Meeting K-12 and CC Folks

One of those days when you (okay, I) say, "nothing's better than outreach!"

Had a great opportunity to talk with fifty-five North Carolina K-12 and community college educators, in the brethren-hood of my fellow outreach folks at UNC, Duke, and NC State.  Love to see teachers' expressions when you hand them stuff for the classroom and say there's more if you want it.  And love even more the response when you say, "we'd really like to hear what you'd value most from us."

It'll be a busy summer.  I can't wait to get started!

Teacher Trip to Morocco

Another exciting grant opportunity for June.  This one could take you to Morocco.

"The Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) Program provides a professional development opportunity for middle and high school teachers from the United States to participate in a program aimed at globalizing US classrooms.

TGC is a program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by IREX.

Activities include:

• An online course designed specifically for US teachers aiming to globalize their classrooms;

• Two Global Education Symposiums in Washington, DC (pre and post travel); and

• An international fellowship through a two week country visit upon successful completion of the online course.

Travel under this program will be to one of the following countries: Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, or Ukraine."

What can I say?  An online course, pre- and post-travel global education symposium, and, did you see, you get to go to Morocco for two weeks?   


You've got to find out about this.  Read more here.  Deadline is June 15. 

Grant to Teach Turkey

Just heard of this great grant to teach Turkey. Deadline is June 3, so get going!!

Curriculum Development Grants of The American Turkish Society, initiated in the spring of 2010, offer funds to elementary and secondary school teachers nationwide to develop innovative curricula, projects and other classroom activities about Turkey. Our aim with this grant program is to increase knowledge about Turkey among teachers and students and stimulate interest in teaching and learning about Turkey.

Grants will cover the costs of research, materials, speakers, and other costs incurred by the school or the teacher. The amount of grants will range from $250 to $2,500, depending on the scope of the project, availability of total funds, and the number of projects selected through a competitive process. Preference will be given to schools that do not currently have Turkey-related programs in place. The American Turkish Society encourages all applicants to identify additional sources of funding where possible.

Once selected, the grantees will be free to develop their proposed projects without editorial input from The Society. However, they will participate in follow-up activities for evaluation purposes and will be asked to share any teaching plans, materials and activities with The American Turkish Society for future dissemination.

Application process for Fall 2011 Semester:

Application deadline (extended!): June 3, 2011
Notification: July 15, 2011

Please submit proposals including:

1) A 2-page summary with project description, including tools, materials, and methods to be used; objectives and anticipated impact; and the teacher's relevant qualifications.
2) Project budget with detailed breakdown of costs and grant amount requested
3) CV of teacher
4) Letter of support from school

Interested parties may send proposals to The American Turkish Society at info@americanturkishsociety.org or 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

Middle East Outreach

I'm still for teaching the world on a shoestring, for sure.  But now I'm the Outreach Director for the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, so resources and support will have a distinctively Middle Eastern flavor.  I'll be adding to resources on our site in the coming weeks. 

And a good time for it!  We're all glued to events in Egypt and Tunisia and Bahrain and beyond. 

Have you been teaching the crucial role of Facebook, Twitter, and informal broadcasting in Egypt?    If so, you may be interested in this recent video from Cairo.  It's a response to international support (also conveyed by social media) in beautiful images and many different languages.  Enjoy!

Nobel Peace Prize 2010--The Missing Laureate

Here's where Liu Xiaobo would have appeared onstage to the receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  During the presentation ceremony in Oslo today, Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland placed the Peace Prize on the empty chair. 

In the Laureate's absence, Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullman read aloud a statement written by Liu shortly before his imprisonment.  You can read the full text here.

Fully Funded Teacher Trip to South Africa

Thanks to the NC Council for the Social Studies for passing along this exciting news--

The Toyota International Teacher Program will be traveling to South Africa for the first time next year.  The trip is scheduled for July 24 – August 10, 2011, and is fully funded.  Deadline for applying is January 23, 2011.  

Do you qualify?  "Applicants must hold U.S. citizenship; be employed full time as a secondary classroom teacher or teacher-librarian (grades 7 – 12) in one of the 50 State or the District of Columbia; and have a least three years of full-time teaching experience."

If this sounds like you, please do look into this great opportunity.

The Toyota International Teacher Program already travels to Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador.  The focus is on supporting teachers in including more global and environmental learning in their classrooms and communities.  

Read more about these great (and fully funded!) programs here.  And get your application together over the winter break!

Geography Awareness Week

Get ready for Geography Awareness Week (November 14-20). The theme this year is freshwater. 

You can look into some fun ways to celebrate in the My Wonderful World blog post.   And you can download  projects focused on U.S. rivers and North Carolina river basins at the website of our own NC Geographic Alliance here.

Let's hear it for freshwater!