The idea of global citizenship is often a nebulous concept which gets bantered around the blogosphere but often lacks clarity or examples that truly define what it means. One of the best examples was this one from earlier this year.
Today while reading through my aggregator, I came across this story from Christian Long. (Christian is always a wealth of good stuff) So I quickly sent out an email to about 5 primary teachers in our division as an idea for their class. About 5 minutes later, Kathy emails me back:
Great idea, so great that we have already sent our cards.
No wonder Kathy has gained “rock star” status as a leader in developing global citizens. (she knows what I’m referring to). The opportunity for our students to connect and make a difference is unprecedented. Teachers who embrace this notion hardly discuss the issues of safety, danger of living in a global, digital world. It’s not that they don’t teach it, it just isn’t the focus anymore because the potential to make a difference is just too great.
On Monday evening, I’m going to be having a Skye call with my three of my favourite teachers and I think best examples of teacher’s developing global citizens: Kathy Cassidy, Clarence Fisher and Darren Kuropatwa. All three believe this to be a critical component of their classrooms and have many examples to share. I’ll be recording the conversation for a podcast.
In the meantime, why not send Shane a card.
[tags]shaneswish,christianlong,kathycassidy,darrenkuropatwa,clarencefisher[/tags]
Yes, funnily enough Kathy is pretty special to my class and I too. She (and her class) are daily on our lips here in Palmerston North, New Zealand – and when glitches in technology happen she just accepts that and we reschedule… doesn’t sweat the small stuff. I will be listening to the podcast with interest.
And just for the record … without even talking about Shane with her or others … our HUGe package of birthday cards has also been sent. Love that small connected world where we realise we touch one anothers lives!
Looking forward to the chat on Monday. 😉
BTW, our entire school (1100+ students) sent Shane birthday cards. It was initiated by one of my students who is also on the student council. She’s a special young lady, running for VP next year. I told her I thought what she had done, mobilizing the entire school in support of this project, was probably the most important thing done at our school this year. I’m quite proud of her.
Cheers!