Sacred Heart & Global Education

Overview:

This session will explore Global Education at Sacred Heart Schools. Participants will be given the opportunity to hear from educators from two Network schools about their work with Global Education, spanning across various age groups.  

Part 1 - "Reach New Frontiers" with Global Education

Over the last several years, faculty and administration at the Academy of the Sacred Heart have prioritized the development of a strong global education program rooted within the curriculum of our Preschool and Lower School divisions. In this breakout, we will share our process to create a global program that is mission-driven and developmentally appropriate for young learners. This will include the identification of specific global competencies and skills, using partnerships within and outside of our immediate school community, and specific curricular examples from the classroom. Ultimately, the goal of our Global Ed program is that our students “example, even more than [their] words, will be an eloquent lesson to the world.” Participants will receive a resource list of Elementary and Middle school books that can be used for Global Education. 

Part 2 - Virtual Reality Field Trips for Instilling a Global Mindset

During this breakout, participants will teach educators how to create virtual reality field trips aligned with their content. Studying religions, history, and cultures requires studying specific places. While it would be wonderful to pack students into a plane and take them worldwide to these cultural and religious sites, it’s not logistically possible. However, today's virtual reality technology invites educators to bring these sites to our students. Field trips to Rome's museums, battlefields in France, and pilgrimage sites in Israel are now accessible without having to collect a single permission slip. Participants will be given brief examples of how to use virtual reality field trips to take students to India, Israel, and Rome. Additionally, participants will receive a tutorial on creating their own Nearpod virtual reality field trips and tours. All of this is with the hope that other Sacred Heart Educators will be inspired to further reflect on how they teach cultural literacy and global mindsets.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will gain an understanding of what Global Education may look like in preschool and elementary grade divisions and see actionable steps to identify implementation practices that work for your school and across all divisions and grade levels. 

• Participants will learn about resources and partnerships conducive to building and enriching global programming for all divisions and grade levels. 

• Participants will build an understanding of how Global Ed can be used across grade levels and will have an opportunity to brainstorm an outline for a classroom unit of study for which they can apply the Global Ed competencies.

• Educators will be inspired to incorporate virtual reality technology in the classroom.

• Educators will walk away with the skills they need to create virtual reality field trips.

• Educators will be provided with sample budgets/prices for supplemental/optional VR equipment like headsets which may enhance lessons and student experience.