- especially in
primary & secondary schools
Here is a copy of a letter to a leadership team who
have asked the following questions:
“Dear leaders of
Shalom School in Arusha, Tanzania
Thank you for inviting
my colleague and me to Shalom School and showing us around in the end of August
2016 (when we were teaching at a course in active learning methods at Tumaini
University Makumira)
You asked us...
1. How to
continue professional development of all teachers?
2. How to make
all students more active learners?
... and I
promised to mail you some ways to elaborate these questions.
Here are some answers:
A school is like a ship: The question of highest
priority has to be "Where to go? " and "How to get there?"
But there is a
big difference between being a captain of a ship vs. the leadership team of a
school. The captain may successfully be leading by commands, but a leadership
team of a school has to create discussions involving all teachers with the aim
of reaching a mutual understanding of where we want to go (the aims) and how do
get there (the methods). If this process is not successful, then each classroom
will "sail" in its own direction, and that is problematic if the
school ethos is not shared!
These
discussions on aims are basically about who we want to help the students to
become as grown ups. It is not enough to state that we all want them to become
engaged citizens. We must develop a clear common understanding of what we mean
by that.
An engaging way
of discussing this in a group of teachers is to compare with what other
teachers think and do around the world.
I propose to
take into use the texts and video clips in the blog article " What is good
"Citizenship Education" today?”. Link: click
The videos in
that article are usually good starters of discussions on whom to be inspired
by, and furthermore,
what is special with your own national and school context: Do you focus on
developing minds, hearts & hands like the Japanese, or moral values like in
Singapore, or engaged local and national citizens like the British example, or
global citizens like the example from United States?
These
discussions may lead to the formulation of a common understanding of the
mission of your school, and the discussions would also include focus on a
national curriculum, including themes across subjects.
We all know that
students are not like clay, which can be moulded into whatever shape one
desires. Each is a unique person who develops into someone and not something.
Someone other than the student does not create “An engaged citizen”. He or she
create himself/herself through active participation in engaging learning
activities. It follows that the task of teachers is to create such learning
objectives & learning activities.
How to develop engaged citizens through active
learning activities
Here are some
proposals (from my blog “Teach GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP”) on how to start these
discussions in a group of teachers:
- Border-crossers, mediators & go-betweens.
Don’t we need more of them? click
- Three Pillars
of Success in a Democratic Society. Obama teaching Citizenship Education click
- Place-Based
Education Projects as Part of Global Engagement click
- Use School
Partnerships to ELL, IT-learning & Competences of Intercultural Citizenship click
- Human Rights Education click
- Practicing Global Citizenship Education for
Students Aged 3 to 19 click
-Global perspectives in Challenging Ways of
Learning from Kindergarten to Highschool click
- Introduktion & How to Play an Active Role
in Local & Global Society click
Links to learning site that focus on students as
active learners
Here is a
RECOMMENDED instructive example. It is a 5-minute video with overview text from
an elementary school in USA where they practise “Inquiry Based Learning”
Here is an
overview of all videos and articles in “the “EDUTOPIA”-website on INQUIRY
BASED LEARNING. They all focus on how to move from teacher guided to student
driven learning by use of questions, problems, and scenarios to help students
learn through their own agency and investigation: https://www.edutopia.org/topic/inquiry-based-learning
Do your own
search of topics of your interest in “EDUTOPIA”: https://www.edutopia.org
Examples from my blog “Teach GLOBAL
CITIZENSHIP” of themes to focus at (across subjects)
Here are
proposals on how to start these discussions about cross-disciplinary themes to
collaborate on as primary & middle school teachers:
- “There is hope
& progress…Why so much anxiety?” click
- Our Age of
Sustainable Development click
- Stop Food
Waste! Why & How click
- ”I am your
friend” project: An inspiring example of welcoming refugee children click
- How Many
Slaves Work for You? click
- Who Makes our
Clothes so Inexpensive? click
- A Language
Dies Every 14 Days click
- On Life in
Slums click
- Up-to-date African perspectives click
- See “Where
Children Sleep”, What´s Your Thoughts? click
- The third
Planet from the Sun’ – a Global Dimension Case click
- “You´re Either Part of the Solution or Part
of the Problem” (On genocide / folkedrab) click
- Teach About
Indigenous Peoples of the World click ( In Danish: Oprindelige folk)
………………………………………………………………..................
Is this useful
(to pick from)?
Does this
- and your discussions - raise new questions?
I look forward
to hearing from you
Yours,
Egon Hedegaard”
I
help teachers and others with a citizenship engagement to find
valuable information & learning possibilities by use of global
Internet resources, I help teachers to develop many ways of active
learning, & I write on strengths & limitations of
global education reforms.
Visiting
Professor in Teaching and Learning Methods at St. Paul´s University, Limuru,
Kenya
Email: eghedegaard@gmail.com
Phone: 0045 30262986
Skype: Egon Hedegaard1
LinkedIn
profile: https://dk.linkedin.com/pub/egon-hedegaard/29/b0b/386
Blog: http://teachglobalcitizenship.blogspot.dk/
Mail address: Bellevuevej 5, 1. tv, DK 2930
Klampenborg, Denmark
