Jeff & Val Shea at G.L.F. Gala in Washing DC with MTA’s NEA Directors: Ryan Hoyt, Tiffany Back, Stephen Gorrie, and Donnie McGee.
WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2015) – The NEA Foundation today named 32 award-winning public school educators who, as the 2015 class of Global Learning Fellows, are building their global competency skills, or the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance.
The Global Learning Fellowship equips educators with the knowledge, skills and disposition to bring an international perspective to their students, associations and districts. Through robust professional development training, collaboration with outstanding educators across the globe, an international field study, and sharing newly-created global curricula, teaching and learning is transformed in their classrooms, empowering their students as global citizens.
“To thrive as global citizens, today’s students need to be taught how to investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action,” said Harriet Sanford, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation. “In order to be taught these new global skills, teachers must be supported with comprehensive professional learning focused on authentically integrating these skills into classroom instruction.”
The Fellowship provides a structured and collaborative learning experience that supports educators as they acquire global competence skills. Over the course of one year, Fellows are supported by the NEA Foundation staff, partners, and other field experts, as they work through the following:
1) Online coursework on effectively integrating global content into core instruction;
2) Online resource guide, and webinar, comprised of country specific concepts;
3) Introductory language learning;
4) A two-day professional development workshop in Washington, DC with sessions led by leaders in global competency and country-specific knowledge; and
5) An international field study designed to focus on the themes of global competence, education (both practice and issues of international, national, and state policy) and economics.
The international field study in Peru, from June 20-30, includes visits to schools in and around Lima and Cusco to provide educators with structured opportunities to observe instruction and exchange ideas and best practices with Peruvian teachers and administrators. It also includes opportunities to investigate Peru’s economy, history and culture. To deepen understanding about the global economy, Fellows will meet with representatives from a multinational business. Finally, the field-study will include time for Fellows to intimately engage with local communities by participating in a service learning project.
In preparation, the Fellows will have access to a wide array of web tools in order to contextualize their experiences in Peru by examining the impact of its historical, economic, and cultural legacies on contemporary Peruvian society and educational system.
The NEA Foundation has partnered with Berlitz, to provide Fellows with basic Spanish language training, and VIF International Education, to provide online learning tools and resources to strengthen their understanding of global competencies.
By the end of the Fellowship, each educator will have created at least four lessons or unit plans integrated with global competency skills. All lesson plans will be shared with educators around the world via BetterLesson.com, an open source platform, contributing to an increasing field of knowledge on this topic and encouraging other educators to authentically integrate global content into their own classrooms.
Names and photos of the 2015 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellows are posted on the NEA Foundation’s website. The international field study is sponsored by the NEA Foundation and is designed by Education First.