This week I will be reflecting on case studies from “The Global Educator” by Julie Lindsay. In her book, Julie writes about different teachers from across the globe and their success stories with global collaboration in the classroom. Today I will be focusing on two of those stories. Before reading these success stories, please enjoy this video of a teacher in Italy who was successfully able to create a global collaborative project in her classroom!
The first case study which I connected with was about Mali Bickley who is a Canadian classroom teacher of 34 years. Ms. Bickley used a program known as ICT to integrate global learning in her literacy and other content areas so that her student could connect to and learn from other students around the globe. I could tell her enthusiasm with global learning as she helped to create meaningful projects that her student could not only learn the content but also change other peoples lives by connecting with others around the globe. This is such a great thing to read as a future educator because it motivates me to use global learning in my classroom to help engage my students and enhance their knowledge as well as create meaningful connections with people around the globe. The author writes that the students in Ms. Bickley’s classroom became extremely passionate about these connections they were making. This is wonderful to hear as when students are excited about the content that they are learning; they are more likely to be internally motivated to learn more and do well on assessments.
The second study which spoke to me as a future educator was about Tracey Winey. Tracy is a STEM teacher and Media Specialist at a school in Colorado. In her class, she decided to make use of 3D printing technology to create a globally collaborative project. For this project, Ms. Winey had her student connect with people from around the globe to help design lights that can be used in different parts of the world. This is such a beautiful project because not only are students becoming engaged with learning how to use a 3D printer, but they are creating connections around the world and providing support to areas that may be in need. I plan to implement projects like this in my class where we are focusing on a core content area while also creating connections and providing support, making the content usable for the student and exemplifying how to use this knowledge for good!