I have found it relatively easy to incorporate global learning and perspectives in the Language Arts classroom, at least partly because I characterize myself as a frustrated Social Studies teacher. After last year I may have to add frustrated Science teacher as well! Nearly everywhere I turned, unexpected connections abounded. Here's an example of one of my rabbit holes (a productive one, though!):

In one of our class novels, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, a character rescues a clutch of baby sea turtles and releases them in the Sargasso Sea. With a little research, I discovered that Grand Cayman has both a turtle sanctuary and a treasured island dish made, of course, with sea turtles. After a poll and discussion on eating endangered species for cultural reasons, I moved on to Sargassum, the seaweed that protects the young turtles. It turns out it has become a menace for tourists on Caribbean, Mexican and even Florida beaches and is actually making it harder for the baby turtles to get to the water after they hatch. Why the explosion in "good" seaweed? Deforestation in the Amazon. 11-year-olds actually read a lengthy New York Times article about the deforestation and the Climate Summit because THEY CONNECTED.

You've been warned: global learning connections can be addicting!