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Hello! I'm Anne Boyette, a Western North Carolina native and middle school Language Arts teacher in the mountains of Hendersonville. I've created this website as an introduction to Global Education and ongoing resource for fellow educators interested in implementing it in their classrooms. If you are a global education novice (like I was), this site will introduce you to ideas that will re-energize your teaching and better prepare your students with the type of Twenty-First Century skills that will change their lives! Be prepared, though: it may change yours too!
Hello! I'm Anne Boyette, a Western North Carolina native and middle school Language Arts teacher in the mountains of Hendersonville. I've created this website as an introduction to Global Education and ongoing resource for fellow educators interested in implementing it in their classrooms. If you are a global education novice (like I was), this site will introduce you to ideas that will re-energize your teaching and better prepare your students with the type of Twenty-First Century skills that will change their lives! Be prepared, though: it may change yours too!
What is Global Education and why do we need it?
Many of my colleagues hate to watch the news. Melting glaciers, weather-related disasters, COVID, war, inflation and supply chain problems. If it feels overwhelming to adults, we can only imagine the helplessness and anxiety our students experience.
What if we gave them a different experience? One that allowed them to see the world as a place where their actions made a difference. One that showed them the physical and human diversity of our planet. One that broadened and enriched their views. One that gave them the skills and attitudes to work and interact socially and successfully in the international marketplace that will affect everyone. That is global education.
The Basics
The Basics
Our world is interconnected in so many ways: politically, economically, culturally, technologically, and environmentally. The rapidity of the changes in these systems requires people who can respond quickly and effectively to negotiate multinational solutions to problems as they arise. These people must be critical thinkers who have the skills, values, attitudes, and knowledge to tackle these problems while recognizing multiple perspectives and communicating appropriately with people whose culture and world view differ from their own. These people are our students, and it is up to us to prepare them for their future.
"So why is Global Competence a concern for our students and educators right now? Here in Western North Carolina, we don't have big cities or a lot of diversity."
Even rural areas are affected by global changes. Problems that exist here may have parallels in other parts of the U.S. or in other countries. Check out my page under the "Teach" section on "Going Glocal." Global learning is more meaningful for everyone when we realize that many of our problems are shared and when we help our students make those global connections
Here are a few more reasons why Global Competence affects all of us:
Global competence is necessary for employability in the global economy.
Even in our rural/suburban area, multinational corporations offer high-paying jobs for our students. Plus, we don't even know what careers will look like in the future. Global competence will be a much bigger factor in career success as the world becomes more interconnected and interdependent. Two years ago we couldn't imagine the massive shift to online learning or working from home!
Global competence is necessary for living cooperatively in multicultural communities.
As the WNC area grows, it is also becoming more diverse and more multicultural. The OECD says it best:
“[Our students] are already studying side-by-side with children from multiple countries and regions, and they must be able to learn from people from other cultures who may speak other languages or hold values or worship in ways that are different from their own. They will need to be able to make sense of these differences and learn to see them as potential assets that can benefit entire communities, rather than as threats.”
Global competence is necessary for young people to communicate and learn effectively and responsibly with old and new media.
Look at the explosion of international TikTok videos and the fascination with music and art of other cultures. Our students are already in the midst of a global cultural and informational exchange; however, social media platforms have also made the transmission of extremist views,” fake news,” and racial/ethnic hatred easier. Let’s help our youth make sense of this flood of content, negotiate it safely, and communicate effectively within it.
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