INITIATIVE OVERVIEW

Stories of war, countries in conflict, the effects of globalization, health crisis, poverty and immigration feature prominently in the media, civil society, government and higher education, but teaching and learning about these realities is often uncharted territory in K-12 education.

Educating young people in the 21st century involves helping them bear witness to contemporary world issues and fostering responsible, global citizenship in a world of unprecedented interdependence, challenge, and possibility.

- An education balancing pedagogical considerations of how to teach with global, social and civic considerations of what to teach.

- A curriculum balancing effective and creative technique with authentic, inclusive and meaningful substance.

Global Source Education is excited to be launching Bridging Classrooms and Communities (BCC), a series of unique and innovative professional and curricular development programs for elementary and secondary educators. These programs will facilitate an enriching experience of professional education, collaboration and growth designed to foster deeper teaching and learning about present and emerging realities facing humanity and the planet.

• Participants will be guided through the development, implementation and assessment of a curricular portfolio that fosters broad global awareness, highly informed social knowledge, and active civic engagement.

• BCC Programs will deliver a learning experience blending important academic ideas with grounded practical competence, aimed at fostering professional growth, intellectual development, critical inquiry, reflective examination, social responsibility and leadership, which participants in turn can model for their students and colleagues.

• BCC Programs will help educators build a base of knowledge, survey diverse perspectives, examine case studies, and interact with a wide range of scholars, experts, and practitioners.

• BCC Programs will help educators build a starter library of teaching materials and develop a broad network of resources.

• Curricular application will be global and local, connecting schools and communities through interdisciplinary, experiential, and interactive projects.

• Through a process of researching and addressing the peaceful and just resolution of difficult societal issues, young people can build academic and leadership skills, model informed and engaged citizenship, and become better prepared to address challenges in their own lives.

• Through this initiative, we will collaborate with districts and schools to send teams of educators to BCC programs with the goal of building a curriculum to be implemented at specific grade level across disciplines or across grade levels in scope and sequence. A larger goal of this initiative is to develop long-term partnerships with educators and schools who participate in the first year and want to extend the Institute process to further develop a global education framework for their schools.

Three Interelated Objectives

A Comprehensive Approach to Education
BCC Programs will lead educators through a sophisticated, authentic, and inclusive process of professional and curricular development that integrates theory and practice, self and subject, experience and education, and community and classroom. By focusing on what we teach (content) while considering how we teach (pedagogy), participants will survey the theoretical, thematic, and topical landscape of teaching and learning about the realties of world around us. The process will help participants organize and present a curricular project bridging classroom and community around a crucial subject of study, while grounding their practice of global, social and civic education. The outcome will be curricular models for K-12 education that seek to transform young people into individuals capable of knowledge building, perspective taking, intelligent analysis, decision-making, and committed action.

To seek a vision of education that brings together
the need for wide-awakeness with the hunger for community,
the desire to know with the wish to understand,
the desire to feel with the passion to see.
- Maxine Greene

Building Links between School and Community
BCC courses and workshops will bridge models of teaching and learning that address community challenges and help young people examine positive pathways for change. Educators will develop a curricular project in which the classroom is an environment for nurturing a sense of self and service and the community is the environment for academic achievement. Participants will develop a significant network of people, organizations and other resources that help bring a topic to life for students and create opportunities for community service and civic participation.

The school itself shall be made a genuine form of active community life,
instead of place set apart in which to learn lessons. - John Dewey

Enriching Professional Education and Collaboration
BCC programs will deliver a learning experience blending serious academic study with grounded practical competence, aimed at fostering professional growth, intellectual development, social responsibility and leadership, which participants in turn can model for their students and colleagues. Participants will receive the training and tools to develop a topic of study they will integrate into their larger teaching practice. The process will help educators become more efficient resource specialists and build networks of professional contact and support. The experience will integrate scholarship, expertise and leadership from within education and the larger community with professional practice, reflective examination, and critical inquiry.

An essential part of any effort to educate for leadership and social responsibility
is an attempt to inventory the realities of the 21st century. Constructing an
inventory of 21st century realities is a valuable exercise for educators,
as it stimulates an examination of beliefs and understandings about the new millennium
and, consequently, reveals assumptions about how students need to be prepared for it.
- Gloria Nemerowicz & Eugene Rosi

Bridging Classrooms & Communities Programs

Bridging Classrooms & Communities Selected Bibliography

For More Information, contact Global Source at info@GlobalSourceNetwork.org

Global Source relies on public support to make these programs accessible and affordable to schools and individual educators. If you would like to support this project with a tax-deductible contribution, please contact us at info@GlobalSourceNetwork.org. Global Source is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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