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Resources for International Education
Professional Development Resources for International Education
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages ACTFL is dedicated to promoting foreign language and cultural studies as an integral component of American education and society. The organization conducts research and helps shape policy, but also offers many useful resources for classroom teachers, including workshops and webinars. This site has teacher professional development workshops in many subjects, including math and science, and classroom resources on other lands, cultures and global issues. Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning The
Partnership for Global Learning is an Asia Society membership network that
connects state and district decision makers, school leaders, teachers,
university faculty, and other stakeholders. Its focus is to increase the number
of American schools offering rigorous international studies curriculum.
Curriculum resources and an annual professional development conference are
offered. Choices for the 21st
Century Education Project Classroom Earth is an online resource designed to help high school teachers include environmental content in their daily lesson plans. See listings of professional development opportunities across the country. The Cleveland Museum of Art’s impressive collection includes art and artifacts from Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. See their on-line collection for digital access to primary resources and their online programs for other classroom tools and professional development opportunities including a course on how to use distance learning in the classroom. The Global Concerns Project educates high school students about international issues related to poverty and development by providing teaching and learning resources and organizing multi-school activities and classroom speakers. The intention of the GCP is not to promote a single way of thinking, but to introduce students to many sides of an issue and to encourage them to think critically about the information around them. Videoconferencing support for teachers is available. CFR provides issue briefs, task force reports, podcasts, blog posts, educator conference calls and more on the latest issues in the world on foreign relations. Facing History and
Ourselves GlobalEdTeachNet International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools in 130 countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. Approximately two million students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide. Since 1988, iEARN has pioneered on-line school linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers in their countries and around the world. Online professional development courses are available. International Reading Association IRA and its state and local affiliates offer professional development resources, including webinars. Japan Society: About Japan Online Forum This site provides educators and specialists in Japan Studies a space for sharing, discussing and developing teaching ideas and resources about Japan, especially as they relate to K-12 classrooms. The site features thought-provoking essays; classroom-ready lesson plans; an area for asking and answering questions; resources including historical documents, maps and images; and member profiles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Designed to provide elementary and secondary school teachers with an opportunity to incorporate the visual arts into their curricula, the curriculum materials focus on special exhibitions or thematic selections from the museum’s permanent collection. An array of online learning programs cover European, Egyptian, Ancient Chinese Art, and other topics. With one of the world’s greatest collections of arts and artifacts from around the world, the Met offers many programs, activities, online workshops and printed and electronic information created for teachers and students. It also has on-line more than 3,500 objects from its collection and a timeline of art history. NAFSA: Association of International Educators This site
has professional development tools and forum boards to assist with not only
study abroad (from how to encourage students to go to visa issues) but also
webinars on topics such as optimizing use of social networking. NCTA is a consortium of university-based Asia studies centers that facilitate teaching and learning about Asia in world history, geography, social studies, and literature courses. NCTA works with a broad network of teachers in forty U.S. states (and growing). NCTAsia.org features teacher professional development, including online courses, and other opportunities organized by state and has many useful links. National Council
for the Social Studies National Councils of
Teachers of Mathematics National Council of State Supervisors for Languages NCSSFL
members actively engage in policy development and implementation at the state
and national levels. NCSSFL developed LinguaFolio™ , a standards-based,
learner-directed, formative assessment tool used to record ongoing progress
and, along with external summative assessment results, provides a comprehensive
view of an individual’s language performance and intercultural growth.
Professional development on the tool is available upon request. National Council on
Economic Education The National Council on Economic Education’s international program, Economics International, supported primarily by the U.S. Department of Education, provides educational assistance to teachers in societies in transition to market economies and also brings back insights to help teach American students lessons about the global economy. Instructional guides provide curriculum on international topics in economics for all grade levels. National Geographic has innumerable interactive maps, videos, and other materials on international geography and contemporary issues. State Geographic Alliances also provide professional development in your state. National Science Teachers Association NSTA features state and online networks to “end the isolation of classroom science teachers.” A robust listing of web seminars brings professional development to every science teacher. Ohio State University’s Social Studies and Global Education program offers an online global education course for practicing teachers in all subject areas. Taught by Merry Merryfield, the resources developed for this course are available to anyone. Peace Corps World Wise Schools Peace Corps volunteers and alumni contribute to creating learning materials for teachers and students, including lesson plans, reports from around the world, and in-classroom presentations. Educators use these materials to teach subjects as varies as language arts, environmental education, and international economics. Others incorporate them into existing study units, or use them as the centerpiece of an interdisciplinary curriculum. Primary Source is a nonprofit professional development organization working to bring global perspectives into K-12 classrooms across the country. A number of resources, including guides and curriculum as well as online courses and webinars, are designed to help teachers expand their knowledge and understanding of world histories and cultures. Some examples of online courses include:
PBS features games and programs for children, but also provides higher-level resources for teachers as well as online professional development with an international bent. Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies The Smithsonian Institution’s on-line education center offers programs, services and resources for teachers and students. An easy-to-use website allows users to search by topic academic discipline, grade band and world region. Online conferences cover a wide variety of topics including climate change, space and critical thinking. SOLES Globalizing Teacher Education Globalizing Teacher Education is a project of the Department of Learning and Teaching in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. This site features a series of video case studies that are designed to encourage conversation among teachers, aspiring teachers, and teacher educators about the role of global education in K-12 classrooms. These accredited e-courses are designed to support teachers in enhancing their understanding of and competencies in global education, explore why global education is so vital, and how e-technologies can bring the world into the classroom. (There is a fee for courses). ThinkQuest, is a global competition where student teams (many of which are comprised of members from different countries) explore a contemporary world topic and create a website. Their professional development opportunities not only prepare teachers for the competition, but also offer lessons on how to integrate technology, project learning, and 21st century skills development into their classroom curricula. Title VI National Resource Centers Title VI national resource centers receive federal funding to promote the study of world regions. They offer professional development to teachers and to disseminate teaching resources nationally. Check the website to find one at a university near you. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History The Fowler’s collections comprise more than 150,000 ethnographic and 600,000 archaeological objects representing prehistoric, historical and contemporary cultures of Africa, Native and Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Online units and summer professional development institutes are available. World Affairs Councils run school programs in conjunction with their local, regional, or statewide school systems. Programs include curricular resources, Model UN student programs, teacher professional development, study abroad programs, career seminars and more. World Savvy provides resources for teachers and youth on a variety of global issues. Professional development institutes and workshops show how to globalize content across the K-12 curriculum. |
