Global Perspectives On Education : A Great Eye Opener For Me

This course was a great eye opener for me. This being the first course I have taken addressing

global perspectives in education was a great intro. Prior to this course, I had never given global

perspectives a thought. The school year comes and goes and it is very easy to get wrapped up

into the hustle and bustle, the workload, class management, good evaluations from

administration, etc.…. This course reminded me that students learning beyond the classroom

shapes them. It reintroduced me to the idea of partnering with not only a school, but a school in

another country to give my students a global experience.

In order to help prepare our students to be 21 st Century learners college and to be career

ready, we must expose them to media rich environments, and to experiences that will make them

use critical thinking skills and give new enriching experiences. In the lesson the “The skin I’m

In” (Flake, 1998), this novel ready by the students in my classroom as well as the students in the

Philippines connected them. My lesson had different layers, but the part that stood out to me was

the writing we found by the Filipino young lady who described how she did not like herself

when she was younger. She described being a bit darker, and not speaking Tagalog, a native

language in the Philippines. She was treated differently by cousins and other family members

because of her skin and because she didn’t speak this language. My students living in the inner

city, some in poverty, and some of them being darker and not having the best clothes or shoes

they related to her story. My students can also relate to the young lady Maleeka from the book

who had low self-esteem because of her dark skin. This lesson not only exposed my stude...

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...re there will be students who are exposed to poverty,

homelessness, hopelessness, and hunger. As educators, it is our job to open their eyes to different

experience, to prepare them to be competitive with peers locally as well as globally and to give

them these enriching experiences with their global peers. After this course, not only do I still

enjoy showing these inner city kids articles, pictures, stories about the world and their global

peers, but I see even more importance with it. These experiences enable my students, as well as

the global peers to see that there is more out in the world than their current circumstances. When

we discuss, look at, plan lessons around and explore global issues, which shapes, inform and

helps to make our students well rounded, diverse, knowledgeable, and encourages them to want

to compete and to be more connected globally.