Cultivating
Global Citizenship in Our Students
By Kathryn E. Engebretson, Ph.D.
As we start anew with high hopes for
successful 2014-2015 school year, I can't help but think about all of the good
that Hoosiers have done in the past to make the world a better place to live.
As the intention of this column is to highlight a global and international
focus, with this issue I would like to take some time to share some different
ways we can increase global learning for our students so that they, too, can
become people who positively impact the future.
First, though I think it is worth asking what we mean by
global citizenship. Much more than just watching the World Cup or the Olympics
every few years, global citizenship entails something deeper and more nuanced.
It has been called a key 21st century skill and is something that our students
are expected to be prepared with when they graduate and head into adult life.
While there are many definitions of global citizenship, I would like to advance
the following for our Hoosier students: a global citizen is someone who
identifies as a member of transnational community of people who share values
and commonalities of living at the same time in the same world. Less legalistic
than other forms of citizenship, global citizenship is one of many
identifications that any one person can have as it does not supersede or negate
participating in local, state, or national citizenship activities. For me,
global citizenship is more of a way of
thinking than a document that one would hold. Global citizens understand
the inherent interconnectedness of humanity, and while they understand the vast
complexity that comes with global diversity, they find ways to work and
participate within that atmosphere.
So,
then, if global citizenship is approached this way, our task as teachers must
then be to cultivate a way of thinking toward the global that will help our
students participate and contribute to civic life now and in the future. But
what are some of those things? How do we help cultivate that way of thinking?
The following is simply a list of my 25 most favorite techniques and reminders
on how to do this kind of work with students of all ages. Complete references
are included for those of you who would like to delve deeper.
1) Make cross-cultural interaction ordinary
2) Challenge stereotyping & overgeneralisation
3) Learn from ordinary people from different countries
4) Teach how to seek out multiple perspectives
5) Avoid exoticizing other cultures
6) Show examples of cultural change and diffusion
7) Teach interconnectedness throughout time and in the present
8) Organize the curriculum through human rights
9) Teach case studies involving human rights conventions
10) Ask students what global responsibility means to
them; investigate their answers together
11) Open the conversation to include multiple
approaches to studying human rights: historical, problem-centered, values
analysis, international relations, and others
12) Use dual-language books and include real
literature from across the world
13) Follow current events together as a class
14) Role-Play global events with multiple viewpoints
represented
15) Teach bias and perspective by using multiple
resources
16) Engage students in charitable projects
17) Model how to think about complex events instead
of "protecting" students from them
18) Involve students in systematic inquiry of social
justice issues
19) Organize student-led tutoring for ELL students
or those studying for citizenship exams
20) Have students create pamphlets to help newcomers
with shopping tips or to introduce immigrant-friendly agencies
21) Have students author children's books welcoming
newcomer children into your community
22) Integrate with other subjects to study worldwide
issues such as climate change, migration, modern slavery, famine, or global
disease (malaria, HIV/AIDS, influenza)
23) Analyse global folktales, proverbs, or idioms in
connection with literature, art, history, or culture study
24) Connect with virtual communities of students
across the globe to create a cultural exchange
25) Listen to what your students are talking about
and create units of study with them that pull everyone out of the classroom and
into the world at large
Kathryn E. Engebretson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
CIEDR Associate Faculty
Indiana University, Bloomington
kenge@indiana.edu
