Introduction

When I was a kid (in the 1960s), I had a penpal who lived in Germany. A friend of my mother lived in Germany and had a daughter my age who also wanted a penpal. We wrote letters for several years. It was always exciting to get those exotic blue airmail letters and hearing about life in what seemed like another world. I am so grateful that my mother helped me discover the world of beyond my small town life. A world of people and places that I hope I never tire of exploring.

My point? When I was a kid, the only technology available to help make connections was the telephone, and an overseas call was far to expensive to consider. So we wrote letters.

Today, our world seems so much smaller and so much more connected. We send messages around the world in a split second. We video chat with friends and family living overseas. And wonderfully, we can collaborate and share with colleagues across the world as easily as we can with those in the next town. And in a world with far too many conflicts, pain and suffering, technology affords us amazing opportunities to help our students develop curiosity about the world, empathy for others, and deeper connections with and understanding of other cultures.

There are so many different ways for classrooms to connect:

• Language students practicing their speaking skills with students in other countries.
• Social studies classes learning first-hand about other cultures.
• Using foreign news sources to examine different perspectives and biases.
• Science classes learning about the different climates and environmental challenges.
• And so much more.

In this lesson, we have ideas for helping you connect with other educators. And ideas and opportunities for you to bring bits of the world to your students as well. The resources below are just the tip of the iceberg! Explore!

Getting Started

• Pen Pals 2.0: Can Technology Foster Global Tolerance? – Discusses the experience of an international classroom connection through IVECA International Virtual Schooling.
• Global Collaboration -> Global Empathy – short post on how a US classroom connected with a UK classroom using free online tools.
• Make Your Classroom Truly Global – Short blog post with tips on how to make global connections.
• 4 Tools to Help Kids Develop Empathy and Cultural Humility
• Teacher’s Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet – US Dept of Education’s extensive guide to project ideas for wide range of subject areas, general resources and more. (If you have a problem accessing the information on the US DOE website, you’ll find an archived copy of it in the Internet Archive.)
• Global Collaboration Day Sept 2017 – Though this event was in September 2017, the website includes lots of useful resources.
• All That We Share – A short video from TV2 in Denmark that helps us see how much share with others who at first glance we may think are different than us.
• Bridging cultural differences – “It’s all about understanding. These talks explore perspective — looking past the stereotype and learning who people are, what they do and why they do it to build new cultural understandings.” TED Talks playlist.
• Global School Net – Lots of collaborative projects and ideas.

Global Collaboration Opportunities & Ideas 

• Global Speed Chat – A new activity is posted for each month. Students and teachers around the world post their response to the monthly activity. Check on the monthly activity Padlets to see responses from around the world.
• QuadBlogging – Sign up to connect with 3 other classrooms to share writing and commenting on each others blogs.
• Peace Crane Project – “We invite school and community groups, individuals and families, all around the world to fold a peace crane or dove, fill its wings with words and pictures of peace, then through us, trade it with another child somewhere in the world.”
• If You Learned Here – Interesting project connecting a group of classrooms around the world, with several weeks of shared activities and learning. Watch for the opportunity to sign up and participate in 2018. Or use their outline of activities to replicate this project on a smaller scale.
• Skype in the Classroom – Skype is a great (and FREE!) way to connect with other classrooms or to beam in a far-flung visiting speaker. Also explore virtual field trips, mystery skypes, opportunities for classroom collaborations and more.
• Slice of Life Writing Challenge –  “Adults, classroom teachers and their students across six continents participate in this weekly challenge as well as in the month-long challenge in March.”
• epals – A safe way to connect with students and classrooms around the world. More info from EdShelf.
• TeachUnicef – “TeachUNICEF provides educators with global learning resources and programs. Through a focus on global citizenship and child rights, TeachUNICEF engages students in an exploration of humanitarian issues and inspires them to take action to improve their world.”
• From Astronauts to Zimbabwe – the A to Z of Global Collaboration – In this Feb 2017 webinar on Steve Sherman shares examples world travels “without the traveling” through technology-based student activities.
• 2017 Global Student Conference on STEM + Entrepreneurship – March 4, 2017. Free online conference with presentations by students from around the world. Sessions were recorded.
• Global Education Events Calendar – “A list of global education related events and celebrations taking place around the world. You will find celebrations, conferences, Twitter chats, and more.”
• Lucy Gray’s Global Resources Notebook on Evernote – Lucy keeps adding information to this notebook. Viewable without joining Evernote.

Professional Opportunities

• Traveling this year? Use twitter or other methods to connect with colleagues in the place you’re visiting.  Take a few hours out of your holiday to meet with colleagues. I’ve done this a number of times and many of the educators I’ve met with have become valued friends & colleagues.
• ISTE Global Collaboration Network – “The Global Collaborations Network promotes digital technologies for connecting and collaborating beyond the classroom walls. The Global Collaboration Network offers best-practice curriculum design to embed global learning experiences into everyday teaching. The community shares tools and methods, curriculum developments, and opportunities for collaborations.”
• List Of Global Educators And Organizations To Follow On Twitter
• Fulbright Teacher Exchange –  This program seeks to promote mutual understanding among teachers, their schools and communities in the U.S. and abroad. Short term (2-6 week) and long term (3-6 month) opportunities. Oh how I wish I qualified for this program!!
• International Study and Overseas Teaching Resources – List of other international opportunities (National Education Association)
• Global Education Conference 2018 – Always an amazing schedule of presentations. Presentations will be recorded so you can watch later.  “The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real–world problems.”
• Global Resources from the Global Education Conference Network – Many more project ideas.
• Twitter hashtags: #globalclassroom #globaledchat (Weekly chat transcripts)

We don’t have a huge list of tech tools to explore for this lesson, the tools you’ll need will depend on what type of project you decide to pursue.  The basic tools for video connections are: Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, FaceTime and other similar live video tools. And many of the other tools you’ve already explored will come in handy for sharing and connecting – Blogs, Padlets, Google Docs, etc.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

• Explore some of the resources listed above (and beyond!) and look for ideas you might bring back to your classroom or your own professional development.
• In your blog post, share the resources you found valuable and why.
• And share how you might implement a lesson for your students or pursue a new professional opportunity.

*TURNING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Write & publish your blog post.
• Copy the URL (webpage address) for your post.
• Return to the Google Classroom assignment page, find the assignment page for the lesson you just completed and follow the directions for turning in and sharing your work.

*Only for students participating in the workshop for PD credit hours through the Google Classroom.

---