A Teacher's Journal: Think Globally, Learn Locally

Question 1: What will our world look like in 2020?

• more diversified population


• higher tech and more evenly distributed


• intellectual capacity more distributed


• continuing issues with war, famine and environmental issues


• Local economy will be more urban, strong, high tech, more dense and cosmopolitan.


• greater competition from around the world


• ease of travel between countries, more mobile, "blurred country borders"


• live longer, more healthy, work longer


• speaking and communicating in a language other than English


• economy more service industry related


• more well-rounded culture


• Technology is key to society. Current training is not sufficient.


• We could lose our economic edge.

Question 2: What will a world-class, globally-competitive graduate need to know and be able to do?

• continue skill acquisition (lifelong)


• ability to communicate, strong interpersonal communications skills, reach out to diverse populations


• critical thinking skills, ability to validate information


• higher level thinkers, ability to work as a team


• understand what the "global economy" is and how it is going to impact students


• ability to bring disparate subjects together to understand the system (knowledge integration)


• sound basic liberal arts education (foundation)


• collaborate in a multi-cultural environment; global teaming


• higher proficiency in a specialized area, ability to adapt


• multi-cultural fluency (language, culture, history and government)


• having the capacity to think about other cultures and how they live

Conclusions:
The citizens of Wake County must work closely with the Wake County Public School System to determine what steps are necessary to ensure that its youngest citizens can compete in the future world market. We know that we need to make improvements in how we are preparing our children for the future and leaders must continue to define what world-class public education is. If one walks into a school, can they recognize that the students are receiving a world-class public education that is preparing them for the global economy? What resources are needed to make our schools world-class? Does a world-class public education even exist?

(Wake Education Partnership, "2008 Education Forum Results." E-mail to 'author'.28 Feb 2008.)

I couldn't agree more with the vision of a world-class education set forth in these statements by the Wake Education Partnership. Easily the greatest struggle that educators face in today's day and age is properly preparing students for a future that is poorly defined yet rapidly changing and increasingly borderless.

While most educators, parents and business leaders know that something must change, we often struggle to imagine what those changes might look like. Thankfully, leading thinkers on teaching and learning are beginning to tackle this question in a very structured and systematic way. In a 2008 post on his blog, Will Richardson---widely recognized as one of America's most progressive educational thinkers---worked to define the kinds of skills that would be necessary for students to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world.

He wrote:

Our kids' futures will require them to be:

Networked--They'll need an "outboard brain."

More collaborative--They are going to need to work closely with people to co-create information.

More globally aware--Those collaborators may be anywhere in the world.

Less dependent on paper--Right now, we are still paper training our kids.

More active--In just about every sense of the word. Physically. Socially. Politically.

Fluent in creating and consuming hypertext--Basic reading and writing skills will not suffice.

More connected--To their communities, to their environments, to the world.

Editors of information--Something we should have been teaching them all along but is even more important now.

So what does that mean for teachers and schools? What actions must we take to create the networked, collaborative and globally active learners described in Richardson's post and by the Wake Education Partnership? What barriers will we face in our efforts to rethink teaching and learning?

How can we ensure that our students will begin to see beyond themselves, understanding that global challenges are our challenges and that global citizenship is essential for the continuing success of our community? Will current models of student assessment have to change? How about models for teacher evaluation and professional development?

Do spending priorities change in a system that is increasingly interested in developing globally aware students? How? How about time priorities within our classrooms? Should we reinvent (re-embrace?) social studies as a critical content area that can no longer be overlooked? Is it even possible for us to continue juggling our current curricular responsibilities and add new tasks to our plate?

Can we streamline our work in any way?

Interesting questions, huh?

Pick one and leave a feedback comment with your answers. If we get enough interesting replies, I'll post them next week.