Your Name and Title: Donna Roman, 5th Grade Teacher and Andrew Barrett, Director of Curriculum and Instruction CUSD 304, Geneva, IL USA

 

School or Organization Name: Community Unit School District 304, Geneva IL USA

 

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: United States

 

Language in Which You Will Present: English

 

Target Audience:  Elementary

 

Short Session Description :  Using picture books to facilitate cross-school discussion that analyzes the important role that context plays in the development of our own beliefs and our understanding of others. 

Full Session Description:  Reading Across the Globe represents a global approach to collaborative inference. In this project students and teachers in classrooms from around the world read the same text (various picture books based on a theme of global awareness) and collaborate to discuss individual observations, inferences, and beliefs.  Guided by their teachers, students are given the opportunity to explore the important role that context plays in the development of their worldview and thus in their beliefs about others.  It is our hope that this project represents an important, though cursory step in breaking down the ignorance that reinforces cultural misunderstanding and leads to prejudice and intolerance.  Schools grades 3-5  in Shanghai China, Prague Czech Republic, Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada, Salem, Massachusetts, USA, New York, USA, and Geneva, IL, USA are currently participating in the project.

 

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: http://readacrosstheglobe.wikispaces.com/

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