Member Spotlight: Denise Lutter

Denise Lutter of Bronxville,NY , speaks with Asia Society's Chantal Bonitto about the Partnership for Global Learning.  

Chantal: Why are you a member of the Partnership for Global Learning?

Denise:  Six of my colleagues and I traveled to Beijing during the summer of 2007 to attend an international conference on education. Meeting with educators from around the globe and visiting Chinese schools inspired us to begin a review of our district's curriculum and to reflect on our instructional practices.  Eager to learn more about how we might better prepare our students to contribute to the global community, we joined the Partnership for Global Learning and sent a team to the 2008 Asia Society Summer Conference.  Since that time, we have used PGL's resources and contacts to inform our district's global education initiative.  

Chantal: How have the resources that the PGL provides helped you personally and/or professionally?

Denise:  The Asia Society Website provides access to many lessons and resources for teaching students about the world, and has helped individual teachers in our district to enhance their instructional strategies.  In addition, we have participated in PGL's school study tours, and several consultants from the Asia Society have visited our district to share ideas, lead book studies, and reflect on student work.  Perhaps most importantly, we have used the global competency rubrics to guide discussions regarding the student outcomes that we desire in our district.  

Chantal: What are your expectations for the 2010 annual conference?

Denise:  We look forward to learning from the exceptional panel of educators and policy makers who will give presentations during the conference and to exchanging ideas with other educators.  We expect to leave the conference with a clearer sense of our mission, information about successful practices, and new strategies for addressing our district's goals.