Please include a list of interdisciplinary project-based learning opportunities, annotated with your ideas for how each PBL opportunity can achieve global education outcomes and your suggestions for implementation. In addition, document your classroom project based learning experience, assessing its successes and room for improvement.
ROCK YOUR WORLD:
This fabulous resource helps students explore injustice through the lens of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The aim of the project-based learning curriculum is for a student to find an issue that ignites his or her passion and use multimedia "action campaigns" to enact change. The curriculum's lessons are designed using the CCSS.
www.rock-your-world.org
Update: I utilized the first section of the curriculum in both my SAT Prep and English III Honors course. Students viewed the PSAs, and crafted reviews of their most and least favorite. The SAT Prep course developed visual PSAs of the UDHR that moved them, which were displayed in the classroom after students explained the rationale for their work. Unfortunately, I ran out of time due to my paternity leave and was unable to fully extend the unit as desired.
United for Human Rights
This resource, sponsored by United for Human Rights (UHR), an international, not-for-profit organization dedicated to implementing the UDHR at local, regional, national and international levels, provides an in-depth curriculum as well as classroom resources to interested educators. The program is free but teachers are encouraged to document learning progress.
www.humanrights.com
Update: I have ordered 24 copies of The Story of Human Rights, the DVD documentary, and the curriculum. I hope to utilize these resources in my Test Prep class in order to provide a deeper understanding of a world where human rights are not always guaranteed.
People to People International
This organization believes that the more people who are equipped with a multicultural mindset, the more diversity will be celebrated, resulting in less conflict. Opportunities abound for students to travel abroad with home stays and various international conferences. Because of the vast network PPI has created a School & Classroom Program that links classrooms via the worldwide web and links students via a Pen Pal network.
In the past, I have written recommendations for my students to become People to People Ambassadors, and one student traveled to Australia and returned with increased global literacy.
http://www.ptpi.org/
Update: I have applied to register my classroom and hope to connect my English III Honors course to a Belizean classroom in order to discuss the novel Beka Lamb, a text associated with my UbD curriculum.
Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad
As I learned during my TGC travel experience, international travel with full immersion into the culture truly changes perceptions far beyond any textbook or news report. These summer seminars for Humanities and Social Science teachers provide the opportunity for a 4 week stay with travel costs covered, though participants are asked to pay $450 to cover costs associated with vaccinations, Visas, and other incidentals. Next summer, China will be the only country eligible with a maximum of 16 participants. I plan to beat the February 15th deadline, if possible.
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpssap/index.html
Global Nomads Group
This interesting charitable organization connects classrooms with semester and year-long exchange programs. The overall focus is to increase cultural appreciation and to decrease dangerous misconceptions. My students have viewed several of GNG's YouTube videos and informative PSAs, providing my classroom great fodder for lively discussions and debates. GNG is a treasure trove for global education and conflict resolution.
http://gng.org/
TECHO
This charitable organization maintains the lofty goal of ending extreme poverty and providing safe housing for the Latin America & the Caribbean poor. In a sense, it resembles Habitats for Humanity, but the volunteers work tirelessly to help slum dwellers develop a sense of community in order to effect change from the inside out. The students of Rosalia Mendoza at Bertha Gedeon de Baladi School in Cartagena, Colombia adopted TECHO as their charity and worked diligently to fund-raise by setting up information stands at local malls.
http://www.techo.org/en/
Below is a list of other resources:
TEACH UNICEF
http://teachunicef.org/
World Savvy Educational Resources (This is an exhaustive list.)
http://worldsavvy.org/community-resources/
Teachers for Global Classrooms
http://www.irex.org/project/teachers-global-classrooms-program-tgc
International Education and Resource Network
http://www.iearn.org/
EDUTOPIA
www.edutopia.org