Resources for your Classroom
In this section you will find resources for teaching global citizenship, organizations to leverage in your classroom, and digital resources.
Here you will find curated lesson plans, slides, and posters to use in your classroom as a global educator
Global Competency Tool Kit
This artifact consists of Canva Slides for an identity lesson for 4th grade students. Identity is a topic that we teach in English Language Arts very early on in the school year. Students typically do a writing activity about their identity. This can serve as a pre-activity to help with their writing portion and as an introduction to what identity is to foster self-awareness and mutual understanding of others.
This artifact is a lesson plan outline for our 5th grade students to learn how to identify cyberbullying and introduce strategies they can employ when encountering cyberbullying.
This artifact consists of classroom posters outlining different values and traits exhibited by global citizens. These can be printed to serve as reminders of the kinds of people we are striving to be. These posters align with global competency as well as with my school district’s “Profile of a Graduate.”
This artifact can be used as an activity during professional development for teachers and staff. Its purpose is to introduce and inform teachers of eight of the characteristics that global citizens should exhibit. The activity can be modified for different vocabulary-related activities.
This artifact is a slide deck for a lesson about school lunches around the world. It is intended to be used to broaden the perspectives of elementary school students, spark meaningful discussion, and open their minds to other foods and cultures in a fun and engaging way.
This artifact is a lesson plan that can be used during the Lunar New Year. It features activities about the Chinese New Year and Chinese Zodiac with time for discussion and making connections. It is intended for upper elementary school students.
Inter-School Activity
I was fortunate enough to work with another incredible educator in Kentucky to complete an inter-school activity where our students were able to discuss, collaborate, and share about their home states while learning about the other.
See our lesson outline/planning document here.
My amazing inter-school activity partner and I in Washington, D.C. at the Fulbright Global Education Symposium
Samples
Our Activity
My inter-school activity partner and I created slides on Canva outlining the directions, expectations, and reliable websites to use. Students were instructed to create and budget a trip to the partner school’s state utilizing the provided Canva slides. Students were required to find flights, hotels, restaurants, and activities/places to visit in the partner state. At the end of the slides, students add up all of their costs to see if they could stay under their $1,000 budget.
Implementation
We had 9 students from each 4th grade math class work in small groups to create the project. They were provided with websites, slides, and received assistance from the teacher as needed. Students worked on slides in the classroom and on their own time. Students were a mix of native English speakers and English Learners.
This activity focused on strengthening digital literacy, creativity, and critical thinking in our students through utilizing technology to show math concepts that they have learned this year. Additionally, students were able to make connections between their state and the partner state despite the activities, foods, etc. being different.
Reflection
The students loved working on this project and learning about somewhere different from where we live. They asked to work on this project anytime they finished their other tasks in the classroom. They continued to ask me about the "Kentucky project" until the end of the school year.
My students lacked many of the digital literacy skills needed for this project. They had used Canva previously which helped them, but they struggled with navigating the websites. Students really struggled with basic skills that I had assumed they already knew such as copying and pasting. They thought the websites were fake which made me realize that they do not know how to decipher between real and false information online.
Overall, they needed a lot of assistance with this project, but I believe they all gained at least one new digital skill from completing this project. In the future, I will explicitly teach them the exact skills needed for this type of project.
Free Rice
FreeRice.com is an online platform where students can answer questions about different topics while helping feed hungry children around the world. Each correct answer provides ten grains of rice for the UN World Food Programme. Teachers can assign this independently or as a whole class review assignment.
Globe Trottin' Kids
Globe Trottin' Kids is a website designed to help students understand and appreciate diversity throughout the world while incorporating geography and other academic skills. This website features read alouds, printable sheets, and resources for incorporating diverse cultures in your classroom.
Digital Teaching Tools
Below you will find five digital teaching tools and platforms to use in your classroom to foster global citizenship in your students.
Empatico
Empatico is a website where teachers can search for specific activities related to empathy and academic skills that their students might benefit from learning. For example, teachers can search for lessons related to inclusivity and digital literacy to find lessons that will suit their students' needs.
iEARN
iEarn is an online platform focusing on topics directly aligned with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Teachers can utilize this website's many lessons directly related to these goals put forth by the UN to grow students into critical thinkers and global citizens while collaborating with students across the globe.
