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Elementary Schools: Growing Up Global

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Image: RBFried/iStockPhoto.com.

Childhood is the right time to prepare our next generation for a global future. How they investigate the world, communicate ideas, and act on their beliefs can all start in the elementary years.

Today, the school experience must prepare students effectively with the knowledge, dispositions and skills they’ll need to connect, collaborate and compete in a highly interdependent world. Here are the major components of a global elementary school:

  • A robust, engaging curriculum that seamlessly integrates district and state academic mandates with global content and competencies to foster high academic achievement and to create awareness and understanding of the world and its workings
  • Language instruction, on a daily basis, from kindergarten throughout the elementary experience, with widespread exposure to native speakers
  • Instruction that explores the world and how it works through constructivism, inquiry-based approaches and other best practices informed by research to pique student interest and spark ideas
  • Assessments that are authentic and varied balance the state-required standardize testing with a greater focus on portfolios, performances, projects and targeted criterion referenced assessments
  • Abundant use of technology for teaching, learning, researching information and  connecting and learning with others beyond the classroom, community or national borders
  • Dynamic interactions and exchanges with sister schools to enhance learning and create understanding
  • Energetic service and volunteer programs that teach students leadership skills and develop their voice and agency as advocates for positive change locally and globally
  • A focus on skills and dispositions that are vital in a highly interdependent world
  • The use of learning venues and teachers beyond the school, leveraging the knowledge and experience of parents, businesses, university faculty, museums and cultural organizations
  • Faculty that brings interest and perspectives about the world into the school

There are already elementary schools in existence that are preparing students for the real world in which they live. Each meets local and state mandates as well as having a vigorous global component. These schools are at different stages of development, but every one of them started the same way, with a vision and a plan for implementation. The schools featured in this website section are models--see what they do and hear their advice for you.

Penelope Vos | 10:19:10 05:38pm
Here's an idea: teach our global children a global language. Not a language that some rich people imposed on others, but an affordable language that any adult can learn in 12 hours of instruction and 80 hours of practice. Esperanto gives children personal contacts, on an equal basis in over 100 vastly different cultures. The resource that enables any classroom teacher to learn-while-teaching Esperanto to fluency is called "Talking to the Whole Wide World". It is a lot of fun, as well as unusually effective! Children bilingual in Esperanto and English learn subsequent languages very much more easily and willingly, so "Talking to the Whole Wide World' is entirely compatible with traditional values in language education also.
julie | 07:14:10 06:37am
For more than 10 years I and group of friends who weren't satisfied with the school system in our country, try to find an enrichment programme for our kids and joined an international children peace education organization which is independent, non religion,non ethnic, no discrimination and force members to join as a familiy, so everybody has to take part in the programme, not only the child/ern. And I personally find it suits our school system requiement s compared to the conventional and generalized one used until nowadays. Since then, I helped out in many organizations formal and non formal in promoting multiculturalism and value based education in an alternative environment, student is the subject and the local content integrated in every subject, not learnt as a subject itself, let it culture, language/dialect,songs/dances etc. Lately, I've been working in early year education in village areas especially those infected by disasters such as earthquakes, landslides,floods etc. I found out the formal curricullum could be integrated and could be applied in best practices activities, enjoyable and meaningful for the students (and parents/mothers alike)with music and art. I've extensive conversation with a lecturer in Ethnomusicology in one of the prestigious art institute in our country. My question is, is there any scheme we could propose for funding, especially for research and fact findings troughout our islands to make a comprehensive documentation and compilation on traditional and indigenous children'song & dance and children'games & toys. Appreciate if you could direct us on what to do so we could continue our programme. We are a non profit and independent organisation. Thank you Julie - Asa Pradana Jakarta
Susan R. Stengel | 07:26:10 11:23am
Talk to the Ford Foundation. They did an extensive ethnomusicology program where they collected music from all over Indonesia. There are also programs going on in schools and they can tell you who to talk to about it. I'm sorry, but I can't remember the name of the person who is doing it. They have even developed some curriculum materials to teach students about the traditional arts of Indonesia.

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