International Education Week 2009

Get ready for the big party. International Education Week is just around the corner (November 16-20).

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week celebrates global learning and international exchanges. For more information and ways your school can participate, go to International Education Week. You'll find some great celebration suggestions for K-12 schools here.

Do you already have plans for International Education Week? If so, post them on the International Education Week web site. Click here to begin.

And don't forget to spend a little time with the global quizzes (made possible by the National Geographic Society.) If your students score well, they'll get a message saying that the Secretary of State may have a job for them. (And who knows? It may happen!)

Service Learning in the Global Neighborhood

Community volunteering has become an essential part of many schools (particularly high schools), but has your school been thinking about introducing service learning? Roughly one out of three schools have a service learning component for students. It's a step beyond volunteering, with curricular connections, structure, particular objectives, and opportunities for reflection during and after the project. Here's some background on the goals and strategies of service learning:



Most service learning opportunities have focused on the local, state, and national communities, but Asia Society now has resources and ideas for making your school's service learning truly global. Whether you're planning a service learning component, or deepening your commitment, take a look through Making Service Learning Work for Your Students' Futures. There's something for every level, from kindergarten through high school.

Service learning, like global learning, connects students' skills with real-life problem-solving and encourages critical thinking, respect, and responsibility. Talk with your colleagues about getting these powerful partners together in your school plan.

Geography Action

Thanks, Steve Pierce of the North Carolina Geographic Alliance, for passing along notice of this great (free!) conference for teachers!

Second Annual Conference of the NCGA and SCGA Consortium for Geography Action!

Saturday, October 24, 2009 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Registration begins at 9:30 AM

University of North Carolina – Charlotte, McEniry Building Charlotte, North Carolina

Come learn about this year's Geography Action theme, Mapping Europe and ways your class and school can celebrate Geography Awareness Week in November. Classroom and school-wide activities, free materials and door prizes.

CEU certificate will be provided

Registration, schedule and directions are available by clicking on one of these links. There is no fee for this conference.

http://www.ngsednet.org/community/resource_uploads/GeoAction Flyer_Program.pdf

http://www.cas.sc.edu/cege/events/GeoAction Flyer_Program.pdf

REGISTER NOW

Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama

Who could have anticipated such a exciting choice for the Peace Prize?

The citation reads "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The Nobel Foundation press release is here, and is well worth reading, discussing, and keeping for further use. Watch for further discussions and resources online and in print.

A great global learning opportunity for all grades, and a very proud moment for all Americans!

Nobel Prize Week

Watch this week for the announcements of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize. Prizes are awarded in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economic sciences. It's a great way to think globally about the arts and sciences, as well as world peace.

The names will hit the headlines as they are announced, but you can also go straight to the official web site here. You can explore the educational resources and games there, too.

First up is medicine, with three American winners: Elizabeth H. Blackburn (University of California San Francisco), Carol W. Greider (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ), and Jack W. Szostak (Harvard Medical School). They were awarded the Nobel "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and and the enzyme telomerase."

While the rest of us wait for Brian Williams to explain this to us, you might challenge your science-enthused students to do a little research and then explain it to the class. Same thing goes all week.

Don't forget to read about the awards in several sources in different countries. This is news that interests the whole world. Isn't it great to see how differently it's covered, depending on your perspective?