One of the most effective ways to globalize education, is to globalize curriculum. Below is a sample globalized unit plan using the Understanding by Design framework. This is a 4 week unit on the foundations of government intended for high school students. The unit includes a focus on 3 global competencies, and identified specific knowledge and skills students will acquire during the unit.
Also included is a sample globalized lesson plan from the unit. The lesson plan highlights both curricular and assessment implementation for globalized education.
Globalized Lesson Plan
Unit modifications Post international field experience
After my field experience to Morocco and reviewing my globalized unit plan, I have considered making the following modifications: 1. The central part of the sample unit plan is the creation of a video commercial to advertise the Mars colony students created. The colony is designed to be created from different perspectives, military, economic, religious and labor. Thus, showing students different interest groups or perspective would likely design a political system differently. For example, a militaristic perspective might support a totalitarian system, while a religious view point might advocate for a theocracy. However, after my field experience I question the authenticity of the video and its ability to meaningfully connect to students. Having conversations with Moroccan students about their civic and national identities and agency profoundly impacted my understanding of these issues. I want my students to have a similar experience so I plan to make 2 adjustments to my unit plan:
I signed my students up to be a part of the BRIDGE program sponsored by iEARN. This program will have my students working on virtual, collaborative projects with their peers in North Africa and the Middle East on issues of citizenship. I look forward to global students discussing what citizenship means for their local context as well as global citizenship.
Instead of a summative assessment based off the Mars colony video, I would rather have students write, "This I Believe," reflective papers. "This I Believe" is a type of essay writing that has been around for decades and featured on NPR. These essays would have students describing the core values that guide their daily life and help them make choices that impact their communities. If my end goal for the foundations of government unit is for students to realize that they themselves are the foundation of government, then it seems more authentic to have them reflect about their core values and actions they take based on those values than create a fictitious Mars colony.