Craft an "elevator pitch" for why global learning is important within your local context, to an audience of your choosing - using a personal global learning story & Dr. Peeples' 3P Story Framework (from the October conference!) below for guidance.
In the discussion board below, post your "elevator pitch" in written form (up to 200 words) or in an audio or video file* (up to 60 seconds), as you like.
After you have posted, please comment on at least one other person’s post.
* To upload an audio/video file: Click the File icon (the page icon w/ the up arrow) & an 'Upload File' window will pop up. In that window, click the 'Choose File' button, then click the 'OK' button when done. The file will then show as a link. There is a size limit of 20 MB.
Comments
Global learning is important at Palmer Lake Elementary in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota because we are a school that is incredibly diverse with students that have a range of multicultural backgrounds. If our educational system and learning in the classroom does not refect our students' lived experiences how are we expecting them to grow and have internal motivation to be engaged in school. When I have used texts and experiences about students backgrounds such as the book, Home of the brave by Katherine Applegate which explores the story of a refugee coming to Minnesota from Sudan my students were able to make relatable and deep connections to their own experiences or the experiences of their parents or grandparents. These discussions helped students connect to a local issue of new to country students coming to our school and feeling isolated and out of place, to the global issue of war and trauma which causes refugees. I believe that it is essential that we are taking a lens of global perspective when we are looking at our instruction and consider these questions: Who's voice is being celebrated? who's voice is being harmed? Who's voice is missing? When we consider this we are able to push back against white normative standards in education and create a classroom that is creating globally competent citizens.
Last year, during a geography unit, one of my students shared a personal story about their family’s experience immigrating from Guatemala. That moment sparked a powerful conversation in our class, where students began to connect their own histories to what we were learning. That’s the personal—global learning not only broadens students’ knowledge, it helps them see themselves and each other reflected in the curriculum.
The political reality is that Waltham is a diverse city with many students from Central America, and yet, our curriculum doesn’t always capture that richness. When we don’t include global perspectives, we risk alienating students and missing the opportunity to prepare them for the globalized world they will navigate as adults.
What’s possible is a school district where global learning is integrated across all subjects—where students engage with global histories, cultures, and current issues in a way that builds empathy, critical thinking, and global citizenship. As a teacher, I’ve seen firsthand how this approach not only deepens understanding but also makes learning more meaningful. Waltham’s diversity is a strength—let’s embrace it and ensure every student has access to an education that reflects the world they live in.
Wow Stephanie I think this is an incredible way to capture the heart of global learning and how essential it is. I loved how you integrated a student story and the power it had on you and your classroom. I think it's crucial that you connected it to your local context and how important it is to integrate this within the classroom. This alligns a lot with what I wrote and how it is important to connect the lived experiences of students with the instruction and curriculum that we are teaching.
Story of People-
Throughout my own learning journey, professionally and personally, I have had the opportunities to learn about how others live and are educated across the globe. This not only allows me to learn about others, it continues to help me learn about myself and my own identity. Through these experiences, I have found that we are all much more similar in the world, than we are different, yet we can celebrate all that does make us unique.
Story of Place-
In my own rural school district, it has been important to bring the world to our classrooms, and help adults, students, and the community see why learning about others is important. We have added global awareness to our mission and vision, in hopes of fostering global thinking in our students. The global thinking skills we continue to embrace in our teaching includes: critical thinking, employability skills, Portrait of a Graduate, career readiness, perspective-taking, and building our empathy skills.
Story of Purpose-
Through the experiences I have had, I have been able to bring my new learning to our district through my own leadership position in school improvement. This has allowed me to push our district in a direction of thinking about the world and its impact on our students, and how our students can have a positive impact on the world. We have implemented various career awareness opportunities for our students, the creation of a Global Studies course, service learning opportunities for our students, and having community members share their own experiences of their lives with our students. These first-person opportunities help our students see what is beyond our state and nation, and can help them devise a plan for their own positive impact. While we continue to have much work to do and can improve in many ways, the steps forward we have taken are exciting and impactful for many.
As an English teacher, I am part of SC’s Corridor of Shame, and I have seen firsthand how limited resources and exposure can narrow a student’s worldview. Growing up, I was an avid reader. Through the pages of a book, I explored distant lands and diverse cultures long before traveling. A single book lit a spark in me that led me across oceans. That is the story of people. How one student’s curiosity became a teacher’s global journey.
As an educator, I now prioritize global learning in my classroom because I have seen how it can break generational cycles of limitations. Despite systematic challenges, I have witnessed students connect to texts in amazing ways, realizing that people across the country and the globe share their hopes, struggles, and dreams. That is the story of place.
My purpose as an educator has evolved over the past five years. I no longer just teach literature. I advocate for global competence. Our students deserve more than survival skills; they deserve the ability to thrive in a connected world. My call to fellow educators and leaders is to infuse global perspectives into our curriculum and teaching. Start with stories. One book changed my life. One story can change theirs.
Elevator Pitch:
Teaching in a school built on Narragansett land, I’m constantly reminded that our students’ understanding of the world has to start with a sense of place—and then stretch beyond it. Global learning gives us the tools to do that. It helps students connect the stories they read, the history they live, and the world they’ll inherit. Whether we’re looking at Indigenous poetry from right here in Rhode Island or reading voices from Costa Rica, I want them to see that literature isn’t just about other people—it’s about understanding themselves in a global context. That’s how we build empathy, curiosity, and critical thinking—skills that matter no matter where life takes them.
Jessica,
Including your own school's indegisious connection highlights the importance of continued learning and appreciation of its history, both locally and globally. I, too, think it is important to continue to build in empaty and critical thinking skills. I often forget about curiousity, but that is really where student voice and choice have a lot of power. Thank you for the reminder to include that!
Elevator Pitch to my School Administration and District:
I have had the privilege of exploring and engaging with other cultures firsthand. From the remoteness of the Australian Outback to the hustle and bustle of Paris and a few places in between, I have immersed myself in cultures unlike my own. Through my own experiences with cultural exchanges, I have embraced global learning for myself and my students.
Unfortunately, many of our students have never and probably will never have the opportunity to engage in other cultures through travel. Some of our students have never even left West Virginia, let alone the country. In addition to their lack of access to travel, our students lack the knowledge to participate in global conversations. How can we expect our students to succeed in a global world when they don't have a basic understanding of the world they live in? Not only do our students not know about the world, but they don't know about their own culture and local community.
With this in mind, global education must be integrated into our schools through the curriculum and school-wide events because it builds the knowledge, skills, and mindsets that students need to succeed in today’s world. I propose that we start local by teaching our students about themselves and the local community through classroom activities and local field trips. From there, our students will be better equipped to learn about other cultures as they can place global understandings into personal context. Global learning can occur through read-alouds, videos, virtual field trips, map explorations, international festivals, and so much more. If we can't take our students out into the world, we must bring it to them.
I love how you said, "If we can't take our students out into the world, we must bring it to them."
That is so true! I am able to do that through literature, and technology has made it easier to provide virtual field trips.
Global learning is important because the scale of our problems and connections are increasingly at that level. In order to prepare our students for the real world, they must be able to think outside of themselves, empathize with others, and lead with compassion. The school and district I teach at is a tough place- Pontiac, Michigan has a much higher rate of poverty and chronic absenteeism than the state average, for example. My students don't complain much at all, but they have been dealt a rough hand in some cases, and they display an incredible amount of resilience. But it's not enough to become individually resilient within a cruel system- we must think creatively and collaboratively about what is to be done about the systems of oppression that guide both oppressed peoples in the USA as well as around the world. Global learning allows for students to examine others and thus themselves. The framing of "glocal" learning is important because you don't have to go somewhere far away to make a difference in the world- analyses of thinking can be reciprocal between the United States and other countries. The problem, to be honest, is that the institution I work in is pure chaos. It is no fault of the people for the most part- teaching in a district with so much systematic racism, poverty, and trauma as part of the history is very difficult. What we can do is start by celebrating the diversity in our building and then leading outward.
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