Global Updates From World View
October 2009

Celebrate International Education Week

November 16-20

International Education Week (IEW), started in 2000, celebrates international education and international exchange. Students must learn about the world and collaborate with peers worldwide. It is also time for us to learn from those foreign nationals coming to study in the US and for more Americans to study abroad to learn from our peers worldwide. IEW promotes international understanding and builds support for international educational exchange, better preparing Americans to live, work, collaborate, and compete in a global environment. IEW is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education. Coincidentally, it is also Geography Awareness Week! More information to celebrate is listed below.

Global Education in NC Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Action Myers Park High School: H1N1 for No One Myers Park High School’s latest project is a  campaign to prevent the pandemic H1N1 Flu in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools and the community.  This student-driven initiative was born over coffee when 5 students of the Myers Park International Baccalaureate Council agreed that they did not want to catch the flu and that those who contracted this flu miss too many days of school. It began with a small campaign to solicit donations and increase use of hand sanitizers among students, but H1N1 for No One quickly turned into a public health campaign to educate students on flu prevention. Click here to continue reading. ----------------------------------------------- Winding Springs Elementary Magnet: Leadership and Global Economics Winding Springs is a full magnet school with a theme of Leadership and Global Economics. The global theme is represented throughout the school by posted student work, a canopy of international flags over the main foyer, and a spectacular international garden in the courtyard where students work on global-study projects. To read more click here.

The International Education Week 2009 website iew.state.gov has officially been launched, and includes promotional materials, an interactive quiz, and opportunities to post and view planned events around the world.  IEW also has an active presence on the social networking sites Facebook and ExchangesConnect. ExchangesConnect promotes mutual understanding and exchange among people worldwide. It is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (connect.state.gov).

World View believes that every week should be International Education Week. Teachers in North Carolina’s schools and colleges are educating students for a global society every day. This year World View will work with its 14,000th educator and has formal partnerships with over 80 schools, school systems, and community colleges from across the state. These partners have a commitment to global education and to preparing students to study, work, and live in an interconnected world. However, if you are doing something to celebrate International Education Week let World View and the IEW folks know. Submit your event for others to see on the IEW website. Together we can show the world how North Carolina is a leader in international education.

Each month’s issue of Global Updates highlights a school or school system’s global education activities. This month we feature two schools from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. If you’d like to share your global initiatives, we’d love to hear from you! Please send us your story and any photographs and you may be featured in an upcoming Global Updates. Our electronic newsletter reaches over two thousand educators.

• Incorporate information on a country or culture into your regular lesson plan, even if you don't teach social studies.
• Explore international aspects of the arts - music, film, theatre, visual arts, literature, dance - by creating, performing, or studying artworks with an international component. This could include a field trip to a museum or concert or showing a foreign film in class.
• Read newspapers from around the world and compare large global issues that affect various regions of the world differently like the global economy, global health, elections, etc.
• Study global climate change and environmental issues worldwide.
• Adopt a school in a developing country and donate school supplies, reference materials, and other items.
• Trade questions and answers with students from another country through the Internet, pen pal clubs, or a Digital Video Conference.
• Encourage cultural understanding for students using the online resource One World: Connecting Communities, Cultures, and Classrooms. scholastic.com/oneworld.
• Organize a cross-cultural potluck lunch in which students bring in or make foods from their homeland or ancestors' homeland.
• Ask students to write essays on countries they would like to visit and why they chose those countries.
• Feature local international experts as speakers: Fulbright Students and Scholars, former diplomats or Peace Corps volunteers, business leaders working for multi-national corporations, or journalists.
• Participate in a Model UN. www.unausa.org/modelun
• Assign students to produce a video or website about their cross-cultural experiences.
• Hold a geography, foreign language, or world history bee for your students.

Plan ahead! The dates for future IEW’s are November 15 – 19, 2010 and November 14-18, 2011.

Launched in 1987 by presidential proclamation, Geography Awareness Week is held the third week of each November, promoting the importance of geography education in the United States. Geography Awareness Week 2009 explores the world through mapping! The theme is Get Lost in Mapping: Find Your Place in the World. To access activities go to www.GeographyAwarenessWeek.org or mywonderfulworld.org and select "Geography Awareness Week".

Get started by using Geography Action! Mapping Europe Toolkit. The toolkit includes a huge wall or floor map of Europe with activities for grades K-12. Download the toolkit, tile map, and Europe support materials at www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/index.html

Connect with a GeoMentor to help youth explore where mapping technologies can take them. GeoMentors work with educators in and out of formal classrooms to help kids see, use, and do more geography in their activities. edcommunity.esri.com/geomentor/index.cfm

Take advantage of all the resources available through the My Wonderful World initiative. My Wonderful World was started to help increase geographic knowledge for students in school and at home. When you sign up for the program, you receive updates with activities and suggestions to help give students the “power of global knowledge.” Use the site to access the activities and materials and be sure to sign up for the campaign. Remember that geography is more than maps. Geography is culture and global connections. Geographic knowledge is essential for students if they are to succeed in today’s world. Every voice in support of geographic knowledge counts and numbers speak to those who make the laws and policies for our students so take a moment and sign up for the campaign. Please visit mywonderfulworld.org today!

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Action

Myers Park High School: H1N1 for No One

Myers Park High School’s latest project is a campaign to prevent the pandemic H1N1 Flu in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools and the community.  This student-driven initiative was born over coffee when 5 students of the Myers Park International Baccalaureate Council agreed that they did not want to catch the flu and that those who contracted this flu miss too many days of school. It began with a small campaign to solicit donations and increase use of hand sanitizers among students, but H1N1 for No One quickly turned into a public health campaign to educate students on flu prevention.

Messages are communicated through posters, flyers, the media, music, and a play. As a result, hand sanitizers are in every classroom and supervised common area, the cafeteria, at the front desk, the attendance and guidance offices, and at sports concession stands. A “Skit Squad” performs the play on and off campus and a “Germ Squad” offers free squirts of sanitizer at sporting events, performances, parent meetings, and student assemblies.

H1N1 for No One has even become a district-wide campaign. The district and the Mecklenburg County Health Department are producing the play and song for distribution on DVD and on the district’s website. A behind the scenes video for the H1N1 for No One song is posted on: http://mecklenburgcountync.gov/ To view the video, click the "H1N1 Music Video". Additionally, Myers Park students are proposing a district-wide “sponsor a school” campaign where companies can donate sanitizer.

To read more about H1N1 for No One click here.

Winding Springs Elementary Magnet: Leadership and Global Economics

Winding Springs is a full magnet school with a theme of Leadership and Global Economics. The global theme is represented throughout the school by posted student work, a canopy of international flags over the main foyer, and a spectacular international garden in the courtyard where students work on global-study projects.

Teachers integrate a global and leadership theme into all subjects, and student global-study projects are formally displayed twice a year during the International Project Fair and International Festival. This year, students in kindergarten and grades two and four will study the Arabic language for the first time.

The goal of the magnet program at Winding Springs is to help students achieve global awareness, high academic standards, and leadership qualities to contribute as knowledgeable and effective citizens in an ever-changing global society. For more information click here to go to the WSE website.

Scenes from Winding Springs Elementary