Gifted Globally

Mrs. Wendy McNeil is currently the AIG teacher at a Title I elementary school in New Hanover county. She is extremely tech-savvy, having her students utilize glogs and blogs, wikis and wordless, to communicate their understanding. She has taught for over ten years, much of her time spent at a extremely high-risk, high-needs elementary schools. Five of her years have been in third grade, with the second half of her career dedicated to AIG instruction.

Mrs. McNeil describes a global classroom as one that teaches students to be global citizens by promoting literacy, life skills and the attitudes necessary for active citizenship. In a global classroom the students will investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action.

Mrs. McNeil has always felt that it was important for students to investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. Having worked at a high risk school for 10 years, she quickly realized that change would never occur if her students could not relate to others and take action. While Mrs. McNeil recognizes that it is often difficult for children to consider perspectives other than their own, she believes it is crucial that they recognize their own and others’ perspectives. In order for change to occur, students have to understand issues of global significance.

Mrs. McNeil explained that students involved in a global, collaborative classroom not only learn the content standards at higher levels; they also develop critical global competencies. She feels that students in a global classroom are continuously using higher order thinking skills. They have to analyze, integrate, and synthesize. They have to debate, consider multiple perspectives, and draw conclusions.

Mrs. McNeil feels constrained by the fact that right now students are being taught the information to pass the End-of- Grade test - not just the content, but the strategies used to pass a multiple choice assessment. Every week more and more is asked from the classroom teacher. Administrators are looking at specific data, and the data they are looking for is very specific to the NCSCOS. As an AIG teacher, Mrs. McNeil is limited in the extensions she can provide for students, particularly during push-in instruction, as often her global extensions get shoved aside by the need for multiple-choice content.

In the past Mrs. McNeil has felt extremely comfortable dedicating time to global classroom projects (such as e-pals), however these projects do not have the data that she needs to turn in, so there is no longer time in the day to dedicate to this. She believes you have to have an administrative team that is willing to step out of the box and take risks in order for teachers to feel comfortable taking on something new. Also, while many teachers know that by teaching students to be critical thinkers they will do well on the test, many are no longer feel comfortable steering away from the EOG driven, traditional classroom set up.

Based on my discussion with Mrs. McNeil, I find myself relating very strongly to her concerns. As a classroom teacher, I often feel constrained by the need to teach my students to take a test, rather than think outside the box. Mrs. McNeil pushes into an AIG math class that I teach, and while we work on centers and activities that develop critical thinking, too often we refer back to EOG questions- what would be a four level question versus a three level question. I find myself already looking for new ways to collaborate with Mrs. McNeil in order to make my classroom more global.