As educators, we have a responsibility to perit in our efforts to offer opportunities for children to practice global competence. Only then can we empower them to be change makers. To inspire global competence in our children, we must be intentional. You can achieve this by embracing the ’17 Sustainable Global Goals’ as an opportunity to connect your already existing curriculum to learning experiences that teach global competence.
In my third grade classroom, I have intentionally placed the four global competencies, Investigate the World, Understand Perspectives, Communicate Ideas, and Take Action, at the cornerstone of all that we do. With that, year after year, my students are inspired to make a difference in the world, both locally and at a global level. Because of the way they are empowered with opportunities to make a difference, my third graders have provided meals for the hungry, fundraised to provide livestock, planted fruit bearing trees, concrete homes and water wells for the destitute people of Haiti, designed and built raised garden bed prototypes for orphaned children, held craft fairs to provide shoes for tsunami victims, organized annual walks and funded children’s education.
To instill global competence, consider creating a culture of empathetic problem solvers beginning the first day of school. One way to do this is to engage your students in a collaborative problem solving activity that begins upon entry into their new classroom. Any task that requires the students to think and collaborate will help to build a sense that they are a community of problem solvers. For example, each morning during the first week of school, my students are given a problem or task to complete to help them determine in which seat each will sit that day. One example task invites the students to seat themselves chronologically by their birthdates. They are not allowed to skip seats, so as each new student arrives, some students have to move to a new seat, depending on the birthdate of the arriving student. Another task on another day invites the children to seat themselves alphabetically by their first name. Of course, in both tasks, the children collaborate by discussing the evidence necessary for determining where they will sit. With experiences such as these, your students will learn that their class is a place where problems are solved through collaboration.
Once the children are seated on the first day of school, before explaining class rules and procedures, I continue to model an appreciation for global competence through thoughtfully selected literature. I share the book, Have you Filled a Bucket Today, by Carol McCloud. In this story, readers learn the power of kindness. We then, as a class, determine that our only class rule is to, “fill people’s buckets,” and our class culture is intentionally established as a community who believes in the power of kindness and taking action to make a difference in the lives of others.
Another way to inspire global competence is to engage students in opportunities to listen with understanding and empathy. Museum-style partnership with international relief organizations such as Food for the Poor, are a tangible way for students to investigate countries and cultures where adults and children live in destitution. The following thought lines guide the integration of our museum partnership: What stories lie beneath the surface of a photograph or artifact? How can understanding other’s stories encourage empathy? How do we inspire in others the desire to make a difference? Using these questions, students can investigate photographs and artifacts that tell stories that will move them. The Circle of View Points thinking routine from Harvard’s Project Zero and the Library of Congress’ protocol, Observe, Reflect, Questionare two valuable routines students can use to document thinking.
Photographs, videos and artifacts help young students begin to understand the world beyond their immediate environment and thinking routines help children to consider others’ perspectives. By empowering your students in this way, they will begin to feel inspired to take action.
If your students are not sure how they can help or they need support from adults to bring their ideas to fruition, this becomes a perfect opportunity to work together as a class community to solve authentic issues. If your students feel they are part of a class culture that embraces the global competencies, they will feel as though they are able to make a difference. However, it is vital that the students know and trust that their teachers believe in their ability to be change makers. We can change the world by intentionally creating opportunities to practice global competence and supporting our students when they feel inspired to change the world.