Mod 11 article review and virtual tour review

Gina Heckel Mod 11

The global issue document was interesting to read and I did agree with much of what was written but I am not sure teachers could realistically prepare students to think and act “globally”.  This is why, first getting students to think about others and not just how something affects them is big.  This generation is more me oriented (though I see a little shift away from that train of thought).  Teaching students to think about consequences and to have empathy is difficult. 

Diversity has been taught in schools for a while now, but are students making connections between of why learning about diversity is important.  Do they understand that the differences and similarities of different cultures are important to understand so that we can relate and tolerate differences and work together to make world decisions?  After all, we share one planet and all our actions affect this world. 

The final piece that had me thinking is here in the U.S. teachers often are limited to the time they have to teach more in depth “global competencies” because we are required to cover “tested” subjects.  Making sure our students do well on those core subjects is hard enough.  Can teachers go back to teaching without pressure on tested curriculum and then you could find teachers that are able to integrate global competence into their lessons.  

The sister city/sister school was short and sweet, the biggest point being that with the technology has provided teachers with a greater opportunity explore and connect with a city and/or school.  With the invention of the internet, facetime and skype the connection is as simple as a mouse click or phone call.  During my 5^th/6^th grade year my school did a sister city project with Toledo, Spain and the El Greco art exhibit visit to the Toledo Museum of Art.  The teachers had us write a letter to a school, we did a mini time capsule with items from our school and town and then went to the Toledo Museum of Art’s El Greco exhibit.  It is something I remember to this day and hope that the students of our sister city do too!  I believe this gives students a look at oversea schools/cities and provide that global connectedness the article discusses. 

I went on several virtual tours on the listed page, I liked the Louvre best because you did not have to join anything and you just clicked and saw different rooms in the Louvre.  I don’t want to have to register with every site just to explore!  This particular tour would be wonderful for art students and could give those that love art but can’t afford to travel overseas a way to experience the museum.  I wish more museums had such an easy and great virtual page to share.