In an effort to expand the focus in our schools on Global Education, Stacey Sullivan (GEMS), JoAnn Harvey (GEMS), Pam Farmer (GEMS), Denette Locke (FES), and Melinda Carpenter (BFA) are representing their schools as part of an FWSU Team, along with Curriculum Director Linda Keating, at the first “Thought Partner” series. This series is offered by the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center (CVEDC) and is facilitated by Dr. Mary Lynn Riggs.
A “Thought Partner,” as defined by the Thinking Collaborative, is someone who:
- Challenges your thinking
- Causes you to modify or change your paradigms, assumptions, or actions
- Has information or a way of thinking that provokes you to innovate or otherwise leads to value creation in your business, career, or life.
This first CVEDC Thought Partner seminar series, entitled Building Global Citizenship. Schools that Make a Difference, focuses on the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Participating teams think about these 17 goals in the context of their schools, their communities and use their thought partners to explore how they can integrate the goals into their work with students in ways that are personalized, flexible, skill building, and expand capacity to develop responsible citizenship within a diverse world.
Teams bring their knowledge of their students and their curriculums, thinking about their students’ desire to have a positive impact along with what they need to teach, and examine that in the context of stories from speakers who are taking action in their schools, their communities, and throughout the world.
Along with stories of global impact, the teams are learning strategies and being introduced to readings, tools, and resources that help to guide their planning conversations and engage as thought partners.
There are four sessions in this first series to engage teams in facilitated dialogue around global citizenship. Several of our team members have indicated they will pursue the FWSU Global Goals Microcredential as part of their learning experience. In addition, our team will create a supervisory union rationale for global education, along with goals and action steps that we will vet with our thought partners.
Linda Keating is the Director of Curriculum at FWSU. She is a regular contributor to the FWSU Blog. You can follow her on Twitter @Educate4ward
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