International Learning Opportunities
Below are great organizations that can help you globalize your students' learning. 

I love PenPal Schools! They do so much more than connect your students to students in other states and countries. Each PenPal relationship is in the context of a great free curriculum. It is safe and students get to further develop their literacy skills while gaining new perspectives on important topics.

VIF offers consultation and formal trainings in an effort to help teachers become global educators and schools to become global schools. It is not free. Participating in a webinar and reading their site influenced my strategy for globalizing my school - focus on the staff, curriculum, physical space, and student travel.

The Pulitzer Center offers teachers world class stories from professional journalists and ideas on how to teach these real-life topics in your class. The Lesson Builder section allows you to tailor-make provided lessons to your specific class.

C3 Teachers offers units, called Inquiries, for all grade levels. Each of these are completely ready for implementing in your class. 

​Primary Source provides resources, online curriculum, and professional development that is second to none. They also do onsite workshops in the Boston area.

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One Planet Classrooms is an initiative that connects classrooms from around the globe with contrasting cultures, and encourages empowerment and collaborative projects to help make a better world. My class was connected with a school in Guinea through this organization. It was a great experience for my students.

Globalizing Curriculum

Global Education doesn't mean throwing out existing lessons or standards. Rather, a teacher can make strategic changes to lessons in complete alignment with state and national standards. See below for some examples of globalized lesson modifications for a 6th grade Social Studies class in Texas. The document on the left is a unit that I designed to develop the global competencies while meeting state standards. The unit is planned based on the Unit by Design framework. The document on the right is a fleshed out lesson plan for one of the lessons of the unit on the left.

Globalizing Standards

To the left is a document that is an example of how we can meet state or national standards while developing the global competencies in our students. This activity is great for helping students brainstorm ways to embed the competencies into what they are already doing. You will see the standard listed first and then three ways of meeting that standard in a global context. There are two examples on the two page document. Both are History standards.

Local Resources

I am fortunate to live in a major metropolitan area. Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex there are organizations that make it their goal to help teachers expand the worldview of their students. Below are a few that I have worked with in the past.

1. World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth - This is my favorite local organization. WAC offers great workshops for free (lunch included!) and subsidized teacher travel opportunities. I went on an incredible summer trip to Morocco in 2013 with them. They also provide speakers on numerous topics that will come to your school free of charge.
2. Fort Worth Sister Cities - This fantastic organization provides opportunities for teachers and students. I have attended workshops with international teachers and my students have attended summer camps with international students all without leaving Fort Worth. 
3. Dallas Holocaust Museum Center - This incredible museum offers a great experience for your students and can also connect you with a Holocaust survivor who will speak to groups.
4. Amon Carter Museum of American Art - The Amon Carter may be a museum for American art, but it makes connections to broader global issues and topics. I have attended a workshop there and was impressed by the quality offered. 
5. Fort Worth Science and History Museum - Besides being a great museum, it offers great IMAX films and culture trunks that you can check out for up to two weeks.