International Project Based Learning Opportunities
Once you begin networking with teachers and professionals around the globe, it will be easier for you to be able to connect the dots and create authentic learning experiences for your students with international-mindedness at the forefront. Until then, as with the standards, it is great to start small!
Immersive student experiences in which students are self-directed to identify, examine and potentially solve a question or problem will easily lend themselves to an international PBL opportunity.
Current Event Skype Conference: Collaborating with a teacher elsewhere, present both sets of classes with the same current event and assign students to research particular components. Arrange a Skype conference to mutually discuss and surmise solutions to the existing event. This works best when you can divide your classroom up into smaller groups. Classrooms can be easily connected with very easy arrangement on part of the teacher. Skype in the Classroom and Collaboratory are two easy ways to find buddy classrooms that might not otherwise ever be connected. Be sure to critically analyze your WHY and HOW prior to embarking on a collaboration with an unknown classroom.
International Dilemmas Art Work: Assign students an international conflict or dilemma, and present them with the task of creating a visual representation that encompasses the dilemma or conflict, the history, the key events and figures, and a solution proposal.
Global Nomads - http://gng.org/ Check out their literacy webcasts. What I have found to be most powerful with this group is the Youth Voices program. The Youth Voices allows classrooms to connect with each other via the web. It is intentional educational programming with a very distinct focus on global citizenship, and will easily lend itself to cross-culture interaction and dialogue.
Facing the Future - https://www.facingthefuture.org/default.aspx This is an excellent resource to begin working with a classroom project regarding global sustainability.
International Baccalaureate Online Curriculum Centre - https://occ.ibo.org Existing IB teachers can request access to the OCC via their IB coordinator or administrator - unfortunately, access is limited only to the IB community. It is here that you can easily connect with other IB educators from around the world. I would recommend accessing the forums first - teachers post regularly their classroom goings-on, as well as their desires to connect with other IB classrooms. Please do not limit yourself to domain-specific connections, and remember that Language A teachers in other countries are teaching their own mother tongue - if you are a Language A teacher, you will want to consider connecting with Language B teachers from other countries, as this is where you will predominantly find other English speaking classrooms.
The British Council's Connecting Classrooms program (https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/connectingclassrooms-learning/home) is also an incredibly effective tool. Registration is free, and the access that you have just to the curriculum ideas is entirely worth the effort - but beyond that, it also serves as an easy platform to meet and collaborate with teachers from around the globe.
Once you begin networking with teachers and professionals around the globe, it will be easier for you to be able to connect the dots and create authentic learning experiences for your students with international-mindedness at the forefront. Until then, as with the standards, it is great to start small!
Immersive student experiences in which students are self-directed to identify, examine and potentially solve a question or problem will easily lend themselves to an international PBL opportunity.
Current Event Skype Conference: Collaborating with a teacher elsewhere, present both sets of classes with the same current event and assign students to research particular components. Arrange a Skype conference to mutually discuss and surmise solutions to the existing event. This works best when you can divide your classroom up into smaller groups. Classrooms can be easily connected with very easy arrangement on part of the teacher. Skype in the Classroom and Collaboratory are two easy ways to find buddy classrooms that might not otherwise ever be connected. Be sure to critically analyze your WHY and HOW prior to embarking on a collaboration with an unknown classroom.
International Dilemmas Art Work: Assign students an international conflict or dilemma, and present them with the task of creating a visual representation that encompasses the dilemma or conflict, the history, the key events and figures, and a solution proposal.
Global Nomads - http://gng.org/ Check out their literacy webcasts. What I have found to be most powerful with this group is the Youth Voices program. The Youth Voices allows classrooms to connect with each other via the web. It is intentional educational programming with a very distinct focus on global citizenship, and will easily lend itself to cross-culture interaction and dialogue.
Facing the Future - https://www.facingthefuture.org/default.aspx This is an excellent resource to begin working with a classroom project regarding global sustainability.
International Baccalaureate Online Curriculum Centre - https://occ.ibo.org Existing IB teachers can request access to the OCC via their IB coordinator or administrator - unfortunately, access is limited only to the IB community. It is here that you can easily connect with other IB educators from around the world. I would recommend accessing the forums first - teachers post regularly their classroom goings-on, as well as their desires to connect with other IB classrooms. Please do not limit yourself to domain-specific connections, and remember that Language A teachers in other countries are teaching their own mother tongue - if you are a Language A teacher, you will want to consider connecting with Language B teachers from other countries, as this is where you will predominantly find other English speaking classrooms.
The British Council's Connecting Classrooms program (https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/connectingclassrooms-learning/home) is also an incredibly effective tool. Registration is free, and the access that you have just to the curriculum ideas is entirely worth the effort - but beyond that, it also serves as an easy platform to meet and collaborate with teachers from around the globe.