Session+9

=Session 9=

9.1 Global Education Opener

 * How would you define global awareness? Global awareness is defined by a person's multi-cultural understanding and acceptance. Does the person understand that not everyone's "world" is the same? That they are different cultures throughout the world? That life is lived differently in other parts of the world? That different cultures have different acceptable behaviors? Etc. Global Awareness means that the person not only understand this, but accepts that customs and cultures are different not only throughout the world, but that they also vary by region and even by household. Global awareness also means being able to communicate across cultures and especially means being able to speak another language other than English. In the article, Crawford and Kirby state "Students must gain new kinds of knowledge, skills, and __dispositions__ in order to function successfully in an increasingly __interconnected global society"__ I chose to underline dispositions, because I thought that was telling - students need to be ready to deal with this global community, they need to be tolerant and accepting because with 21st century technology we are all interconnected, and while we will still have microcosmic community cultures (households, regions, country) students do need to be ready to function in the global society. They need to be prepared to be citizens not only of the community they reside in, but also citizens of the world.
 * To what extent would you say global awareness is an important 21st century skill? Please explain your answer. In our modern world, which has been made increasingly smaller through 21st century technology, global awareness is of the utmost importance. The two go hand in hand. Without 21st century skills, students will not be as successful up against others who have them. People are not only traveling more than they ever have before, but they are also communicating through modern technology (email, web-conferences, etc) so the chances of a student encountering someone from a different country or culture than they have been raised in is high. And of course it is high at Malden High School, with such a large immigrant population. inevitably, it is important that our students also have global awareness outside of the major immigrant populations in the town. Not only is global awareness an important 21st century skill, but other 21st century skills will help increase global awareness. For example, students can now go on the internet and watch videos or read articles from around the world. They are therefore able to get more of a grasp at other cultures, almost instantaneously. As I stated in my original post, global awareness is an essential 21st century skill. Productive, successful members of society need to be able to work collaboratively with people throughout the world. Crawford and Kirby cited Thomas Friedman's //The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.// I had never thought of this before, but it's true, along with the facility of communication 21st century technology has brought, it seems to have made the world "flat", in the sense that we are more connected to each other than ever. There is less and less "unknown" in the world, and to be able to be competitive, one needs to be educated in global awareness.

9.3 google maps
media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=211223229915165074340.0004a9b35407295e1b881&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=45.395002,-39.777836&spn=10.432259,90.717781&output=embed" width="425" height="350" Using google maps will really increase my students' understanding of the francophone world. I can embed maps in their class wikispace and they will have easy reference to all the places we "visit". I can include walking tours and maybe even access walking tours that have been developed by other French teachers. Very useful!

Scribble Map! media type="custom" key="10131757"

9.4 Use of Blogging
[|Blogger][| Edublogs]