Budget Worries

All over North Carolina, all over the United States, teachers are worried about the economy and the upcoming state budget. The size of the proposed cuts in education are alarming, to say the least.

What can educators do about proposed cuts in funding to education? We can
1) Not panic.
2) Start thinking and planning.

Some of your thinking and planning certainly should involve communication with your state representatives. Let them know what proposed cuts in education really mean.

Then start communicating with yourself. Take a updated inventory of the personal resources you can draw on to teach globally. What are your own abilities and experiences? What about the people you know who can offer support in teaching about a region of the world? The free resources you can access? All can be used in your classroom to enrich global learning.

I'll keep posting free and low-cost resources and ideas here. You let me know about any more you're using successfully.

We're living in tough times, for sure. But (and I've said this before) teachers are tougher.

Culture Kits

Here's a teacher's dream.

You ask for a box of really cool, authentic stuff from the country you're teaching and it shows up at your school. With someone to explain it all. Free.

If you're a North Carolina teacher, this is no dream. This is the service offered by Carolina Navigators, a program in the Center for Global Initiatives at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The culture kit pictured here is from Taiwan, and comes with ideas about activities for your classroom. You can also choose among kits from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Holland, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya and Ghana, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. You can browse through all the available culture kits here.

Where's the catch? There is none. Just request your kit at a reasonable time in advance, so you'll be sure to have it when you need it. Find out more about borrowing a (free!) culture kit here.