I interviewed Jenn Young who is an English teacher at Hoggard. Hoggard is the largest high school in New Hanover County with approximately 1800 students. According to Young, the administration at the school is very supportive of global education, but few teachers incorporate it into their curriculum. Young also feels like the county is not very supportive of global education despite their mission statement.
For the past five years, Hoggard has had a sister school in Denmark. About 3 teachers at Hoggard are connected to teachers in Denmark in which there is an exchange program. Teachers and students come to the United States for a couple of weeks in the fall where they complete projects and assignments with our students. In the past, teachers and students from Hoggard would go to Denmark in the spring to experience their country, but that trip was cancelled by the New Hanover county school board a few years ago. Other than the international travel, the students also interact via email and Skype periodically throughout the year.
Young and other teacher had to get funding for webcams and they had to have the technology coordinator at the school find 8 good computers, download Skype on them, and then connect the webcams. Now, the students can Skpe to their friends in Denmark, but it has to be done in a group. Young's ultimate goal was to have one of the computer labs at Hoggard turned into a Skype lab in which every computer has a webcam and many different classes could use the curriculum.
Young has seen a tremendous impact of incorporating global perspectives into her curriculum. She finds that her students are more engaged in learning and they are more intrinsically motivated to complete assignments. Her students knew that they were going to be participating in socratic seminars with the Danish students, so they worked harder because they "didn't want to sound dumb to the Danes." Additionally, her students were able to gain and understanding of their culture and make friendships with the students that came to visit. She said that most of her students still stay in contact with the Danish students via Facebook.
Some of the constraints to incorporating global perspectives, according to Young, are the lack of technology and lack of support from the county. She seemed very frustrated that the school board has voted to no longer allow our students to travel abroad and she is avidly fighting to overturn that decision. Likewise, we are limited with our funding, especially with the recent budget cuts, and thus our access to technology is limited. Though the concept is supported by the administration, the funding is still not there to get new computers and webcams to continue the Skyping or to expand it into other classrooms.
I learned a lot through my interview with Jenn Young. I teach at Hoggard and my perspective of our school's use of global perspectives was limited. I knew that Young and a few other teachers were doing it, but I didn't know that there was a tremendous amount of support from our administrators. That makes me extremely happy to hear. Jenn has also agreed to help me get involved with the Danish school for my World History classroom and she has helped me to set up an ePals account to find other connections. It was good to talk with her and learn that it is possible to create such a valuable connection for my students.
As an elementary school teacher, I was unaware of the NHCS policy that no longer allows international travel. I feel that is a shame as travel and hands-on experiences sometimes teach us the more than sitting in a classroom. When I was in high school, I travel to Mexico with my Spanish class, and it was truly beneficial to be immersed in the culture unlike sitting in a classroom reading a book about the language.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of technology is a problem, but what can be done to work around that? Has Ms. Young written a grant through www.donorschoose.org to try and get enough webcams for the computer lab? For each American student to have a Danish partner, Skype to complete a shared project, then dually present to both classes via Skype would be incredible engaging to students. I hope that she eventually gets the global lab she seeks.
I wonder if Ms. Young has had the opportunity to share best practices with the teacher on the other side of the pond. It seems that creating coordinated lesson plans would be a good step and may even be a step already taken.
ReplyDeleteI too have run into some snags when attempting to make connections with foreign teachers and classrooms. As I suggested in another post I would hope that either districts or the state will take the reigns in setting up connections with foreign schools as it can only help our students become more globally competitive. Also, I would hope that in a situation like this, where all the logistics have been overcome, the state, federal or even local governments, or donorschoose, or other other philanthropic foundations would be able to get the funds together to provide such an incredible learning tool. Good luck to Ms. Young in her quest.
Although this project has technological/funding constraints and needs more administrative support, it seems that Jenn has tapped another wonderful resource for her students: intrinsic motivation. When students are engaged, motivated and take personal pride and responsibility in their learning, I think this is the ultimate goal and gratification for teachers. I hope that Jenn and her colleagues recognize the power of this “sweet spot” and receive the support these programs need to sustain and progress.
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