RESEARCH QUESTION How will my perception or substance of teaching change as a result of my global experience?
GUIDING QUESTIONS Why is it important for global issues to be taught in the elementary classroom? What are some resources that can be used to effectively teach global issues?
Summary of Findings
The guiding question that I chose to focus on during my field experience was “How will my perception or substance of teaching change as a result of my global experience?” Initially, I believed my research question as difficult to answer due to the focus of our assignment. My experience has been in elementary Science; however, the emphasis for the field experience was English as a secondary language. It also happened to be my least “favorite” subject to teach. Of course I was a little stumped at first on how I was going to successfully bring a meaningful contribution to the groups that we were interacting with on the the daily basis. My concerns were short-lived as I was welcomed with open arms, hearts, and minds from the Agadir community. This acceptance also impacted the relevance and importance of successfully answering the research question that I initially found as a difficult barrier to bring back to my classroom.
My findings led me to the conclusion of how important global issues are in delivering lessons to not only an elementary audience, but to those students beyond as well. After visiting Aiyal Souls elementary school, I was astonished at the number of languages that were mastered a such a young age. The school offered French, Arabic, and English. We were also greeted with a showcase of customs related to their culture, including food, performances, and gifts. We also received the same responses while visiting the other grade levels. The students and staff were very warm and inviting but also took pride in their culture and customs as they taught us about their daily lifestyle. However, they were open and eager to learn about our culture and views as well. This lended me the opportunity to validate the belief that other countries like Morocco really want to understand us and collaborate with us to provide recommendations and solutions to shared global issues. Hence the importance of my research question. Bringing cultural diversity into the classroom at the elementary level will spark the interest to a much needed collaboration between individuals of different customs and beliefs. As students graduate and branch out into society, skills for addressing diversity will be needed in order to be fully successful. Therefore, a teacher’s role is to integrate global issues in their lessons. This can occur by utilizing resources such as people- through discussions of experiences, heirlooms- personal items that carry a specific meaning, and food or cuisine. Lastly, people can be utilized through via classroom partnerships and the usage of technological exchange such as Skype, Instagram, or other videoconferencing platforms. Students are able to appreciate the cultures of others through mutual contact, dialogue, and exchanges. This is why it is important for global issues to be taught in the elementary classroom.