Zooming Out for a Global View

Over the last several weeks, I have received many phone calls and e-mails from teachers and students about the Global Issues Conference for students in grades 6-12. Our office is excited about the level of interest and participation from schools all over Texas.

The main question that I am getting: “What project topics are acceptable for the conference?”

Just to clarify…Any topic that relates to a global issue is just fine, and the focus of the project can address the issue from a local, regional, national or global perspective. Projects can be multimedia or text- based, but the submission form must include a clear discussion of how the project ties to a global issue. Information about the conference and the submission form are on the World Room website:

To help you locate information about global topics, I have listed below some Internet links to global topics such as Internet safety, poverty, the AIDS epidemic, and climate change. Also included are links to social studies resources, maps, and a few media project tools. The short video on Internet social networking is a clever way to get your students into a discussion about Internet safety on social networking sites.

The Global Issues Conference is a joint project of the Office of International Outreach and the Academy for Future Global Leaders at Texas A&M University. Academy conference leaders are Alek Schmidt and Harrison Yat. They are happy to respond to student question by e-mail. zoomout2008@gmail.com

If you have questions about conference, contact me a call at 979-862-6700 or mgreen@ipomail.tamu.edu.

1. Internet safety on social networking video
http://www.auntlee.com/kids/public_service_announcement.html

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School recently announced that it will head a newly formed Internet Safety Technical Task Force. The Task Force, comprised of leading Internet businesses and organizations, will focus on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies that can be used by many companies across multiple platforms.
This Task Force has been established by MySpace in cooperation with the Attorneys General.

Read about the Berkman Centertask force: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/
Read about Internet Predators: http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2008/feb/lw18internet.cfm

2. Global Issues articles from http://www.globalissues.org/

Poverty facts and stats updated
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp

World military spending: it keeps going up
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

Updated AIDS statistics
http://www.globalissues.org/health/aids/

3. FREE Climate Change Curriculum and Cameras Available to Document Climate Change Solutions. Through a generous grant from Hewlett-Packard Company, Facing the Future also invites you to apply for a Climate Change Camera Grant. You have the opportunity to collaborate with other educators and give your students a chance to document climate change and the positive actions that they are taking in their communities. You could receive a classroom set of digital cameras to use in conjunction with Facing the Future’s Climate Change: Connections and Solutions units.

4. Google Earth *PRO* is FREE for Educators!
http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=783

5. Spice It up a Notch with Nutmeg
http://www.sblceastconn.org/nutmegbooks2009.htm

Spice It Up a Notch with Nutmeg is a collaborative, authentic, engaging, book project for students in grades 4 through 8. In this project, students read and discuss the Nutmeg Book Award nominees online and contribute to an online encyclopedia (wiki) for each individual book. Students participate in the experience of collaborate writing. They edit, enhance and revise each other’s content, contributing to a published online resource for anyone to read and use. The web site also includes good lesson plan ideas and resources for teaching about literature.

6. Awesome Stories web site
http://www.awesomestories.com/

7. Paint.Net: Free photo editing software for Windows
http://www.getpaint.net/

Google:Sketch Up 6(free) 3D modeling software
http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=369

8. Moodle.org: Set up a Moodle for your classroom to share project information.
http://moodle.org/

9. Second Life Sites for Teens
Quest Atlantis: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/
This site has many of the features and learning affordances of Teen Second Life, but the site is completely free and doesn't have some of the challenges that TSL users face.

For more about Second Life: Voicethread
http://voicethread.com/share/8878/.

Information about Second Life in Education:
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/.

Article on Second Life by Catherine Parsons (SL: Victoria Gloucester).
Teaching the Virtual Generation
http://tinyurl.com/3aubc5

If you're interested in Teen Second Life, create an avatar for yourself on the "main grid" of Second Life (secondlife.com) and then go to ISTE Island (use the Search feature). For more about ISTE in SL, visit: http://www.iste.org/secondlife.

10. Secondary Education - Social Studies: Geography Resources
http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/secedSSgeog.html

11. Good Map Resources
Best of History Web Sites: Contains an annotated list of excellent map and geography resources.
http://besthistorysites.net/Maps.shtml

National Geographic: Map Machine.
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Road maps, geographic map and satellite map that you can zoom in on and see details.

U.S. Geological Survey website: National Atlas
The site lets you build your own maps.
http://nationalatlas.gov/

Google Earth: Rumsey Historical Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Lite Version of Google Earth: http://indexmundi.com/
All named population centers by country & by world region

Zooming Out for a Global View

Wondering Where to Get Your Students Started?
The following websites will help you and your students explore current global issues and brainstorm possible project topics. If you have additional resources, please share them with other Texas teachers by posting a comment on this article.

Globalization 101 provides a student’s introduction to Globalization, as well as background information on several global topics, such as trade, technology, the environment, energy, and human rights (Click on the Teacher tab for global topic information). www.globalization101.org

Teaching with the News: The Choices Program sponsored by Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University provides online curriculum materials and ideas to connect the content of the classroom to the headlines in the news. Topics cover a range of foreign policy and international issues. Link to Scholars OnLine to bring university scholars into secondary level classrooms. Videos of scholars who have contributed to the development of curriculum units or participated in Choices professional development programs are provided in an interview format. http://www.choices.edu/resources/current.php

The Global Education Website is designed to increase the amount and quality of teaching of global education in Australian primary and secondary schools, but US schools can certainly benefit from the resources. The objective of the site is to raise awareness and understanding of international issues, development and poverty, and to prepare students to live in an increasingly globalised world and to be active citizens shaping better futures.
http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/cache/offonce/pid/178

Learn about climate change and global warming on the Global Issues web site. http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming/Intro.asp

The Concern Worldwide website offers several classroom guides for teachers to download that cover current global issues such as child labor, hunger, women’s rights, and water.
http://concernusa.org/Public/GCP/ClassroomGuides.aspx

Find a project idea for secondary students about global warming and climate change on the KIDLINK website: http://kidspace.kidlink.org/start.php?HoldNode=16019

The You Think website is sponsored by the World Bank and provides information and research on various global issues in today’s world, such as education, development, the environment, globalization, health, trade, and urbanization. http://youthink.worldbank.org/

The National Peace Corps Association provides A Global Issues Toolbox for Educators. http://www.rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=219#Water

Read Going Global 101 by J. Michael Adams and Angelo Carfagnaon the Inside Higher Ed website. This article provides an introduction to globalization, ideas for teachers to incorporate global issues into their classrooms, and links to global resourses.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/07/16/adams

BBC International website provides up to date international news including One-Minute New videos. http://news.bbc.co.uk/

CIA Factbook provides maps and information resources about countries. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

United Nations website offers information about UN affairs and world issues and links to the Cyber School Bus, the United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project. http://www.un.org/

Storytelling is meaning.

Storytelling is about recalling past events and linking past to the present, so that we can, perhaps, be prepared for the future. Storytelling is not a mirror that reflects directly, but more like a prism that refracts; a medium that colors whatever is viewed through it.

I was named Martha in honor of my mother’s special friend or so the story goes…I don’t recall, but my sister Louise says it’s so. A week ago, I was blessed by the birth of twin granddaughters: Olivia Aldrin and Phoebe Becket….They will laugh when they learn the origin of their names. For many months the family has lovingly referred to them as A & B as indicated on many sonograms that reflected their tiny growing shapes. Their middle names reflect their parents’ heroes.

Is there a story in your name? Share your story.

Author Chun Yu.....begins her tale of the Chinese Cultural Revolution with the story of her name…precious jade worn close to the heart. Read additional excerpts from her book at: http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=503965&agid=2

Interview with the author:

Little Green -- Xiao Qing --
was the name they gave me.
Qing, the green
of tree leaves in early spring,
of clear water in a deep pond,
my baba said;
of beautiful youth,
the evergreen of life,
my mama said;
and of precious jade worn close to the heart,
my nainai said.

Media Literacy

Since teachers and parents cannot predict what specific knowledge and behavior will be demanded in the future, we must concentrate on educating citizens who will be able to solve problems that cannot presently be foreseen. Tomorrow's citizens must effectively analyze information, resolve problems, and make informed choices. Students must learn to spot bias, stereotypes and propaganda that often appear in advertisements, television and the news media.

The summer presidential debates featured video questions posted on You Tube. Why not get your students to focus on key national and international issues by developing their own video debate questions. Students can learn about media literacy as they research issues and write debate questions. Hold a school presidential debate or post the video questions to the next CNN debate by November 28.

http://www.youtube.com/republicandebate?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=youtube%20presidential%20debate

Combine media literacy education with technology training by creating video questions using Adobe Vlog It. http://www.adobe.com/products/vlogit/

Drag and drop photos, video clips or music into Vlog It. Using the teleprompter, add narration to digital images and video clips. Record narration directly into the program and publish your work as a video or e-mail attachment.

Watch a short Vlog It video about the Latin America workshop media presentation designed by Christine Kleck, TAMU Department of Communications

Sharing Our Culture

Celebrate the wonderfully diverse cultures and heritage of the Brazos Valley community at Brazos Valley Worldfest on November 17, 2007 in historic downtown Bryan from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Brazos Valley Worldfest, presented by Citibank, will celebrate international awareness by offering cultural displays, demonstrations, international cuisine, performances, children's
crafts, educational competitions and many other activities.
This event is free and open to the public.

If you teach in the Brazos Valley, your students are eligible to participate in the Brazos Valley Worldfest Education Competitions:

• Sharing Our Culture Through Digital Stories
• Sharing Our Culture Through Posters

The Education Competition poster is attached to this message and additional information is available on the Brazos Valley Worldfest site: http://www.brazosvalleyworldfest.org/

Worldfest Flyer for Brazos Valley Worldfest Education Program

Cultural performances include:

• World Fashion show presented by the Discovery Program
• Flamenco Andaluz of Houston
• Texas A&M Bellydance
• Academy of Modern Martial Arts of College Station
• Kaminari Taiko of Houston
• Ballet Folklórico Los Altos de Jalisco
• Texasnischer Schuhplattler Verein (German dance group)
• Indian Classical Dance
• And more to be added

Special events:

The Tipitellers Story Telling Group will be on hand to share Native American Indian stories with children inside a giant tipi in the Kid’s Village adjacent to the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley. http://www.tipitellers.org/

Admission to the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley will be free all day!

Tellabration!, a national storytelling event, will be taking place inside the Children’s Museum http://www.tellabration.org/

The Bryan Public Library will present “Singabration” which will highlight cultural storytelling set to music. Visitors will have a chance to hear international and folk songs as well as learn about instruments and their significance in different cultures.

http://www.bcslibrary.org/bryan.html

Additional ways to share global culture with your students:

Cultural Suitcases from the Southwestern Bell World Room
http://worldroom.tamu.edu/ Cultural Suitcase flyer is attached.

Cultural Suitcase Flyer

One World Classrooms – New Site

http://www.oneworldclassrooms.org/

• OneWorld Classrooms provides a wide range of FREE password-protected, curriculum-based online content for K-12 classrooms that is designed to help students explore different cultures.
• Online Classroom Travel Resources allow classes to travel online to the world region they are studying (Africa, China, the Amazon Rain Forest, the Galapagos Islands and the Canadian Arctic), meet students who live there and learn about their lives and cultures
• Electronic Cultural Exchange Library features artwork, music, PowerPoints, videos and audio submitted by participating classes from around the world
• Student to Student Language Lab allows students to share their first language while they learn a foreign language from their overseas peers.
• OneWorld Classrooms also links US classrooms with overseas partner classes to complete art, music, E-mail Q & A, video and PowerPoint exchanges.

Postcard Geography Project

The Postcard Geography project is a national and international, class-to-class exchange of picture (purchased, computer, or handmade) or email postcards. All public and private schools, home schools, and youth groups with students aged 5 to 19 years old are invited to participate. The project will begin on September 24, 2007, and run until February 1, 2008.

The project creates an opportunity to foster global friendships; it is now in its sixteenth year. It is free of charge and open to all learning groups around the world. However, join only if you have a serious commitment to participation. A teacher discussion list, conducted as a blog, will establish an educator community for sharing information and for problem solving.

Registration is open until September 21, 2007. For more information, visit http://pcg.cyberbee.com/ or contact mailto:postcardgeography@comcast.net.

Student Educational Exchange (SEE)

A new, non-profit website that provides a FREE tool for teachers Designed by Connecticut social studies teacher Meghan Connelly
http://www.studenteducationalexchange.org/

The purpose of the site is to make it easy for teachers to increase current events and discussion in your curriculum. Students read articles on the site and respond to discussion prompts on our forum, along with all other SEE student users.

Go to the site now and sign up for an instructor's account, and you will receive a teacher code for your students to use when they register. This will make it easy to track your students' posts. Follow the prompts to create an assignment that your students will see when they login to the site. After that:

• Articles are from diverse, worldwide news sources
• Background links and discussion prompts are provided for each article.
• Articles are categorized by subject area to help teachers align current events with their specific curriculum.
• It is easy for you to manage your classes and your students posts.

The World We Want

What a great topic for students to consider.
http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html

The deadline for submitting student projects to the 2007 Children's Day broadcast is past, but the topic would be great to use for a digital project in your classroom. Take a look at the example videos. Make a Difference! One Minute Video Contest: http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html

Great resources and examples for digital storytelling are also available on the World Room web site. http://worldroom.tamu.edu/

International Children's Day of Broadcasting: "The World We Want"

The 2007 International Children's Day of Broadcasting will take place on 9 December 2007 with the theme "The World We Want." Broadcasters around the world, both television and radio, are encouraged to participate in this special day by creating special programs for kids and inviting youth into the studio to participate in the production and presentation of broadcasts. UNICEF and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will jointly award the International Children's Day of Broadcasting Award to honor broadcasters who capture the spirit of the ICDB.

UNICEF appeals to broadcasters to engage youth in the media-making process not just on the International Children's Day of Broadcasting but throughout the year. Children have the right to voice their opinions and the empowering aspect of participation in radio and television encourages them to develop ideas and inspires them to take action.

Save the Date

Latin America: Issues 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
College Station Conference Center

The focus of the first International Outreach Education K-12 workshop for 2007-2008 will be Latin America. Workshop presentations will look at current issues:

• Political populism
• Brazil and the biofuel debate
• Eco-tourism as a tool for environmental education
• El Salvador and the consequences of northern migration
• Global impact of the Panama Canal enlargement
• Agricultural research and development
• Media literacy: Representations of Latin America in the press

Check the Worldroom web site for the 2007-2008 Workshop Calendar

Immigration will be an important topic in the upcoming presidential election. If you plan to discuss immigration issues with your students, you may be interested in the following resources sent recently from Annenberg Media.

Annenberg Media: If you are not familiar with Annenberg Media, the video presentations and resources are free and available for you to use in the classroom. Just sign up at http://learner.org/redirect/august/view11.html to access free Video on Demand.

Inquiry learning in the geography classroom
If you are looking for a new method to use in your social studies or geography class, draw ideas from the 10th-grade geography lesson of California teacher Mavis Weir as she shares an inquiry based approach to teaching about issues in Latin America. http://learner.org/redirect/august/sslib8.html

The program includes a Lesson Background page offering information on "Migration Trends in Six Latin American Countries," as well as links to Video on Demand and NCSS Standards.

Interpreting Constitutional Rights
Immigration issues are not a new, but an integral part of the ongoing process of interpreting constitutional rights. Watch a lively discussion between distinguished discussants of differing perspectives in "The Constitution: That Delicate Balance"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/cons9.html Program 11, "Immigration Reform."

History offers clues as to the power of the economics forces driving immigration.
"Capital and Labor" http://learner.org/redirect/august/boa10.html
Program 17 of "A Biography of America."

"Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/tml3.html
Workshops 7 and 8, introduce authors, literary works, and key references related to immigrant issues.

"The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/pop4.html
Program 2, "Boundaries and Borderlands," looks into the forces behind border crossings and migration patterns.

Articles providing background on the immigrant experience in the U.S.

"Coming to America: Immigrants at Ellis Island"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass5.html

"How the Other Half Lived: The Lower East Side"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass6.html

"Unionism and the Farm Workers Movement"
http://learner.org/redirect/august/apass7.html
These pages also include links to historical images and poetry, which can be used to create a slideshow.

Sharing Stories: Revealing Ourselves to Others

In Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence, Roger Schank points out that daily conversation is actually storytelling. Through conversation we share our experiences, both minor and significant, as we reveal a bit of ourselves to others. It is the sharing that is key to both good conversation and to meaningful digital storytelling.

Last Wednesday afternoon after a two-day fast paced digital storytelling workshop, twenty-eight teachers sat down to share their stories. It was a powerful personal experience to enter into the world of each teacher. If you would like to see their digital stories, they are now posted on the Worldroom web site.

The International Outreach Digital Storytelling Workshop for K-12 teachers was held on June 26 & 27 at the Brazos Valley Children’s Museum. K-12 teachers learned about the digital storytelling process, multiple technology methods for designing digital stories, and curriculum approaches to engaging students in digital storytelling. See the International Programs E-News to read about the workshop:

http://international.tamu.edu/intradeptnewsletter.asp (see July 2)

During the workshop, Jamie Gustin, Elementary Technology Coach for Magnolia ISD demonstrated Movie Maker, Photo Story3 and Audacity. Dr. Ron Zellner from TAMU Department of Educational Technology, presented a live demonstration of VideoQue Pro (MAC. The completed story is called Emily’s Wild Adventure, a digital story written, illustrated, and narrated by third grader Ashton Hinton. Enjoy the adventure with Ashton!

After the workshop, several teachers inquired if similar programs that use green screen techniques are available for PC users. Dr. Zellner provided links to two programs: Visual Communicator by Adobe and Vlogit. Vlogit is very inexpensive compared to Visual Communicator, another plus is the program is easy to use. I spent the afternoon of July 4th totally absorbed in playing with the possibilities that Vlogit provides, and I’m heading out this afternoon to find fabric to make my own green screen. Being in the story just adds a bit of spontaneity to a digital story or to a pod cast interview.

For information on using green screen techniques, see the articles on Dr. Jason Ohler’s web site: Nome green screen storytelling project, 2007: How-to pictorial guide for green screen digital storytelling and Going green - using green screen and chroma key editing in digital storytelling.

Watch 4th grade student Hannah Davis tell The Fox Who Became a Better Person, a digital story posted on YouTube.

Hannah shares Native American Indian cultural values as she tells a story that uses animals as characters. What is the moral of her story?