Teaching from a global perspective is about looking at the curriculum from a different vantage point. Instead of looking at a subject as a series of facts to be transmitted, I look at it as a means of enabling students to see the amazing interconnectedness of the world around them and how it works. I try to tie themes into the community and then into the broader world. I ask, what are the environmental, economic, social, political issues behind the subject? What can be done/ what is being done about them?
When I was in highschool, I was part of a YMCA International Leaders program. Every week, we looked at different global issues. I remember being outraged when I learned about Nestle’s baby fomula campaign in Africa. Y-International provided young people with the opportunity to talk about issues and to do something about them. In the world of pre- and post-Chernobyl, talking and taking action was a way to deal with the scariness.
I think that kids need these kinds of outlets. They need to be able to develop the skills to be able to deal with complex and often unjust issues. Most importantly, teaching from a global perspective imparts a message that we have choices; with regard to how we treat each other, and how we treat the planet. I think that this is a powerful message for children.
When I facilitated a unit on Ancient Rome from an environmental perspective, students were able to make connections facing ancient Romans (resource use, consumption, waste) with issues that we face today. Studying the past made sense; “learning from our mistakes” made sense. At one point, one student looked up from a water project she was working on in science and said, “Hey, this is all connected.”
Novels, travel accounts and articles are great tools for teaching from a global perspective. Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver is a good jumping off point for looking at different types of societal organization. The Giver society is a distopia – a utopia gone wrong. (Gathering Blue, another similarly themed novel by Lois Lowry is also good). In addition to looking at elements of the story, students can use the novel to as the basis for discussions about power, control, and personal responsibility.
I used this novel in conjunction with a study of Ancient Rome, which asked students to take on roles of diverse Roman characters involved in an environmental/ political/ economic dispute over the future and feasibility of an urban-supply aqueduct to be built in a rural community. Once the students compiled research on the interests of their characters we held a debate on the issue, built an aqueduct and researched various aspects of water use and conservation.
