September 21 was the International Day of Peace as designated by the United Nations. I have been honored since June to participate in a group of educators who broadcast monthly via the Periscope app using the hashtag #passthescopeedu. Typically these broadcasts are 5-7 minute "pocket PD sessions", or expressions of inspiration on topics like "Global Connections", "What Is Your Creative Mojo", "Succeed Together", and "I Know What You Did This Summer - How Will You Implement Your Summer PD Learning?".
Sometime over the summer it occurred to me (as random things often do) that the International Day of Peace might be a really great theme for s #passthescopeedu edition. I suggested it to the group, and the idea was accepted wholeheartedly. Over the next several weeks the regular participants reached out to colleagues local (which covers the US) and international.
What transpired yesterday far surpassed my hopes, and consisted of some truly inspiring messages of Peace from students, educators and others around the world. What was utterly fascinating and eye-opening was the number of different angles to peace that were explored. Along the path of preparation, I fielded questions from several colleagues regarding what exactly would be an appropriate way to scope a message of peace. My initial concept was to keep it as broad as possible, allowing for performance, art, poetry, more traditional presentations, or other ideas that people felt could tie in. Valerie Lewis compiled this storify of the day's event, but there is a synopsis below.
Matt Frattali (most often known as Matt Frat) posed the idea that Campaign Finance Reform is an obvious road to peace. He made a compelling argument on several fronts, and waved the flag to rally educators to take action for change.
Cassie Reeder enthusiastically spoke to the power of global connections as a way to promote peace even with our youngest students. As a World Language teacher and an educator who has been more and more actively seeking to connect my students with their peers around the globe, I really appreciated her presentation.
Valerie Lewis, a Georgia educator, is considered by most of us in #passthescopeedu to be the driving force behind us all (not to neglect Derek Larson, Toutoule Ntoya, whose scope will be mentioned later in this post, and the aforementioned Stacy Lovdahl who are huge parts of the #passthescopeedu team). She brought student voice to the stage with her International and Peace Clubs, as they gave their personal thoughts on peace. In a similarly-themed scope, Nicolette James had students from the National Honor Society and LGBT Club in her Long Island school share some very powerful personal messages and solutions.
Judy Arzt is easily the most prolific scoper I follow. She broadcasts from many different places around the country (Old Sturbridge Village!!!) and gives in-depth historical and cultural information to her viewers. I loved her take on peace, because she gave background information on about a dozen or so former winners of the Nobel Peace and their accomplishments. She was able to provide a historical context for peace that I had not seen in other scopes - yet another layer!
Barbara Cotter was one educator who brought student voice in the form of song, as she scoped from Micoud Primary in St. Lucia. The multi-talented Dene Gainey did the same from his classroom, and several French students in my school shared
Fabiana Casella in Argentina gave her personal thoughts on peace and love and their connection, and James and Miriam broadcast similar sentiments from their current home in Georgia, though they hail from the island of Haiti.
Kimberly Howell spoke about connecting children's literature to teach social justice, while Stacy Lovdahl facilitated a conversation with a very knowledgeable and articulate group of high school seniors about connections they had made to current issues of social justice and various books they had read. One of my Spanish 3 classes shared a project we have been working on with Matone de Chiwit on the issue of water scarcity in Latin America. Fabulous connections between content, social justice, and the theme of peace.
Brian Romero Smith also involved his students, using Digital Citizenship as an overarching theme. Without calling it Digital Citizenship, Sarah Thomas drove home the point that we all need to be cognizant of the images of our children - particularly our children of color - that we post, repost, favorite, like or otherwise endorse on social media. #trendthepositive is a great message for adult Digital Citizens as well as our students.
Toutoule Ntoya expanded on a conversation that started in a Voxer group, and discussed the impact of colonialism on language and culture in the francophone African diaspora. As a French teacher, this was one of my favorite sessions, along with being an issue that I love discussing with my students.
Rachel Pierson had a group of 6th graders speak directly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly apropos given the origin of Peace Day.
Venus Miller, a Family and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner from Homestead, FL spoke about the intersection of mental illness and domestic violence, and the need for vigilance.
Ashaala Shanae, a Brooklyn-born singer, songwriter, and motivational speaker, directly addressed issues of racism and oppression of African Americans - specifically black men.
The breadth and depth of the perspectives shared was absolutely stunning. The coming together of such a diverse group of international voices with the unified message of peace is something that will stay with me for quite a long time, and something I hope to repeat next year.
So my challenge to you, is to make a plan to add your voice and your personal message of peace to the chorus next year. We truly can be the change, but only if we take that first step.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Bringing Students to the Table to Make Real World Change
When I started this blog, I made a point to try to end each post with something of a challenge to those who read it. This time out, I'm stepping it up. I consider this to be more of a full-on call to action.
I look at the headlines, (Election 2016!!) and the more extreme things that turn up in my facebook feed (rapists walking free after three months, or not at all; yet another black man shot dead by police; abused children, abused elders. When will it stop?
It just might stop if we actively start growing empathy in our students. STEM, STEAM, Makerspaces...as a World Language Teacher I have been on a crusade for nearly two years to bring WL to the STEM table. Content integration, interdisciplinary projects, honestly the names have become completely meaningless to me by now. We need to be working together and making connections.
Then came Design Thinking. I had been following John Spencer's posts and video shorts, but when I read the book Launch that he wrote with A.J. Juliani I was struck by the first phase of the Launch process:
That is what we are missing from our STEM class and our Makerspaces. Our Project Based Learning endeavors must begin (and I would add end) with EMPATHY. That is perhaps the single most important ingredient we can cultivate in our schools -- and notice that I am not using the word "skill", because I don't quite think EMPATHY fits that category. It is more of an essence that is always there at the start, but that can wither away if hate is allowed to take its place. At the same time, once it grows, once you show it and share it, you will always have more.
This realization brought me to the desire (insistence if I am to be completely honest) to have a Service Learning component to my projects. I have spent about six months at this point marveling at the seemingly random connections I've made, and the opportunities both for myself and for my students that have dropped into my path. Upon reflection, however, I think it is just further proof of what my good friend Fran Siracusa has said: Good Brings Good. Such an incredibly simple concept, but one that is proving to be true every step of this journey I am on with my students -- and I choose those words very deliberately. This is not a journey on which I am leading them, we are truly learning together. And isn't that something powerful on its own!
In May, I wrote this post about Going Glocal after connecting with Karishma Bhagani and her organization Matone de Chiwit. All by itself that post has a whole lot of kismet going on! I had grand plans to weave Karishma's work into what I was going to be doing with a project-based team at my (now former) school. Things changed.
The weekend between New Teacher Orientation at my new school and meeting the students for the first time I attended EduPassions. It was unbelievable as a conference. Totally inspiring, practical ideas I implemented day 1...and my door prize. I won a year's subscription to Nepris. Now I'm a self-proclaimed techie rebel, but I had never heard of Nepris. Yet, I put it on my list of top 3 prize choices, because Nepris claims to "Connect Industry Professionals to Every Classroom". I was intrigued. While walking to get coffee, I decided to throw together a description of what we are doing with Matone de Chiwit, and see if they could find us a match.
Ryan Beltran confirmed his participation within a day and a half. Ryan is the founder of Elequa.io, and also a filmmaker. Oh, and fluent in Spanish. His expertise could not have fit our needs any better. So to bring this chapter of my story to a close, today, Wednesday September 14, was our sixth day of school. My students have learned about water scarcity in Latin America, divided themselves into project strands (Marketing, Fundraising, Research) and posed professional questions (in Spanish) to an expert in the field. On Day 6. My other Spanish 3 class didn't have the same opportunity, but that's OK, because
I look at the headlines, (Election 2016!!) and the more extreme things that turn up in my facebook feed (rapists walking free after three months, or not at all; yet another black man shot dead by police; abused children, abused elders. When will it stop?
It just might stop if we actively start growing empathy in our students. STEM, STEAM, Makerspaces...as a World Language Teacher I have been on a crusade for nearly two years to bring WL to the STEM table. Content integration, interdisciplinary projects, honestly the names have become completely meaningless to me by now. We need to be working together and making connections.
Then came Design Thinking. I had been following John Spencer's posts and video shorts, but when I read the book Launch that he wrote with A.J. Juliani I was struck by the first phase of the Launch process:
EMPATHY
That is what we are missing from our STEM class and our Makerspaces. Our Project Based Learning endeavors must begin (and I would add end) with EMPATHY. That is perhaps the single most important ingredient we can cultivate in our schools -- and notice that I am not using the word "skill", because I don't quite think EMPATHY fits that category. It is more of an essence that is always there at the start, but that can wither away if hate is allowed to take its place. At the same time, once it grows, once you show it and share it, you will always have more.
This realization brought me to the desire (insistence if I am to be completely honest) to have a Service Learning component to my projects. I have spent about six months at this point marveling at the seemingly random connections I've made, and the opportunities both for myself and for my students that have dropped into my path. Upon reflection, however, I think it is just further proof of what my good friend Fran Siracusa has said: Good Brings Good. Such an incredibly simple concept, but one that is proving to be true every step of this journey I am on with my students -- and I choose those words very deliberately. This is not a journey on which I am leading them, we are truly learning together. And isn't that something powerful on its own!
In May, I wrote this post about Going Glocal after connecting with Karishma Bhagani and her organization Matone de Chiwit. All by itself that post has a whole lot of kismet going on! I had grand plans to weave Karishma's work into what I was going to be doing with a project-based team at my (now former) school. Things changed.
The weekend between New Teacher Orientation at my new school and meeting the students for the first time I attended EduPassions. It was unbelievable as a conference. Totally inspiring, practical ideas I implemented day 1...and my door prize. I won a year's subscription to Nepris. Now I'm a self-proclaimed techie rebel, but I had never heard of Nepris. Yet, I put it on my list of top 3 prize choices, because Nepris claims to "Connect Industry Professionals to Every Classroom". I was intrigued. While walking to get coffee, I decided to throw together a description of what we are doing with Matone de Chiwit, and see if they could find us a match.
Ryan Beltran confirmed his participation within a day and a half. Ryan is the founder of Elequa.io, and also a filmmaker. Oh, and fluent in Spanish. His expertise could not have fit our needs any better. So to bring this chapter of my story to a close, today, Wednesday September 14, was our sixth day of school. My students have learned about water scarcity in Latin America, divided themselves into project strands (Marketing, Fundraising, Research) and posed professional questions (in Spanish) to an expert in the field. On Day 6. My other Spanish 3 class didn't have the same opportunity, but that's OK, because
- The video will be available soon.
- Tomorrow they are presenting their project plans via Periscope to educators around the world - and inviting them to join us in making a difference.
In my research to create a database of Service Learning Experiences for WL Teachers and their students, I have been overwhelmed at the possibilities that are available to give our students authentic learning opportunities WHILE MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. The opportunities are out there, and once you begin the process of making connections, the good takes over.
This is a call to action. If you've never done a PBL Project before, do one that HELPS. Find a problem in your community or elsewhere on the globe, and HEAL. Let's displace all the hate by growing empathy so big the hate has nowhere left to go. It's time.
What will you do? Let us know!
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