I'm very fortunate.
Boston is an education hub. It's home to countless colleges and universities, all manner of think tanks and educational organizations, and innovators galore. As a result, community resources here are rich. Some of the most important national curriculum and organization groups are based in Boston or in New England.
It sure makes my job easier. Yet there are times when I feel as if I cannot keep up with the professional development opportunities, the newsletters and resources, the special events. Such problems, the abundance of riches.
Here's a list of useful community resources:
Boston is an education hub. It's home to countless colleges and universities, all manner of think tanks and educational organizations, and innovators galore. As a result, community resources here are rich. Some of the most important national curriculum and organization groups are based in Boston or in New England.
It sure makes my job easier. Yet there are times when I feel as if I cannot keep up with the professional development opportunities, the newsletters and resources, the special events. Such problems, the abundance of riches.
Here's a list of useful community resources:
Primary Source
(www.primarysource.org)
101 Walnut Street
Watertown, MA 02472
tel: (617) 923-9933
Primary Source offers a wealth of resources, from professional development seminars (in person and online), a rich library of resources, opportunities for teachers to travel on study tours, largely to parts of Asia. All of their resources are deeply grounded in global education; indeed, on their website's home page, a definition of global education is prominently featured as a pull down menu. In recent years, Primary Source has developed curricular resources, including lesson plans, that teacher can use to globalize their curricula. This is an organization for teachers that provides a rich array of resources that will most definitely enhance student learning.
(www.primarysource.org)
101 Walnut Street
Watertown, MA 02472
tel: (617) 923-9933
Primary Source offers a wealth of resources, from professional development seminars (in person and online), a rich library of resources, opportunities for teachers to travel on study tours, largely to parts of Asia. All of their resources are deeply grounded in global education; indeed, on their website's home page, a definition of global education is prominently featured as a pull down menu. In recent years, Primary Source has developed curricular resources, including lesson plans, that teacher can use to globalize their curricula. This is an organization for teachers that provides a rich array of resources that will most definitely enhance student learning.
Choices Program at Brown University
(www.choices.edu)
The Choices Program
Brown University Box 1948
Providence, Rhode Island 02912
tel: (401) 863-3155
Choices is a first-rate array of curricular units focused on world history, US history, or current issues. They are particularly strong on emphasizing teaching with the news--that is, responding to current events with student-centered teaching strategies that enhance learning. If you purchase Choices curricular units, you receive reproducible handouts for students, featuring readings, activities, and suggestions for further exploration. Choices is resolutely global in its approach, with curricular units related to places as far flung as Cuba to Afghanistan. Their units are meticulously grounded in history. They emphasize the use of primary sources to enhance understanding and to ensure that students hear the voices of participants in history.
(www.choices.edu)
The Choices Program
Brown University Box 1948
Providence, Rhode Island 02912
tel: (401) 863-3155
Choices is a first-rate array of curricular units focused on world history, US history, or current issues. They are particularly strong on emphasizing teaching with the news--that is, responding to current events with student-centered teaching strategies that enhance learning. If you purchase Choices curricular units, you receive reproducible handouts for students, featuring readings, activities, and suggestions for further exploration. Choices is resolutely global in its approach, with curricular units related to places as far flung as Cuba to Afghanistan. Their units are meticulously grounded in history. They emphasize the use of primary sources to enhance understanding and to ensure that students hear the voices of participants in history.
Facing History and Ourselves
(www.facinghistory.org/)
16 Hurd Road
Brookline, MA 02445
tel: (617) 232-1595
(800) 856-9039
I teach a Facing History course so I am well-acquainted with their pedagogy and the scope of their programs. Facing History is a 40-year-old educational NGO that seeks to enable students to confront some of the more difficult history of the past (and present). While Facing History's global headquarters is in Brookline, Massachusetts, it has offices worldwide. Its curriculum units, which began with a case study of the Holocaust, have expanded to include the wearing of religious symbols in France, to the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada, to the Rwandan genocide. The pedagogy asks students to consider themselves first, and then moves from the "me" to the "us" on a local, national, and global scale. There are innumerable opportunities for global learning and understanding that are possible if one uses Facing History's pedagogical materials.
(www.facinghistory.org/)
16 Hurd Road
Brookline, MA 02445
tel: (617) 232-1595
(800) 856-9039
I teach a Facing History course so I am well-acquainted with their pedagogy and the scope of their programs. Facing History is a 40-year-old educational NGO that seeks to enable students to confront some of the more difficult history of the past (and present). While Facing History's global headquarters is in Brookline, Massachusetts, it has offices worldwide. Its curriculum units, which began with a case study of the Holocaust, have expanded to include the wearing of religious symbols in France, to the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada, to the Rwandan genocide. The pedagogy asks students to consider themselves first, and then moves from the "me" to the "us" on a local, national, and global scale. There are innumerable opportunities for global learning and understanding that are possible if one uses Facing History's pedagogical materials.
Project ZERO at Harvard University's
Graduate School of Education
(http://www.pz.harvard.edu/)
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
13 Appian Way, Longfellow Hall
4th Fl
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
tel: (617) 495-4342
Project Zero, founded in 1967, was the brainchild of philosopher Nelson Goodman but was then developed over nearly 30 years by Harvard Graduate School of Education professors David Perkins and Howard Gardner. It began with the goal of improving arts education but over time, it expanded to focus on multiple modes of learning. Now a sizable institute, its staff focuses on key projects. Most offer professional development for teachers and studies the work of educators in their classrooms. I was fortunate to be part of Project ZERO's study of interdisciplinary teaching and learning from 2003-2006. Several of its programs relate directly to global understanding and offer opportunities for teachers to enhance their global teaching:
Collaborating with PZ to plan and implement educational outreach around the centers' research.
Graduate School of Education
(http://www.pz.harvard.edu/)
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
13 Appian Way, Longfellow Hall
4th Fl
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
tel: (617) 495-4342
Project Zero, founded in 1967, was the brainchild of philosopher Nelson Goodman but was then developed over nearly 30 years by Harvard Graduate School of Education professors David Perkins and Howard Gardner. It began with the goal of improving arts education but over time, it expanded to focus on multiple modes of learning. Now a sizable institute, its staff focuses on key projects. Most offer professional development for teachers and studies the work of educators in their classrooms. I was fortunate to be part of Project ZERO's study of interdisciplinary teaching and learning from 2003-2006. Several of its programs relate directly to global understanding and offer opportunities for teachers to enhance their global teaching:
- Agency by Design
Exploring documentation and assessment strategies for maker-centered learning - Causal Learning in a Complex World
Investigating how our causal assumptions influence our understanding of the world and helping learners to reason about complexity - Children Are Citizens
Helping young children gain a sense of citizenship to begin participating in democracy - EcoLearn
Collaborating with PZ to plan and implement educational outreach around the centers' research.
- Interdisciplinary & Global Studies
Using multiple disciplines and perspectives to study today's global issues. - Teaching for Understanding
Designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment that nurtures deep and lasting understanding for students.
The Global Studies Outreach Program at Harvard University
(http://globalstudiesoutreach.harvard.edu/)
The Global Studies Outreach program at Harvard is a consortium of institutes at Harvard that focus on different parts of the world. The goal of the outreach program is to help both the public and K-12 teachers work to improve teaching of global studies. The program oversees a teacher's book group (that I participated in last year) as well as offers summer professional development workshops for K-12 educators on a variety of themes. The most recent of these was on Journalism: Production and Consumption Across the Globe, held in early August 2016.
(http://globalstudiesoutreach.harvard.edu/)
The Global Studies Outreach program at Harvard is a consortium of institutes at Harvard that focus on different parts of the world. The goal of the outreach program is to help both the public and K-12 teachers work to improve teaching of global studies. The program oversees a teacher's book group (that I participated in last year) as well as offers summer professional development workshops for K-12 educators on a variety of themes. The most recent of these was on Journalism: Production and Consumption Across the Globe, held in early August 2016.
The Hiroshima Archive and the Nagasaki Archive
(http://hiroshima.archiving.jp/index_en.html) and (http://n.mapping.jp/index_en.html)
Hidonori Watanave, Visiting Scholar
Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Harvard University
CGIS South Building
Second Level
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
tel: (617) 495-3220
My students are about to participate in the first Technologies for Peace: US-Japan Youth Summit for Peace on September 18-19, 2016. The organizer of this project, Professor Watanave, a visiting professor from Tokyo who has been developing a highly interactive archive website on the plight of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, linked to testimonies of survivors, 3D site maps, and virtual spaces. The summit will use the archive platform as a collaborative space, worked on by US and Japanese students. The students who will join us in Boston come from Hiroshima and Nagasaki high schools. They will hear from survivors, artists interpreting the effect of the atomic bombs dropped on these two cities, and then collaborate to build on the materials already on the interactive website. This is a very creative and ambitious effort at global learning.
(http://hiroshima.archiving.jp/index_en.html) and (http://n.mapping.jp/index_en.html)
Hidonori Watanave, Visiting Scholar
Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Harvard University
CGIS South Building
Second Level
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
tel: (617) 495-3220
My students are about to participate in the first Technologies for Peace: US-Japan Youth Summit for Peace on September 18-19, 2016. The organizer of this project, Professor Watanave, a visiting professor from Tokyo who has been developing a highly interactive archive website on the plight of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, linked to testimonies of survivors, 3D site maps, and virtual spaces. The summit will use the archive platform as a collaborative space, worked on by US and Japanese students. The students who will join us in Boston come from Hiroshima and Nagasaki high schools. They will hear from survivors, artists interpreting the effect of the atomic bombs dropped on these two cities, and then collaborate to build on the materials already on the interactive website. This is a very creative and ambitious effort at global learning.
Teaching Africa Outreach Program at Boston University
(http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/)
African Studies Outreach Program at Boston University
232 Bay State Road, 4th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
tel: (617) 353-7303
The Teaching Africa Outreach program at Boston University seeks to promote teaching about Africa in US schools. They have a massive library of books for a wide array of ages, films produced in Africa, and various curriculum guides and lesson plans. They offer summer workshops not only at BU but around the country as well. Their resources are considerable and they produce a number of maps (see logo to left) and visual aids to enhance the teaching of Africa in US classrooms.
(http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/)
African Studies Outreach Program at Boston University
232 Bay State Road, 4th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
tel: (617) 353-7303
The Teaching Africa Outreach program at Boston University seeks to promote teaching about Africa in US schools. They have a massive library of books for a wide array of ages, films produced in Africa, and various curriculum guides and lesson plans. They offer summer workshops not only at BU but around the country as well. Their resources are considerable and they produce a number of maps (see logo to left) and visual aids to enhance the teaching of Africa in US classrooms.