Campus Connect Articles

Middle School Curricular Point of Emphasis:
Developing Global Awareness and Competencies

Joel Bicknell
Head of the Middle School

Over the next several Campus Connect articles from the Middle School, we will focus on curricular conversations taking place in our building.  While we have a long-standing tradition of providing opportunities for global education in the Middle School within our language department, we have recently been investigating (and implementing) new learning experiences across the program.  In a world where global connections are made with ease, it’s of great importance we provide experiences for our students to develop an awareness of the influence of various cultures at a much younger age.  Consider the following:

“The world into which our students will enter is not the same world in which today’s adults grew up.  What was once necessary and sufficient educational preparation may no longer be either.  This is not to say that independent schools need to completely reinvent themselves…But it does mean that they need to be ready and willing to adapt…”  Going Glocal: Adaptive Education for Local and Global Citizenship, Chris Harth, Director of Global Studies and World Languages at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School

“Global competence starts with the capacity to investigate and connect to the world…Students first demonstrate global competence when they can identify an issue of global significance and frame inquiries that yield deep understandings… They examine and synthesize information to produce a cohesive response… Global competence entails effective communication – both verbal and non-verbal – with diverse audiences.”  Championing Global Competence, Vishakha Desai,  President and CEO of Asia Society

“Convergence is everywhere.  It’s easier than ever to reach a large audience, but harder than ever to really connect with it.  These changes are affecting the way people behave.  Are you ready for the future?” Did You Know 4.0, an update to the Shift Happens video series for the Media Convergence Forum (Oct. 2009)

These quotes emphasize the social, cultural, and educational imperatives of developing our students’ skill sets to function competently as a global citizen.  So what are we doing in the Middle School to answer the call to educate in this domain? 

Our language department provides opportunities for students to travel to Rome, Italy and participate in two-way exchanges with students from Amiens, France and San Luis Potosi, Mexico.  Janice Moore, MS Language Department Chair, notes the entire Middle School student body, not just the exchange students, reap the rewards of the experience.  Mrs. Moore shares rich anecdotes identifying the following benefits.

• Increased global awareness and empathy
• Improved proficiency in a second language.
• Increased intellectual curiosity and life-long learning
• Prepare for college and career opportunities
• Produce life-long friendships and connections with another culture
• Provides exchange students real-world problem-solving challenges

Beyond these experiences, though, there are obvious growth opportunities in our language classes.  Mrs. Kim-Garnier, MS French Teacher, notes the following:

“Language learning strengthens the brain as new neurological connections are made, and the language areas of the temporal and frontal lobe grow.  Moreover, learning another language forces us to come out of our comfort zones and to focus our attention and all our senses.  Fluency in a ‘foreign’ language opens up new vistas in our world, because we can communicate and understand people across the globe whose perspectives and cultures differ from our own.”

Many developments have taken place over the past several years in our Social Studies department to address this global dynamic.  With a focus on cultural universals, students in fifth grade now study the cultures of South America, Africa, and Asia.  Amongst the priorities of the sixth grade humanities program, students experience

• Exposure to/awareness of complex current global issues and skills of civil discourse
• Literature as a way of understanding what it means to be a human being living in a society
• A debunking of stereotypes in understanding other cultures
• Conversations/debates that grow their tolerance of differences

In seventh grade humanities, students are answering the overarching questions of “why do people settle where they do?” and “how are communities?” in a dynamic interdisciplinary project linking the study of Jamestown to the history of Tulsa.  As indicated in the moniker “Glocal,” understanding your local context allows you a point of reference in considering global cultures.  In eighth grade humanities, our students just finished a profound study of civil war making connections between the U.S. Civil War and the ongoing civil war in Sierra Leone. 

Outside the classroom, our Middle School students have engaged in the Face to Faith program, an offering of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.  Recently, 11 students recently participated in a video-conference with an all-girls school in the United Kingdom.  Additionally, we are exploring partnerships with the University of Oklahoma’s Confucius Institute to offer Chinese culture experiences in the Middle School.  On a local level, we continue our community partnership with Mark Twain Elementary School along with a myriad of service projects.  Within our school community, we implemented a new, student-centered model of leadership called Student Congress that empowers students as activists.

In furthering our investigations on how to infuse our program with more global perspectives, a team of educators spanning all three divisions will be visiting St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Jackson, Mississippi in early February.  St. Andrew’s has developed a model program in this arena, truly a global schoolhouse.

As always, it’s an exciting time in the Middle School.  Please know your feedback is important to us.  Do not hesitate to let me know your perspective on educating our students to be global citizens.  In the next couple of articles, we’ll discuss topics central to our investigation of technology…a critical element to preparing our students to be successful in school and life. 

Archives:

11-2-11 End of the Marking Period- Grades, The Process of Learning, and Calvin and Hobbes
10-4-11 Expecting Respect
9-6-11 The Common Cry of Parents … Help!
8-9-11 Summer Stories, Good Play and Success in the Middle School

5-3-11 Healthy Habits- Managing Springtime Stress
4-6-11 News From the Head
3-2-11 Cultivating Innovative Thinking in the Middle School
2-7-11 A Great Time to be a Middle School Student
1-11-11 News from the Middle School Head
12-7-10 ‘Tis the Season to Celebrate
11-2-10 Cultivating Self-Awareness in Middle School Students
10-5-10 Developing the Intellect of a Middle School Child
9-7-10 Educating Towards Moral Responsibility
8-7-10 Creating and Defining Community in the Middle School
5-19-10 Looking Ahead to the 2010-2011 School Year
4-20-10 Fine-tuning Instructional Practices
3-23-10 Gauging a Healthy Middle School
2-23-10 MS Practices-Students with Attention Issues
1-26-10 Video Games
12-15-09 A Season To Be Thankful
11-17-09 Developing Growth Mindsets in the Middle School
10-20-09 Using Technology in Holland Hall’s Middle School Arts Program
9-22-09 Nurturing Students to Reach High Expectations
8-25-09 Parents and Teachers: Partners in Mentoring Middle School Students
5-20-09 How the Middle School Develops the Essential Qualities of a HH Student
4-21-09 Video Game Addiction
3-26-09 News from the Head – March
2-24-09 Community Service
11-20-08 Unique and Purposeful Ways
10-23-08 More than Just the Numbers
9-24-08 Homework