Discussions

Steve Hargadon and I have recovered from hosting the 2017 Global Education Conference, and we hope that our presenters and volunteers have as well! It has been lovely to read feedback from our community and here are a few quotes that particularly stood out to me Interestingly, three are from colleagues at the same university!

“My convictions about the significance of having and sharing global experiences are confirmed with each GEC.”
Terry Smith, Radford University (and GEC Leadership Team Member)

“GEC is a wonderful way to engage with global educators around the world to learn, network and create partnerships.” 
Patti Talbot, Radford University

“Wonderful event that brings together educators (including aspiring educators!) at all levels to learn with and from one another.” 
Glenna Gustafson, Radford University

“One of the best parts of this conference is meeting and seeing people from all over the world. I ‘ran into’ a friend mine from Mexico in a session. What a great way for educators to build their global network!!” 
Connie Rensink, Global Educator & Consultant

If you would like to share any reflections about your learning at this year’s conference, please respond to this discussion thread in our community: http://bit.ly/GLOBALED17

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years of hosting this conference, it is that to bring global perspectives to our students, we must engage with other educators around the globe and lead the way. Developing a professional learning network is critical, and you never know where these professional friendships may lead regarding virtual and face-to-face opportunities. Steve and I are delighted that our annual online conference provides a unique community and platform for these types of relationships to flourish.

From my perspective, my major take away from this year’s conference is that our community transcends geographic boundaries and provides access to knowledge that might otherwise not be possible for many of our attendees due to location and costs. In a meeting this week about an upcoming teacher education conference, MiTE 2018, a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator, Miriam Walsh, noted (I’m loosely paraphrasing here) that working collaboratively on global projects has not only allowed teachers and students in her school to learn about the world, but it’s also given opportunities to her colleagues to learn about best practices in education in general. So many teachers do not get the chance to visit other schools and network with each other; I wholeheartedly agree with Miriam that global collaborations in education provide a kind of organic, self-directed professional development that is incredibly powerful. If you are our new to our community or didn’t have time to join live sessions this year, I hope you will consider doing so next year, so that you can experience this for yourself. In the meantime, we have other physical and virtual events in which you can participate!

That said, here are some additional opportunities from the global education community at large that may be of interest. If you have any special events, resources, or questions for our community, always feel free to post in our discussion forum or events, and if appropriate, we’ll highlight these in our next newsletter.

EVENTS

• Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is hosting this event to launch the OECD Pisa Global Competence Framework. If you will be in the Boston area, you can register to attend in person. Alternatively, you can register to watch the proceedings online: http://bit.ly/2iClvqr.
• I’ll be at the MiTE Conference in Ireland this January, and among various sessions, I’ll be leading a discussion on teacher education and global education. Please respond to this post if you are a teacher educator as I’m looking for some specific information from teacher educators: http://bit.ly/2iFB0Os
• Following MiTE, I’ll be at the FETC conference in Florida and Steve and I are scheduled to host a Global Education Day event at TCEA (dependent on funding), in Texas. Please say hello if you will be at these events!
• We also are hosting our 3rd annual Global Leadership Summit at ASCD’s Empower 18 conference in Boston and are involved with CoSN’s International Symposium (Washington DC). Both events are taking place in March. See all our featured events here: http://bit.ly/2iBtqnT

DISCUSSIONS

• I am looking for input and feedback from teacher educators who assign students to engage with GEC content: http://bit.ly/2iFB0Os
• This teacher is looking to connect with others to plan a project for 10th graders (approximately 15 yr olds) to examine World War II from different perspectives. Respond to her here if interested: http://bit.ly/2iCWJXh
• Another teacher is looking to connect with a global community that is focused on the needs of students on the autism spectrum. If you have suggestions or would like to connect with her, respond here: http://bit.ly/2iDvjAx
• Delna Weil of the Global Nomads Group has published a reflection about the GEC and is seeking examples of global competence. Read her post and offer your examples here: http://bit.ly/2iGvJ93
• nprEd wants to hear from LGBTQ folks about their experiences with study abroad: http://n.pr/2iEpHWN

OPPORTUNITIES

• Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program applications are due on December 13, 2017.
• Funding inquiries on Internationalizing Teacher Prep and Innovations are due to the Longview Foundation by January 18, 2018.
• The Fund for Teachers grant application is due January 31, 2018.
• NEA Foundation’s Global Learning Fellowship program is accepting applications through February 5, 2018.
• Qatar Foundation International offers fellowships for teachers who will become certified in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language. Applications are due March 11, 2018.
• IREX’s Teachers for Global Classrooms Program will be opening their application process this month.
• Most of the opportunities mentioned above are for US teachers only; if you are in the UK, try this site: https://globaldimension.org.uk/.

Don’t forget about our curated resources for exploring globally connected teaching and learning which include our conference archives as well as our Global Education Resources page and our Global Events and Celebrations Calendar. You need to be a member of our global education community, the Global Education Conference Network, to access these assets.

If you are playing the GEC Connect game from Alludo Learning for a conference certificate, you must have this completed this by December 15, 2017. This is a firm deadline.

Finally, stay connected by following us on Twitter at @GlobalEdCon and like our page on Facebook!

Thanks for your support,

Lucy Gray