goal of my instruction. I hope that my pedagogy will engage students in the global community and bring them to a deep intercultural understanding.
Cosmopolitan Interview
Cosmopolitan Interview