Category Archives: The Global Class

My Story, Our Story, Their Story

Patricia Shafer, February 1, 2016

We’re finding that “My Story, Our Story, Their Story” is a great way to facilitate conversations about conflict and peace. Introducing it to a Global Leadership Academy (GLA) that we’re facilitating at Vance High School in Charlotte, NC, added a new layer of insight and meaning.
 
NewGen Peacebuilders Mini Workshop GLA at Vance HS_Stories Excercise (2)_Jan 2016Consultant and collaborator Jim Ruberg first introduced us to the “Stories” exercise when we were looking for an activity to include in the NewGen Peacebuilders program. Our goal was to engage participating students in the notion that we all have many stories about conflict and peace in common. But everyone has unique personal experiences that are important to share, too. We captured this idea in an interactive poster exercise with “My” in the center for the individual, “Our” representing community stories, and “Their” in reference to global events. Thanks to the generosity of an individual donor and Foundation funding, we’ve been able to adapt and transfer the materials from NewGen Peacebuilders into the Vance global leadership learning journey.
 
NewGen Peacebuilders Mini Workshop GLA at Vance HS (3)_Stories Exercise_Jan 2016As often happens at Vance, creativity shone through. Even though the poster title reads “Stories of Peace,” several students decided that you can’t talk about peace without recognizing the presence of conflict, and the two are diametrically opposed. So, they took a marker and drew a big, heavy line down the middle. They added a level of intense artistry to the poster that we had never seen before. The laminated poster is washable, so we could clean it and use it again. But we won’t. Instead, we’ll frame it as an example for everyone of an all-out, fully-engaged conversation about what it takes to be a peacebuilder.  
 
Thank you, Vance, for allowing us to support you, and in the process helping us have more fun.

From Knowledge Comes Beauty

Patricia Shafer, July 20, 2015

Daphrose-Receives-Any1Can“From Knowledge Comes Beauty” reads a hand-painted T-shirt, a gift to a high school merit scholar in Rwanda, originally painted by a student in the US . . . Why? Did the US student who painted the T-shirt believe deep down inside that there is a connection between knowledge and beauty? Does the recipient, Daphrose, now feel a sense of connection with a young person thousands of miles away that she may never meet?

T-Shirts-MwikoScholarsWe will likely never know the true answers. However, when Mothering Across Continents special projects coordinator Elizabeth Peacock packed her luggage and more than 20 hand-painted T-shirts for a trip to Rwanda, she wondered what magic might be created. T-shirts, she reminded us, have become a global medium of expression, especially for youth. Likewise – hearts, peace signs, flowers and books are images that translate well across many cultures. The languages of love, compassion and quality education are bridge-builders.  

Yet, Elizabeth’s bearing of T-shirt gifts had an even bigger purpose. Three years ago, she led an enormous T-shirt painting exercise across middle and high schools in Charlotte, North Carolina. After workshops learning about seven global issues (poverty, education/illiteracy, hunger, water/infrastructure, environment, conflict/peace, and intolerance), students were invited to paint a white T-shirt in a way that expressed what he or she had learned about what can be done to address one issue. Schools and students raised money to participate. The funds were designated to help build a school in South Sudan. The school, Nyarweng Primary, is operating today.
Sensoria
Then what? What becomes of the T-shirts? First, they toured Charlotte, including an installation of 2,000 T-shirts at the annual Sensoria Arts Festival at Central Piedmont Community College. The exhibit was called “Any1Can” – a theme carried on each of the T-shirts and reminder that Any1Can Promote Education, Any1Can Teach Tolerance, Any1Can Stop Hunger, Any1Can . . .

Some have been set aside, almost museum-like, to be untouched, and only replicated through social enterprise products available in the Mothering Across Continents store. Special gifts have been made of others – the group that Elizabeth just took to students in Rwanda, for example. And another group have been looked at, not as T-shirts to wear per se, but as accidental canvases to be upcycled into purses, bags and backpacks – a potential social enterprise to help fund more education projects.

But I digress . . . I’ve started to share the material and potential marketing impact of these T-shirts, which is easy to do, because we’re often told that T-shirts are a powerful and affordable marketing opportunity. Practically speaking, that may be true. But speaking with purpose, what matters more is that students in the US were introduced to the idea of global issues and the idea that Any1Can make a difference; they were asked to react through art; and their thoughts are being conveyed as gifts half-way around the world. Coming full-circle: “From Knowledge Comes Beauty.”

Global Teacher Travel Opens Hearts and Minds

Patricia Shafer, July 10, 2015

Photo_Costa Rica_Teacher with Fruit 2_July 2015Our program The Global Class helps US schools connect with the world in unexpected ways. Great sentiments and photos are emerging from teachers who just returned from a “Food, Sustainability, Peace” trip to Costa Rica. Seven of these teachers are from East Mecklenburg, a public high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, that has embarked on a three-year Global Immersion Journey. One of the first big “Aha” moments of this facilitated journey was the leadership team’s realization that there had never been a group international trip for East Meck teachers. They agreed on Costa Rica as the first opportunity.
 
Of course, a trip like this means thousands of photos and memories. But global education facilitator Carina Cordero, who guided the trip, suggests that the traditional Costa Rican greeting of “Pura Vida!” (pure Photo_Costa Rica_Fruit Photo 1_July 2015life) captures the essence. And there is definitely a peaceful feeling that comes through in some of the photos of fresh food. As the 2015-16 school year nears, these teachers will spend a full day reflecting and planning how to incorporate trip insights into lesson plans. East Meck has a 2015-16 goal of 50% of students experiencing a deep dive education experience on the global theme of “Food, Sustainability, Peace.”Photo_Costa Rica_Teacher 3_Jonathan Janus with Vegegtables_July 2015
 
Meanwhile, it’s a summary from Jonathan Janus, who teaches 9th grade English and AP Human Geography, that inspires us at Mothering Across Continents and The Global Class: “It is easy to use global lingo and throw in global concepts at a shallow level. However, the ultimate goal of global education is to change the way students look at the world and live in the world. Three stories struck me as valuable lessons of the importance of facing challenges and overcoming them, lessons that I can apply. The first was the struggle of an organic coffee farmer to be a good steward of his land while trying to make money to support his family. Another was the scarred face of a Nicaraguan boy at a rural school whose poignant story captured our hearts, a reminder that Photo_Costa Rica_Artisanal Fishing Village_July 2015immigration is not just a 1st world problem. The third story was the local fishermen who spent years taking on big business and ended up preserving a beautiful and rapidly shrinking way of life. These stories would have remained untold without the opportunity for us to witness them firsthand. This trip and others like it are essential to forming global teachers and global classrooms.”