Global Connections
Social Studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Global Connections.
Global Connections was one theme that I thought I did a fabulous job at incorporating in both my field study and my internship. Not coincidently, I also believe it is one of, if not the most important NCSS Theme. I think that American students live in their own little worlds, oblivious of what is going on in the world around them. I think that the students are exposed to what goes on in the world around them, the more likely they are to be a global citizen and not just a citizen of their small little world.
I was truly surprised by the narrow views of my students in the middle school, but was also encouraged by their desire to learn. While most of the students could not locate the Middle East on a map, they wanted to know what each of the five pillars of Islam and why they pray five times a day. These are the kinds of conversations that make changes in student’s lives and enflames a whole new realm of the brain. I was able to do current events with the middle schoolers during the fall. I took full advantage of this opportunity and chose to apply this theme. I applied it so much that my cooperating teacher asked me if, I would do something a little closer to home one week. Some of the PowerPoint presentations that I designed can be seen on the right. I feel like we had some very meaningful discussions and the students definitely learned a lot.
I was also able to utilize Global Connections in my internship as well. I did this throughout my time at the high school, but there are two examples that stand out. The first of these two was my very first day there. I introduced the legislative branch by talking about how the origins of our country have huge implications globally. We looked at what the founding fathers were trying to avoid as they designed our government. We also looked at where they borrowed and stole to write the Constitution. The second example of Global Connections in my teaching was during a lesson on the political spectrum. We looked at where the United States fits globally. I specifically made sure that students understood that even liberal Democrats were conservatives on the world spectrum.
I think I did a great job utilizing this theme during both the fall and spring. I love to see students interested in the world around them and I tried to expose them to it as much as possible. This is one of those themes that as a teacher, you have to include in order to teach the whole student. One thing that I found out is that most students are actually very interested in Global Connections because they do not often learn about other places. Except for geography this theme is not in the majority of the standards teachers are told to teach. It is one that I will surely include in the future. I love the idea of a current events portion of the class. I think I will try to incorporate this into my classroom. A lesson plan I developed specifically for the theme of Global Connections can be seen below.