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Coaching students how to give more descriptive feedback to their peers.

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Austin's Butterfly: Models, Critique, and Descriptive Feedback

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World's Largest Lesson - Just a Kid | Global Goals

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32 Young Activists Who Are Changing the World

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32 Young Activists Who Are Changing the World

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You would be forgiven for thinking we live inside a huge, literal steaming pile of garbage. The American political landscape continues to grow increasingly frightening each day, as the world is forced to respond to an ever-increasing series of threats. From raging wildfires on the California coast to Europe recording its worst flooding in decades, environmental crises continue to rampage across the globe. And with police brutality and systemic racism across smultiple communities adding to this chaotic climate, times are extremely tough. So it would be easy to resign yourself to these discouraging realities, especially if you're young. After all, young people are made fun of for every aspect of how we live. How could anyone really take us seriously if we tried to stand up for what we believe in?

But today's young people are no longer taking the guff from anyone-let alone the dinosaurs responsible for how they are living. While those dumpster fires rage on, the indomitable spirit of Gen-Z and younger millennials have made everyone take these matters seriously. Complex is excited to highlight these young voices who are advocating, fighting, and actively taking on the powers that be to stand up for what we all should believe in.

All it takes is one idea and the right mix of determination and willpower to effect change at the local level. Start with one thing you're passionate about then find small, local ways to organize and find solutions to the problem. That's what the 32 people on this list did-some starting at 6 years old. They're here to prove that no matter the obstacle, and no matter your age, you can work hard to leave behind a world that is just a little better than when you found it.

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32 Young Activists Who Are Changing the World

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These are the teens and young adult activists, aged 6 through 22, raising awareness and fighting gun violence, police brutality, immigration reform, and more.

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Kid Activists Who Are Changing the World

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Kid Activists Who Are Changing the World

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One of the most fascinating things about working on KidsPost is learning about kids who use their time and talents to help others. We've written about kids who are famous for their efforts - yes, a certain teen climate activist comes to mind - but we've profiled many more who become leaders in their schools or their communities. They have fostered abandoned kittens, collected eyeglasses for those who can't afford them and created artwork for the apartments of people moving out of homelessness. And they have raised awareness of countless issues, including hunger, gun violence and bullying.

To mark 20 years of KidsPost, we wanted to highlight 20 kids and teens from around the world who have noticed problems in their communities or countries and are working to solve them. We then realized that 20 is a lot to read in one sitting, so we have profiled 12 here. We would like you to help us decide on eight more to feature through the rest of this year. (Send your suggestions to kidspost@washpost.com with the subject heading "kid activist.") We hope these stories inspire you to figure out what your community needs and use your considerable energy and creativity to bring about change.
- Christina Barron, KidsPost editor
Shana Grant, 17, Washington, D.C.

Cause: Gun control and nonviolence

There were 116 homicides in the nation's capital in 2017. It took just one to change Shana Grant's life.

"I had always been interested in social justice and how I could improve my community," the 17-year-old Washington native said. "But I wasn't sure how to go about it."

After September 20, 2017, she knew. That was the night that her 16-year-old friend, Zaire Kelly, was shot to death outside his home by a teenager trying to rob him.

Zaire was the first person Shana knew personally who had died from gun violence. And she wanted him to be the last. Police statistics showed that the percentage of gun-related deaths in the city was rising.

"It was time for it to be enough," Shana said.

Believing strongly that youths can make a difference, she engaged in anti-violence activism. She was on Pennsylvania Avenue a few months later for the student-led March for Our Lives demonstration supporting gun-control measures. Other rallies and meetings followed. Last year, she was elected a D.C. youth "mayor" through a city-run program that develops future leaders.

"I have a unique perspective as an African American girl living in Ward 8 and seeing how gun violence and poverty affect families in my community," Shana said.

Now she is working on a proposal to help students who are at risk of turning to a life of crime. She calls it "preventing the school-to-prison pipeline."

At youth government meetings and town hall gatherings, she urges nonviolent solutions to problems. She calls it "practicing peace."

Here are some of her suggestions for young people feeling angry or stressed: Breathe deeply, write down your feelings, talk to someone, try to see the other person's point of view, and look for activities you enjoy, such as listening to music.

Shana expects to graduate in May from BASIS DC charter school. She wants to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fall and plans to become a doctor. She is not planning on giving up her activism, though.

"Things need to be changed," she said. "I want to be part of that change."
- Marylou Tousignant
Kauã Rodolfo, 11, Brazil

Cause: Raising environmental awareness

One natural disaster after another had sent Brazil reeling. There had been a massive mudslide in the country's southeast, then a mysterious oil spill along the northeastern shore, and finally the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

That was when Kauã Rodolfo, 11, decided it was time to help. The way he sees it, the planet is in big trouble - and it's up to kids to solve it. So he started planting trees in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, one after another.

"It's important to save the planet," Kauã said, "and it's important to protect the trees, because they make us better."

Kauã is an ambassador of an organization called Plant-for-the-Planet. Conceived in 2007 by a 9-year-old German named Felix Finkbeiner, it is an international awareness campaign led by children that began with an ambitious goal: plant 1 million trees. But soon, what began as the one tree Felix planted at his school had turned into several thousands, then several hundreds of thousands, then, within a few years, 1 million.

But the campaign - and the mission - didn't stop there. It has sprouted in dozens of countries across the world. Last autumn, it reached Kauã's classroom. He immediately fell in love with the idea of planting trees and raising awareness about the environment, so he signed up for a day-long training course to become an ambassador of Plant-for-the- Planet.

What's happening in the environment is unpredictable. It's a scary time to be a kid. But Kauã doesn't think it has to be.

The planet will find a way if people can learn to work together, he says. It is a value he is trying to instill by making frequent environmental presentations and planting trees.

"I'm not scared of the future of the planet, because I'm going to help the planet," he said. "I'm going to do this. I'm going to go forward with this project. You don't have to be scared."

He's already planted seven trees. And he's excited to plant more.

"I don't know why I love nature, but if I stopped planting trees, I would be sad," he said.
- Terrence McCoy
Maimouna Ndiaye, 14, Mali

Cause: Get more girls involved in programming

The youngest kid on Mali's national robotics team wants to build the perfect assistant.

"Artificial intelligence that is extremely precise," Maimouna Ndiaye said, "for someone who is very busy."

Like her - the teenager in the West African country's bustling capital, Bamako, spends most afternoons behind a Dell laptop, coding away while pop stars such as Shawn Mendes croon through her speakers.

Maimouna, 14, is one of two girls on her high school's elite programming squad, balancing a full load of schoolwork on top of technology competitions across Africa. They create, among other projects, applications that translate Mali's mother tongue, Bambara, into French and English.

"She is a master," said her coach, Malick Traore, the technical manager at RobotsMali - and very unusual in a conservative region where some frown upon women who choose to work.

"That mentality is old-fashioned," said Maimouna, a numbers lover who applied for her first computer camp at age 9. A group of engineers had visited her school, she said, inspiring her to take the leap.

Today she sees robotics as the future - a path to speed up development in a nation where the average worker earns just more than $2,100 a year - and nudges other girls in town to pursue their machine dreams.

The first step, she tells them, is shushing the internal voice that says, "You can't do it."

"You're capable," she gushes in these pep talks. "We need everyone to get involved and build a better world."

Plus, she said, it's fun.

Maimouna has designed a remote-controlled robot on wheels that flashes a rainbow of colors. She hopes to construct something more humanlike as technology advances, an android that handles everyone's chores.

For now, she's busy studying artificial intelligence - the focus of her next competition this summer in Rwanda.
- Danielle Paquette
William Winslow, 14, North Carolina

Cause: Ending childhood hunger

William Winslow could spend the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend playing basketball in the driveway at his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Instead, the founder of the Food Drive Kids sits at the kitchen table with his 10-year-old brother, Alexander, and their parents to plan his nonprofit's annual food drive.

"I will do whatever it takes to end childhood hunger," he said.

William was in the first grade when he first learned that as many as 1 in 5 kids in his state were at risk for hunger - including some of his classmates.

"That came as a shock," he said. "I thought everyone had the same life as me. It was a rude awakening to the real world."

He persuaded his mom to drive him to a local Food Lion. There, he talked shoppers into buying food - 1,400 pounds worth - to send home in backpacks with kids during spring break.

Seven years later, he's collected more than 55,000 pounds of food, raised $63,000 and been recognized as a Prudential Spirit of Community honoree.

He's expanded his mission, too. With Alexander working as head of advertising, Food Drive Kids also provides emergency food relief to the community, has helped build four school gardens to give kids access to healthy food and has set up two Little Food Pantries, which the brothers stock with food and toiletries each Friday.

"I didn't imagine that William would be 14 and still doing this, but the older he gets, the more passionate he is," his mom, Blythe Clifford, said.

Many children, not just William and Alexander, still help make Food Drive Kids' food drive a success. More than 100 kids from the boys' school and Scout groups turn out in April to hand out food lists to shoppers, collect purchased boxed and canned items and load them into trucks.

Said William: "We prefer kid [volunteers] over adults because they don't think something is impossible. They just want to do it, and it ends up being possible."
- Lela Nargi
Haaziq Kazi, 13, India

Cause: Ocean trash

It was the sight of a dead whale in a National Geographic documentary that moved Haaziq Kazi to act. Washed ashore, the whale had 37 pounds of plastic inside its bloated stomach.

"Two things stuck to me: The first was the magnitude of the problem, and the second was the impact it has on life," he said.

So when the time came for a school project, when students had to come up with solutions to a problem they felt strongly about, Haaziq chose to work on ocean trash.

"There are about 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean," he said. "This would be enough to stack two-liter plastic bottles from here to the moon and back - twice."

Haaziq, then 9 years old, attempted to create a device that could help clean the oceans. Finished in three years, the first concept design of the device - called ERVIS - is a ship with saucers and chambers. While saucers would float on the surface of the ocean, creating a whirlpool to suck the waste inside, the chamber compartments would store the waste. The ship would then separate the waste into large, medium, small and plastic particle categories. The waste would be forwarded for recycling on land. It would be powered by renewable energy and have a mechanism to filter out marine life that may get pulled inside.

He has worked with a product designer to make a 3-D printed model, and he intends "to work on a real-life model in the next stage," said Haaziq, who is collaborating with scientists and engineers. "This is literally a moonshot project with huge funding requirements."

While the ship is the long-term goal, he has not stopped his fight against plastic. Six months ago, he set up the ERVIS Foundation to bring a "generational change," by educating kids about the effects of plastic usage. The foundation has created an app to track daily consumption of plastic, provide tips on how to cut down plastic use and sell zero-waste products.

"You are never too young to make a difference," says the eighth-grader from the city of Pune in western India. Haaziq was invited to New York in 2017 for a Ted-Ed talk about his project. In his free time, he likes having fun with Nintendo video games and playing the piano.

"When I grow up, I see myself as problem solver," said Haaziq, who admires technology entrepreneur Elon Musk. "He challenged the status quo and made what people perceive as impossible possible, and that's what I want to do."
- Niha Masih
Genesis Butler, 13, California

Cause: Animal rights and environmental protection

Genesis Butler has three dogs and loves all animals. Just not on her dinner plate.

When she found out where her favorite meal - chicken nuggets - came from, she became a vegetarian, someone who doesn't eat meat. She was 3 years old.

At age 6, she went further, going vegan. A vegan doesn't eat any animal products, including eggs and dairy products.

Then she decided to persuade her family and friends to join her.

"It's not as hard as you think," said Genesis, now 13. Her parents and three younger siblings became vegan, although Genesis likes to tell how she once caught her mom hiding in a closet with a chocolate bar.

Genesis's passion led her to start the nonprofit GenesisForAnimals.org to help animal shelters and sanctuaries. She began with $5,000 saved from talks she gives. One talk, posted online in 2017, has been viewed by thousands of people. Her delivery includes rattling off statistics faster than the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg throws fastballs.

When she was 8, she went before the city council in Long Beach, California, where she lives, to support "Meatless Mondays." The advisory measure, which recommends that people eat more plant-based food, passed. A TV reporter called Genesis "the most effective speaker" there.

Last year, she wrote to Pope Francis, asking him to give up meat for Lent. A spokesman replied, saying the pope is proud of her.

On the state level, Genesis worked to promote the passage of laws requiring prisons and nursing homes to offer vegan meals, and limiting the sale of cosmetic products that use animal testing.

More recently, she expanded her activism to include protecting the environment, saying that raising animals for food is "the primary cause" of pollution, loss of biodiversity and water shortages.

"If people can change the way they eat, it will have an immediate impact on the planet," she said.

For her efforts, Genesis was chosen for the 2020 "Marvel Hero Project" about "real kids making a real difference." She's the star of her own mini-comic book and will appear in a Disney video.

But she doesn't think of herself as a hero, just an ordinary kid who enjoys painting, writing and sleepovers with friends.

"And I still love chicken nuggets," she said, "but now they are vegan."
- Marylou Tousignant
Naudia Greenawalt, 10, and Linkin Eger, 10, Wisconsin

Cause: Raising awareness about childhood cancer

When Naudia Greenawalt's friend Linkin Eger was facing cancer, Naudia had a lot of questions. What kind of medicine would Linkin take? Was it possible to get rid of the cancer? Would her friend still be the same goofy, fun-loving Linkin?

Linkin was 2 years old when doctors found his brain tumor. Surgeons removed most of it. But a few years later, the tumor came back, and Linkin needed chemotherapy - medication that kills cancer cells.

Naudia, who attends school with Linkin in West Allis, Wisconsin, wanted to understand what her friend was going through - not only the medical parts, but also what it was like to be a regular kid dealing with a serious illness. She decided to turn Linkin's story into a book, sell it and donate the profits to Linkin's family. "I was trying to create awareness about childhood cancer," said Naudia, 10.

Before writing the book, Naudia joined Linkin at hospital appointments, took pictures and interviewed his family and medical team. In 2017, "My Friend Linkin" was published.

"I thought it was awesome," said Linkin, now 10. The book sold 500 copies and became the subject of an Emmy-nominated documentary produced by Milwaukee PBS.

In the book, Naudia describes what it was like to see Linkin go through chemotherapy. "To be honest, it was a little bit scary, but once I got used to everything, I wasn't scared anymore."

Linkin is done with treatment now, and he's stable. He and Naudia are continuing to promote childhood cancer awareness by interviewing other young patients and writing their stories.

"They are a great team," said Kelly Eger, Linkin's mom. "Linkin brings the experience, and Naudia brings the questions."

Last year, Linkin finished his first book, "My Friend Mackenzie," about an 8-year-old girl with brain cancer. "If Mackenzie had a superhero power, it would be to help people beat cancer. I wish I had that super power too," Linkin wrote.

In the future, Naudia wants to become a primatologist like Jane Goodall and study monkeys. Linkin wants to be a brain surgeon.

But first, they'll write more books.
- Gina Rich
Sidney Keys III, 14, Missouri

Cause: Improving literacy among boys

From a young age, Sidney Keys III loved to read. But finding characters he could relate to was a challenge, because most of the books at his school library featured white protagonists. "I'd never been exposed to African American literature in a fun way," Sidney said.

That changed when Sidney's mother, Winnie Caldwell, took him to EyeSeeMe, an African American children's bookstore in University City, Missouri. Sidney, then 10 years old, picked up "Danny Dollar Millionaire Extraordinaire: The Lemonade Escapade," by Ty Allan Jackson. "I couldn't put that book down, because it was about a black boy who looked like me," said Sidney, now 14.

Sidney wanted his peers to experience the same excitement in finding characters that resonated with them. In 2016, he created Books n Bros, a reading club for boys ages 7 to 13. The club, which now has 100 members, focuses on African American literature and meets each month to discuss a book; past topics have included history, sci-fi and fantasy genres.

Meetups take place in the Saint Louis area, but out-of-town "bros" can participate by Skype. Caldwell, who manages the club's business and communications, said Books n Bros wants to eventually offer the program in schools.

The club is open to boys of all races and backgrounds and has an "Adopt a Bro" option enabling donors to sponsor memberships, which cost $25 a month.

People assume boys don't enjoy reading, Sidney said. But he hasn't found that to be true.

"Now that kids are having fun while reading, boys don't want to leave the meetups," he said.

"Marvel's Hero Project," a new Disney Plus series recognizing kids who are making a positive impact, profiled Sidney in a documentary and comic book titled "The Spectacular Sidney." The video premiered in January.

Getting to be in the documentary was "definitely pretty awesome," Sidney said. But his favorite part of the Books n Bros experience has been helping boys like him improve their literacy skills and enjoy themselves at the same time.

"It really warms my heart knowing they're having fun," he said.
- Gina Rich
Milena Radoytseva, 16, Bulgaria

Cause: Encouraging better behavior online

Have you ever been a bully? Or not stopped a bully when you had the chance? Those are important questions, says Milena Radoytseva, who is on the youth panel of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre (SafeNet). She remembers when she was in a group chat a few years ago, and another kid became the target of mean attacks.

"It started as a joke," she said, so she didn't do anything about it. "I sat and watched."

"We won't let that happen again," declared Milena, who helped develop the youth panel's new campaign to raise awareness about online aggression. The approach isn't to criticize kids, but to educate them about how to change their perspective - and hopefully their behavior. For example, they made a video featuring an angry boy furiously typing messages on his computer. When he sees that his little sister's drawings show him as a superhero, he realizes he hasn't been acting like one.

"The Internet will never be this totally happy place with rainbows," she said. But the experience can be improved by being thoughtful and careful, added Milena, who purposely keeps her social media profiles private.

Being part of a team that encourages kids to speak out is new for Milena. She didn't know that opportunities like this existed a year ago. But when she entered (and lost) an essay competition, she wound up at an event promoting youth participation. That's how she found SafeNet, and she has since joined other groups, including the youth network Megaphone and the Eurochild Children's Council. Milena jokes she had to make her parents a chart so they could understand all of her activities.

At a recent children's rights event in Brussels, Belgium, Milena took the microphone and introduced herself - unexpectedly in French, the native language of most of the audience.

"She took the moment and put everyone at ease," said Alice Hagger-Vaughan, Eurochild's child participation and policy officer.

Milena's best languages (other than her native Bulgarian) are English and German, and she hopes that communication plays a big part in her future. When she was younger, she pretended to host a talk show in her living room. Her goal now isn't so different: "I want to speak about things that need to be spoken about."
- Vicky Hallett
Demetri Sedita, 16, Florida

Cause: Protecting Tampa Bay waterways

Each January, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival attracts crowds to Tampa, Florida. They line Seddon Channel to watch a pirate ship pretend to attack the city. They cheer and toss thousands of glittery bead necklaces.

Demetri Sedita knows the dark side of these festivities. Many beads wind up in the city's waterways, where they're eaten by marine animals or break down into tiny bits of toxic plastic that "work their way up the food chain," said Demetri, a high school sophomore. They pose a threat to the area's shorebirds, manatees, dolphins, stingrays, common fish such as sheepshead and "to all levels of the ecosystem."

He and his 14-year-old brother, Ethan, founded Green Gasparilla in 2015 to try to stop the problem. They organize post-festival bead cleanups - with parents and friends using weighted hooks to snag the strands, or with volunteers in scuba gear. More critically, they work to keep beads from getting into the water to begin with.

The month before the parade, Demetri and Ethan do media interviews to spread the word that "tossing beads is simply littering," Demetri said. For 2020, the boys also enlisted the help of Tampa's mayor, Jane Castor, and appeared with her as she announced her Bead-Free Bay initiative.

"Our goal is to let the public know that future generations won't be able to enjoy the waterways because of their reckless practices," Demetri said.

He was frustrated to see that, despite his efforts, most people continued to throw beads this year. But he's determined to figure out a way to make Green Gasparilla's message and mission more effective.

Last August, Demetri was named a "youth ambassador" by the ocean conservation group, EarthEcho International. Speaking with adult mentors and activist peers has given him ideas for improvement. One is drafting sample anti-bead legislation to present to Tampa's lawmakers.

Exploring with his underwater drone is a favorite activity - Demetri once spotted a Civil War shipwreck in the Hillsborough River. It's also part of his advocacy strategy.

"When I showed the mayor underwater footage of all the beads, she was shocked," he said.

If he can similarly shock his fellow Floridians, they might take bigger, better action in time for next year's festival.
- Lela Nargi
Alice Imbastari, 10, Italy

Cause: Picking up trash

Wiggling her toes in the sand, Alice Imbastari surveys a stretch of Mediterranean coastline near her home south of Rome. But she's not looking at the waves or even the paraglider soaring above. She's searching for trash. "See that?" she shouts, and rushes to grab a ripped chip bag.

In minutes, she fills up a sack with all sorts of things that shouldn't be here - deflated balloons, hot dog wrappers, a hair comb. They range in size from a chunk of plastic foam to a tiny dot of plastic. "Birds think they're eggs and eat them," said Alice, who dreams of being a vet when she grows up.

Alice has learned a lot about litter in the past year since she spoke in Rome in front of a crowd of thousands gathered for the first Global Climate Strike for Future. "I counted to 100, and then I gave up," she said of the crowd.

Although giving that speech - and others that have followed - was scary, Alice is more terrified for the environment. That's why she begged her parents to let her protest just like her role model, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage activist who has attracted worldwide attention with her campaign to fight climate change.

Because they wouldn't let her skip classes every Friday, Alice came up with another plan. "From school, I looked out the window and I could see the sea," she said. So she got trash bags, rubber gloves and a pair of chimney tongs, and started doing weekly beach cleanups. She tries to reuse whatever possible, often to make crafts.

"When she was smaller, we used to take shells. Now we take plastic," said her mother, Paola Bernasconi, who has noticed other changes, too. For snacks, Alice prefers cut-up veggies instead of sweets wrapped in packaging. For her 10th birthday last May, she asked to plant fruit trees.

It's often lonely on the beach - other kids from school haven't been interested in helping, and some even bullied her about her activism. So she recently switched schools. But she won't stop cleaning.

"I go home, and there's plastic again the next day," Alice said. "It keeps coming."
- Vicky Hallett Illustrations by Natalya Balnova for The Washington Post. Art direction by Alla Dreyvitser. Design by Victoria Adams Fogg.

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12 kids who are changing their communities and our world

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12 young people from around the world are tackling problems in their communities and the world.

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From March for Our Lives to the Global Climate Strike, young changemakers are leading some of today's biggest social movements in the United States. These young changemakers exemplify the idea that young people do not need permission to change their world.

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Stories from North America | Ashoka | Everyone a Changemaker

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From March for Our Lives to the Global Climate Strike, young changemakers are leading some of today's biggest social movements in the United States. These young changemakers exemplify the idea that young people do not need permission to change their world.

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Guiding Students to See Themselves as Changemakers

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Guiding Students to See Themselves as Changemakers

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Students may see ways they can effect change if they break down big issues like climate change into smaller, more accessible challenges.

Do students feel confident in their own power and potential to act-to make change? To find the answer, I run an activity that involves passing sticky notes around and asking every student to come up with their own definition of a changemaker. I suggest they go beyond "someone who makes change." Most will write that a changemaker is someone who makes a difference.

After they complete the definition, I ask them if they feel like a changemaker-if they embody the definition they just wrote. Most students will write, "No."

This trend goes far beyond my own experience. When facilitating a changemaker workshop with teachers from across the nation through First Book and Ashoka's Time for Change initiative, I asked educators to talk to their students about changemaking and run a similar exercise. The result: Many students didn't feel they had much power. This led us all to wonder, how do we help our students understand their own worth and importance in the world? As educators, how do we support our students to feel like changemakers?

Helping Students to See the Changemaker in Them

We all want our students to understand that they each matter and that their actions matter. Too often, it can be a struggle to help students approach problems or understand the part they might play in developing solutions. It's essential to provide a lens for students, not only on how they view problems, but also on their ability to create positive change. Students might fail to see the opportunity that each problem creates or how they might use their agency to do good. That's where we can help to open the doors on the power they each have to act as changemakers.

Talk to your students about changemaking: This is an opportunity to gauge how students feel about themselves and starts an important dialogue as to how students see their role in the world and their capacity to solve problems. How do they define changemaking? Do they feel like a changemaker? Why or why not? They may lack confidence or a sense of self-worth about the impact they have the potential to make. Once they realize their power to take charge, that agency should stay with them.

Make problems approachable by using questions to inspire action: Many problems that impact our world are wicked problems. There's no clear problem definition and no single solution that can solve the problem. All of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice-have no silver bullet solutions. Too often, because of the complexity of these issues, students disengage. We need to reframe the issues so they understand that opportunities abound-and we each can do something, anything, to make the world better. We're not looking for a "right" answer but rather the collective ingenuity within us all to do something.

Challenging students to see the opportunity-the ways in which we can act-is a great way to shift a seemingly negative issue into something more constructive. For instance, the more students learn about poverty, the more they'll see the relevance of policy and business practices. These potential solutions might feel out of their control, so helping students engage by giving problems a local context can help them feel more tangible, something that students can realistically act on (for instance, starting a local food pantry). This lets students shift their thinking and see the benefit of solving the problem and the value of local solutions contributing toward the greater whole.

In the classroom, you can try flipping a challenge into an opportunity using the following activity.

Step 1: Writing a Challenge Question
How to write a challenge question:
Instead of telling students about a problem, have them investigate it for themselves using a challenge question. This is a version of Mad Libs from The Startup Teacher Playbook. You can use this to help students think about what they're trying to do by focusing on impact, action, and users. Use the ideas below to create your own, or have students create one for themselves.

Fill in the following blanks-it's OK to be general:

Action = A verb (or verb phrase) describing how you will work on the problem.

User = Who are you designing for; who's the primary beneficiary of your work? For example, it could be: students, peers, parents/guardians, community, animals, the environment.

Impact = The goal of your action. Having a measurable outcome will help you assess whether or not your approach had the desired impact.

How might I/we ___ (action) + ___ (user) + ___ (impact)?

Example: How might we take climate action (action) as a school community (user) so that we contribute toward a better world (impact)?

Step 2: Investigating the Question

After posing a challenge question or after students have created their own, have them further investigate the question by exploring each of the following pieces. This brainstorming activity helps them structure their ideas.

Impact. This is a chance for students to think about their end goals or the outcomes they want to achieve. For instance, how does mitigating climate change contribute toward a better world? What are the benefits? (This isn't an easy assignment for students, as they're not used to focusing on the positive in finding solutions.)

User. Have students dig deeper into the audience or beneficiary (for example, some students might want to help animals or the planet). What are their needs? How will students work with them?

Mindset: How might you change how people think?

Behavior: How might you change how people act?

Innovation: What could you create to solve the problem?

Systems: How could we do things differently as a society?

Action. Have students make their ideas more tangible. What does it look like to take action? What could they do? To help students brainstorm, have them think about the following:

Step 3: Synthesizing

When finished, have students synthesize their ideas. Which ideas did they develop from the action piece that will best help them achieve their impact and take into account the needs of their user? Have them put the pieces together to create a solution statement-an idea they might try.

When students are presented with societal problems, they seem to internalize the negative. Take an example from sustainability: Students usually know what climate change is, they know it's bad, and they often hear that everything they do (their footprint) causes further harm. When it's presented this way, it may cause students to disengage or feel disempowered, and it may fuel anxiety or stress that spurs hopelessness or inaction. Help students recognize what's in their control.

You can ask them to focus on what they can do when approaching a problem, rather than what they can't. For instance, what if instead of asking students to always focus on their footprint (what they shouldn't do), we asked them to focus on their handprint (what they could do to make the situation better)? Having them craft a list of small actions is a great way to engage them in the problem and help them to understand their power as changemakers.

This ability to solve problems and adapt to change is empowering and lays the foundation for students to take bigger and bolder steps. It also supports their well-being (research from Ashoka has found that changemaking increases joy and purpose), as students feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment through the actions they take.

Students should leave school knowing that they can use their power to do something to make the world better. Helping them to be comfortable approaching problems, learn how to flip problems into possibilities, and use their agency to do good-no matter how small the step-contributes to their ability to act as changemakers.

Solving problems isn't just about doing good. Yes, we want a better world, but through this ingenuity students will learn how to craft the kind of world they want to live in. Their ideas will spark new jobs, new innovations, new policies, and new ways of doing things. It's through changemaking, through uncovering the opportunities that lie within each challenge, that students will be able to embrace the world. We may not know what the future holds, but helping them to understand their power and take on challenges will certainly enable them to be ready for it.

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Guiding Students to See Themselves as Changemakers

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Students may see ways they can effect change if they break down big issues like climate change into smaller, more accessible challenges.

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Why Difference Making is the New Superpower

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Why Difference Making is the New Superpower

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Jerome Foster II is the founder and Executive Director of One Million of Us, a campaign to mobilize one million young people to vote in the 2020 election. He spent the last 60 weeks campaigning for climate justice at the White House. "I am advocating for the Climate Change Education Act to pass both the house and the senate," said Foster (center in the featured image).

He interned with Congressman John Lewis. He participated in protests with Jane Fonda and is a high school senior at Washington Leadership Academy. "He's an example of what can happen when we empower kids to make a difference," said WLA Executive Director Stacy Kane.

A daily conversation with an advisory invites WLA students to develop a sense of identity and direction. As freshmen, they ask, "Who am I?" Sophomores dive into college and career options. Juniors explore how they can blend personal and professional interests.

WLA students learn how they can make an impact on the world. They learn to practice social justice. They have a say in the operation of the school. They build campaigns. And they develop leadership skills by serving in internships as juniors.

There are five reasons we need more schools that equip and launch young people into difference-making.

New priorities for a new era. We're living through a black swan event, an unpredicted shock of global and historic proportions. The problem is that these unprecedented events are occurring regularly. Man-made systems are interacting with the natural world in ways that make the unimaginable a monthly occurrence. Kay and King called it Radical Uncertainty "for which historical data provide no useful guidance to future outcomes."

Young people are the first generation to be experiencing the impact of dramatic climate change-terrible storms, violent fires, and rising sea levels-and perhaps the last generation with a chance to effect a sustainable change.

We're living on a set of exponential curves -technology, climate, and pandemic-where the future is coming at us faster than ever. Expecting continued waves of novelty and complexity, Seth Godin has wisely said that young people need to learn two things-leadership and solving interesting problems.

An employer survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed demand for leadership, problem-solving, communication and a big uptick in initiative taking.

Difference making is the new superpower. It's the agency and awareness to take action when and where needed. It's the entrepreneurial mindset to spot an opportunity and the design thinking to deliver creative solutions for a community.

The new mutuality. The global pandemic, the mounting climate crisis, and the benefits and threats that come with the rise of artificial intelligence make it clear-we're all in this together.

A Stanford showed that many teens do not exhibit beyond-the-self intentions. However, this appears to be a matter of exposure. "When adolescents can find clubs or structured school activities that connect with their broader interests, they are likely to become more personally motivated and engaged in those activities. If we encourage teens to pursuing their beyond-the-self interests, they are also more likely to have a stronger sense of purpose in the world."

Given an opportunity to engage and reflect, many young people embrace the new mutuality and are eager to contribute to the common good. At schools like in Boise, "learning has become relevant to students. As agents of their own story, students focus on what is important to them while making meaning out of their learning each day," said Chad Carlson, the Director of Research and Design.

Over 400 projects were completed by the last cohort at One Stone (lab school and after school programs). Many of them were in service to the community, including parent and teen discussions about alcohol abuse; teaching middle school girls about healthy relationships and behaviors; a campaign to reduce waste from single-use cups; a campaign to fight drinking and driving on graduation night, and taking refugees on outdoor adventures.

Everyone can make a difference. Schools alive with possibility introduce learners to the world and help them identify and develop passion and purpose. At Cajon Valley, elementary and middle school students reflect on strengths, interests, and values after each of 54 career exploration units.

In our research, we spotted two dozen high schools that put difference-making at the heart of the agenda. They determined that making a difference today is not only super motivating, but it is also the best preparation for tomorrow.

The purpose of Crosstown High in Memphis is: "To prepare students to understand and pursue solutions to the challenges faced by our city and world, and to give students the confidence to be agents of positive change now and in the future."

Nevermore important, never easier. It has never been easier for high school students to make a world of difference-right now, right there they are. Greta Thunberg showed us how social media can amplify a teenager's voice. Coding tools make it possible to build a mobile application. Commerce platforms make it easy to start a business. Open machine learning tools make it possible to bring big data solutions to neighborhood problems. And access to philanthropic and venture funding has never been more widespread.

With pressing challenges, it makes sense to engage youth in real problems that are important to them and their community. While making a difference, young people are building leadership and problem-solving skills that will serve them for a lifetime. They just need a little encouragement, a little room, and a little support.

For more see:
Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly This blog was previously posted on Forbes. .

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Why Difference Making is the New Superpower

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By: Tom Vander Ark. Difference making can be the new superpower when we empower kids to make their own impact on the world.

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Youth Changemakers: Present Not Future Leaders | Pooja Chandrashekar | TEDxHerndon

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My Google site created as part of my Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms experience contains more information about what it means to teach for global competency, resources, examples of PBL and global competency in my teaching, and my travel blog from my field experience in Colombia.

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What is Global Education? Visit this page to learn more about what it means to be globally competent, and why this is important for our students.

How can I teach global competency? Visit this page to access various instructional resources.

Where am I going? Visit this page to read more about my travels.

The author of this publication/web site is/was a participant in Fulbright Teacher Exchanges, programs of the United States Department of State, administered by IREX. The views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program, or IREX.

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Lesson Plans from Global Schools Program

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Lesson Plans from Global Schools Program

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Free download in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, French, Bengali, Greek, Georgian, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Kiswahili, and Hindi!

Get the latest info on our professional development sessions, events, and opportunities to engage with us.

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Free download in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, French, Bengali, Greek, Georgian, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Kiswahili, and Hindi! Get the latest info on our professional development sessions, events, and opportunities to engage with us.

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Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains the importance of understanding multiple perspectives.

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story | TED

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Framework for Developing Global and Cultural Competencies

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Framework for Developing Global and Cultural Competencies

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The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) International Strategy lays out its commitment to prepare all U.S. students to succeed globally through international education and engagement. Today, more than ever, our students need to be equipped with the critical thinking, communications, socio-emotional and language skills to work collaboratively with their counterparts in the United States and all over the world. Understanding and appreciating other parts of the world, different religions, cultures, and points of view are essential elements of global and cultural competence.
The Framework
ED's Framework for Developing Global and Cultural Competencies to Advance Equity, Excellence and Economic Competitiveness is the product of a working group with representatives from across ED and discussions with the education community. This work builds on existing research and provides a framework for the development of global and cultural competencies beginning in early childhood through postsecondary education and bases it on a foundation of discipline-specific knowledge. It is designed as a guide to consider how these competencies are developed over time and at various stages of education.

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The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) International Strategy lays out its commitment to prepare all U.S. students to succeed globally through international education and engagement. Today, more than ever, our students need to be equipped with the critical thinking, communications, socio-emotional and language skills to work collaboratively with their counterparts in the United States and all over the world.

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Teaching for Global Competency in a Rapidly Changing World

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Teaching for Global Competency in a Rapidly Changing World

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Ebook that outlines the PISA framework for global competence.

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Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World

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This new publication sets forward the PISA framework for global competence developed by the OECD, which aligns closely with the definition developed by the Center for Global Education at Asia Society.

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Educating Our Youth to Care About Each Other and the World

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Educating Our Youth to Care About Each Other and the World

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by Andreas Schleicher
Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

In 2015, 193 countries committed to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, a shared vision of humanity that provides the missing piece of the globalisation puzzle. The extent to which that vision becomes a reality will in no small way depend on what is happening in today's classrooms. Indeed, it is educators who hold the key to ensuring that the SDGs become a real social contract with citizens.

Goal 4, which commits to quality education for all, is intentionally not limited to foundation knowledge and skills, such as literacy, mathematics and science, but emphasises learning to live together sustainably. This has inspired the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the global yardstick for success in education, to include global competence in its metrics for quality, equity and effectiveness in education. PISA will assess global competence for the first time ever in 2018.

PISA conceives of global competence as a multidimensional, lifelong learning goal. Globally competent individuals can examine local, global and intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views, interact successfully and respectfully with others, and take responsible action toward sustainability and collective well-being.

It is worth looking at these four dimensions in some more detail.

Examine issues of local, global and cultural significance. This refers to the ability to combine knowledge about the world with critical reasoning whenever people form their own opinions about a global issue. Globally competent students can draw on and combine the disciplinary knowledge and modes of thinking acquired in school to ask questions, analyse data and arguments, explain phenomena, and develop a position regarding a local, global or cultural issue. They can also access, analyse and critically evaluate messages delivered through the media, and can create new media content.

Understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others. This highlights a willingness and capacity to consider global problems multiple viewpoints. As individuals acquire knowledge about other cultures' histories, values, communication styles, beliefs and practices, they begin to recognise that their perspectives and behaviours are shaped by many influences, that they are not always fully aware of these influences, and that others have views of the world that are profoundly different from their own. Engaging with different perspectives and world views requires individuals to examine the origins and implications of others' and their own assumptions. This, in turn, implies a respect for and interest in the people who acknowledge and appreciate the qualities that distinguish individuals from one another are less likely to tolerate acts of injustice in their daily interactions. On the other hand, people who fail to develop this competence are considerably more likely to internalise stereotypes, prejudices and false heuristics about those who are "different".

Engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions across cultures. Globally competent people can adapt their behaviour and communication to interact with individuals from different cultures. They engage in respectful dialogue, want to understand the other, and try to include marginalised groups. This dimension emphasises individuals' capacity to bridge differences with others by communicating in ways that are open, appropriate and effective. "Open" interactions mean relationships in which all participants demonstrate sensitivity towards, curiosity about, and a willingness to engage with others and their perspectives. "Appropriate" refers to interactions that respect the cultural norms of both parties. In "effective" communication, all participants can make themselves understood and understand the other.

Take action for collective well-being and sustainable development. This dimension focuses on young people's role as active and responsible members of society, and refers to individuals' readiness to respond to a given local, global or intercultural issue or situation. It recognises that young people can have an impact on personal and local situations, but also on digital and global issues. Competent people create opportunities to take informed, reflective action and have their voices heard. Taking action might imply standing up for a schoolmate whose human dignity is in jeopardy, initiating a global media campaign at school, or disseminating a personal opinion about the refugee crisis through social media. Globally competent people are engaged to improve living conditions in their own communities and also to build a more just, peaceful, inclusive and environmentally sustainable world.

Naturally, global competence can be developed in many contexts; but schools can play a crucial role in this regard. Schools can provide opportunities for young people to critically examine developments that are significant to both the world at large and to their own lives. They can teach students how to use digital information and social media platforms critically and responsibly. Schools can also encourage intercultural sensitivity and respect by encouraging students to engage in experiences that nurture an appreciation for diverse peoples, languages and cultures. This central role of schools makes a strong case for PISA to examine global competence.

All of this leads to the question: How does one assess global competence? In 2018, PISA will make a first start with a two-part assessment consisting of a cognitive test and a background questionnaire. The cognitive assessment elicits students' capacities to critically examine news articles about global issues; recognise outside influences on perspectives and world views; understand how to communicate with others in intercultural contexts; and identify and compare different courses of action to address global and intercultural issues.

In the background questionnaire, students will be asked to report how familiar they are with global issues; how developed their linguistic and communication skills are; to what extent they hold certain attitudes, such as respect for people from different cultural backgrounds; and what opportunities they have at school to develop global competence. Answers to the school and teacher questionnaires will provide a comparative picture of how education systems are integrating international and intercultural perspectives throughout the curriculum and in classroom activities.

Taken together, the cognitive assessment and the background questionnaire will allow educators and policy makers to address important questions, such as:

To what degree are students able to critically examine contemporary issues of local, global and intercultural significance?

To what degree are students able to understand and appreciate multiple cultural perspectives (including their own) and manage differences and conflicts?

To what degree are students prepared to interact respectfully across cultural differences?

To what degree do students care about the world and take action to make a positive difference in other peoples' lives and safeguard the environment?

Are there inequalities in access to education for global competence between and within countries?

What approaches to multicultural and intercultural education are most commonly used in school systems around the world?

How are teachers being prepared to develop students' global competence?

This assessment offers a tangible opportunity to provide the global community with the data it needs to build more peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies through education. It will provide a comprehensive overview of education systems' efforts to create learning environments that encourage young people to understand one another and the world beyond their immediate environment, and to take action towards building cohesive and sustainable communities. It will help the many teachers who work every day to combat ignorance, prejudice and hatred, which are at the root of disengagement, discrimination and violence.

Some have already raised concerns about the feasibility of measuring students' readiness to engage with the world through an international test. International comparisons are never easy, and they are not perfect, particularly when it comes to measuring such complex competences. But without quality data, it will be difficult to initiate a fruitful, global dialogue about what works in education.

Links
Preparing our youth for an inclusive and sustainable world: The OECD PISA global competence framework

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View all posts by OECD Education and Skills Today

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Educating our youth to care about each other and the world

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by Andreas Schleicher Director, Directorate for Education and Skills In 2015, 193 countries committed to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, a shared vision of humanity that provides the missing piece of the globalisation puzzle. The extent to which that vision becomes a reality will in no small way depend...

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Projects Organized by UN Sustainable Development Goal

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Projects Organized by UN Sustainable Development Goal

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Projects Organized by UN Sustainable Development Goal

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Globally focused projects organized by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, written by career and technical education (CTE) educators and aligned to the Common Core.

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Projects and Project-Based Learning: What's the Difference?

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Projects and Project-Based Learning: What's the Difference?

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Projects and Project-Based Learning: What's The Difference?

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PBL Design Tools & Resources is a compilation of blogs, podcasts, guides, tools, and examples all designed to help you create high-quality Project Based Learning units. These resources are meant to support and guide you through the PBL process. They have been created, used, and vetted by PBL facilitators in the classroom.

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PBL Design Tools & Resources - Magnify Learning

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A compilation of blogs, podcasts, guides, tools, and examples vetted by PBL facilitators to be used as resources to help support you through the PBL process.

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Learn more about PBL. Find ideas and resources for PBL experiences for your students.

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PBL leads to deeper understanding and greater retention of content knowledge

PBLWorks offers online and in-person Project Based Learning workshops and courses for educators seeking to give their students more. Whether you are new to Project Based Learning, advancing your practice, teaching in-person, or facilitating PBL curricula online, we have a path just for you. Pick your pathway and explore how to get started today...

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Project Based Learning for all. We build the capacity of teachers and school leaders to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning.

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Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences

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Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences

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Project Based Learning Stories and Structures: Wins, Fails, and Where to Start

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Project Based Learning Stories and Structures: Wins, Fails, and Where to Start

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I'm Ryan Steuer - author and thought leader who specializes in Project Based Learning training, coaching, community, and content to help educational leaders fulfill their vision of deeper learning in their schools.

I believe that educators can change the world...no seriously!

In my classroom (and likely yours too), I saw students who did not value education because the system did not serve their family well. If we can change the view of education in a student's eyes, then they will raise their family to value education. Thus, the work we do in the classroom can have an exponential impact on changing the world.

I'm a former engineer for a Fortune 50 company, 8th grade English teacher, and missionary who shares his insights on the PBL Simplified podcast and YouTube channel.

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Project Based Learning Stories and Structures: Wins, Fails, and Where to Start

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Project Based Learning: Stories and Structures It's hard to find an educational book that relates to boots on the ground educator right away. But Project Based Learning (PBL) and student-centered learning is the direction education is going no matter your context. Project Based Learning: Stories ...

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Making Project-Based Learning More Accessible for Multilingual Students

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Making Project-Based Learning More Accessible for Multilingual Students

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Excellent article by Tan Huynh with tips for scaffolding PBL for MLs.

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English Language Learners

With appropriate scaffolding, multilingual students can successfully engage in all phases of PBL.

Project-based learning (PBL) is an engaging way to explore a topic that all students should be able to partake in, but some multilingual students don't get a chance to experience it due to their developing English proficiency. However, when PBL units are effectively structured and scaffolded, all multilingual students (MLs) can participate in them successfully.

When multilingual students don't get opportunities to participate in PBL, they miss out on authentic, content-based engagements to apply and refine their English skills. PBL provides opportunities to shift away from teaching language through memorization to creating opportunities to use English in meaningful ways. PBL makes learning meaningful for MLs because there's a real audience, and it often presents a real problem for students to contribute a solution to.

Planning PBL

Content: Animal welfare

Audience: People who buy puppies and kittens

Mode of communication: A pamphlet

Creating successful PBL units for MLs requires intentional planning and careful teaching. It's encouraged that teachers plan backward from the end product of a long-term project. Simply asking students to "work on your project" is not a sufficiently clear learning experience. A clearer process would define the content that students need to communicate, the intended audience, and the mode of communication (e.g., podcast, pamphlet, website).

Following this formula, a specific product could be one of these:

Research neutering and spaying campaigns that have worked effectively.

Compare and contrast the campaigns for things that made them effective and ineffective.

Summarize effective campaigns.

With a clear end product, teachers can then identify the various phases of the project (e.g., introduction, investigation, planning, action, reflection). For each phase, teachers can plan the written instructions for students. This includes guiding questions and prompts that provide clear instructions for each phase.

For example, if there is an investigative phase, multilingual students will be lost if the only instructions are to "go research your topic." Instead, the following prompts would provide more meaningful supports during the investigative phase of the animal campaign:

When we identify the components of each phase, we are also laying out how we can help students. If we don't clearly list our expectations, students don't know what they should do, and MLs in particular are left grasping at straws.

Teaching PBL

The scaffolding that occurs during the planning phase is the halfway point to fully supporting MLs. The rest of the journey involves carefully scaffolding the teaching of each phase of PBL. Teaching each phase entails modeling what to do at each step, providing time for students to engage in the specific tasks, and offering differentiated supports during small group instruction.

Modeling helps MLs see what they are supposed to do in each phase. For example, teachers could first show students how to use specific search terms to find sources related to effective animal neutering and spaying campaigns. Then, they could model how to scan articles for their relevance by looking at headings. Finally, they could show how to take detailed notes using headings and listing essential facts. MLs benefit from this explicit modeling because they see the steps they have to take to be successful in each phase.

As students are beginning their research, the teacher can pull a small group of students that also includes MLs to check the search terms they are using and support them as they determine which resource might provide the most beneficial information.

Once the teacher sees that this small group is successfully engaging in this step, the teacher can call in a different small group while the first one returns to work without direct teacher guidance. Small group instruction benefits MLs, as it provides for immediate feedback, quick clarifications of instruction, and differentiated guidance.

While this type of modeling and small group instruction is particularly helpful to MLs, it actually supports all students. As we conference with students during each phase of the project, we can offer differentiated and personalized suggestions. These brief meetings can immediately be applied to student work, nudging them to see connections or to think about a different approach.

Multilingual students are successful when instruction shifts from assigning tasks to meticulously teaching learning objectives. Since PBL is learning that happens over several phases, each phase builds on the next, and this type of intentional planning and clear teaching of each phase creates the conditions for MLs to be successful. When PBL is planned and instructed in this way, all multilingual students, regardless of their English proficiency, will be able to engage in this authentic form of learning.

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Making Project-Based Learning More Accessible for Multilingual Students

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PBL for multilingual students can be an effective tool for meaningful learning if the proper scaffolding is in place.

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An example PBL project and how the students used WIDA's Key Language Uses throughout the project.

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Multilingual learners in kindergarten through fifth grade at Madison School in Hinsdale, Illinois, enthusiastically participated in project-based learning (PBL). Their project was called Wristbands for Refugees. Multilingual learners at various English proficiency levels (from early to advanced) were all active participants who collaborated and made the project a success.

Project-based learning is great for multilingual learners because it allows students to simultaneously develop their English skills while making a positive difference in the world. It also allows for the authentic use of language as students develop important academic practices and skills. Wristbands for Refugees was connected to state academic content standards in language arts and social science, and centered on developing questions, planning inquiries, communicating conclusions, and taking informed action.

In Wristbands for Refugees, multilingual learners organized and administered a fundraising project to raise money for the International Rescue Committee to help Ukrainian refugees. This project raised the stature of multilingual learners in our school and elevated how cool it is to be a multilingual learner!

It was easy to use the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework to shine a light and support language development for my lesson plans for this project. The Key Language Uses (KLUs) helped give direction and focus for language objectives. Here are some ways students used KLUs throughout the project:

Students were able to use the KLU Narrate ...

... after listening to the book Where Will I Live? and discussing its main idea and comparing their lives to children in the book.

Students were able to use the KLU Explain ...

...in their project in journal writing or a language experience activity.

... to convey to students in their group why Ukrainian refugees need help. They realized it was not possible to send food or clothes, so we discussed raising money to donate to an organization that helps refugees. We decided to sell wristbands with messages of kindness that the students selected from choices.

Students were able to use the KLU Argue ...

... when they decided on a price for the wristbands. They were able to state reasons why they thought a price was good and evaluate the arguments for and against different prices. (e.g., " Nobody will buy a wristband for $1,000!" "We need to ask for money to pay for the wristbands and get enough to donate." "I would pay a dollar for a bracelet.")

... when they decided how to account for the money they raised. The students who were the bankers had to develop an organized way to count the money. They had to introduce and justify their best ideas for counting all the money. There was a lot of money to count! (e.g., Should one person count each grade level individually, or should the money be put together? Should they sort the bills and coins before counting them?). Students had to respond to other students' ideas, telling the group why the idea would work or adding their own ideas.

Students were able to use the KLU Inform when they...

... composed and read a PA announcement to tell the school about their wristband sale and the reason for it prior to the sale.

... made posters and created a take-home flyer for parents, stating the main idea of their sale while giving important details.

... made a video for classrooms about Wristbands for Refugees. They had the job of introducing the topic of refugees and explaining the needs of refugees, while providing details about their project.

Hopefully, Wristbands for Refugees will encourage elementary teachers to do PBL projects with their multilingual learners. I hope it also encourages administrators to support this type of learning in their schools. It's important to remember that school is not just about doing worksheets and taking tests - school is about being a good person and a good global citizen. The following quote demonstrates the importance of authentic language learning with multilingual learners: "Language is learned, not because we want to talk or read or write about language, but because we want to talk and read and write about the world." - Courtney Cazden

Donna DeVito teaches multilingual learners (MLs) at Madison School (Hinsdale, IL) in Community Consolidated School District 181. She is a National Board Certified teacher in English as a new language. As the daughter of first and second generation immigrants, she has always had a passion for helping MLs succeed in school and life. In fact, she taught her first ML student when she was six years old growing up in the Heart of Italy/Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. She taught English classes to an Italian boy who lived in her family's two flat using a Golden Book Encyclopedia. (No, WIDA did not exist back then!) Donna also enjoys teaching English classes to parents in her school district. When she is not teaching, she enjoys traveling and studying Spanish in countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Fernanda Marinho Kray, WIDA ELD Standards Framework program lead, and Melissa Paton, professional learning guru extraordinaire, have been hearing from a variety of educators about how they are making sense of the 2020 Edition. In response, the program established this "Voices from the Field" series to present ideas, practices and tools for educators as they explore various avenues for standards implementation.

Fernanda's dog, Biscuit

When they're not busy talking with educators and learning about great things happening in classrooms, Fernanda and Melissa have to answer to some pretty demanding (and, um, hairy) bosses.

Fernanda's dog, Biscuit, loves to follow Mama Figsy from room to room, so he's a constant work companion. When Biscuit first arrived one year ago he was very, very shy, and he's just now learning to find his voice. Go little Biscuit, go! Finding our voices is such an important part of growing up. We're looking forward to seeing your happy little tail wagging always, and your little self glowing through your new-found bark.

Melissa's dog, Moses and cat, Pablo.

Melissa's dog, Moses the Mastador, joined the WIDA family in May of 2020 at the age of eight. From day one he's taken his role as Melissa's supervisor very seriously, ensuring that he is no more than two feet from her, 24/7. (There may be some crying when he can't find her.) In his free time, Moses enjoys walking with assistant supervisor, Pablo Cat, and watching the sunset from his favorite lifeguard tower in Malibu. Moses is a masterful singer. He performs regularly during Zoom meetings and webinars.

To stay informed about WIDA ELD Standards Framework resources, tools and services and receive WIDA's quarterly Standards Newsletter, The Big Idea, use the news sign up form to manage email preferences and select WIDA ELD Standards as an interest area.

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WIDA Voices from the Field: Project-Based Learning and Wristbands for Refugees

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In this edition of the Voices from the Field article series, EL teacher Donna Devito walks us through a project-based learning activity that incorporated the WIDA ELD Standards Framework along with her state's content standards. In the project, Wristbands for Refugees, multilingual learners organized and administered a fundraising project to raise money to help Ukrainian refugees.

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PBL with English Language Learners: A Vital Need

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PBL with English Language Learners: A Vital Need

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Wonderful article from PBL Works that emphasizes the importance of PBL for multilingual learners and also gives some tips.

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Project Based Learning is for everyone. It's not meant to be used only for those who are done with their work. It's not meant to be used only for those looking to be challenged. It's meant to hoist up every student to their highest standard.

PBL is about opportunity and expectations, and to give all students access to engaging and rigorous learning we must provide scaffolds that help them achieve their best. But many teachers think that students must be able to achieve at a certain level before even attempting to jump into PBL.

English Language Learners are one of the groups that tends to be looked over when thinking about who is "ready" to do PBL. But all students are ready if armed with appropriate scaffolding by their teacher. In fact, if we look at learning in terms of growth, EL students are likely to show huge success due to how immersive PBL is in communication skills and critical thinking.

So I have to push back on this notion that a student needs a certain level of ability to be able to create, think critically, collaborate, and communicate.

All students, with guidance, can mull over, research, and respond to driving questions related to their content. Second graders of all levels can think about "What do we have to do as a school community to allow dinosaurs to enroll?" Middle schoolers reading The Giver can think about " How can we, as Givers, decide on the most important memories to bestow on the new Receivers? "

Will a student struggling with communication standards produce a perfectly fluent product? (Shrug). Maybe not. But with PBL, it's not about the outcome, it's about the journey and growth the students show while chugging along the path. Learning isn't proved only at the end of the unit; students prove their growth throughout the unit.

The Need to Have Access to Engagement and Rigor

It's frustrating to find so many EL students stuck in drill-and-kill classes simply because they lack foundational English. Their lower level of English somehow condemns them to worksheets and Level 1 thinking expectations. But research proves that what they really need is thoughtful engagement with authentic experiences in language. And PBL, as defined by the Gold Standard, is just that.

Jennifer Miyake-Trapp, an Assistant Professor of Education at Pepperdine University and Lead Faculty of their MA TESOL Program, agrees. She believes that "engagement in PBL increases opportunities for students to authentically use and apply language and literacy skills in a meaningful context, making learning relevant and fun."

Here's what is true: using PBL takes more frontloading. But that is true when teaching any underrepresented population. Nevertheless, there is a misconception that just because you are providing scaffolds means you somehow aren't teaching independent learning. This couldn't be further from the truth. Giving EL students the resources they need to access "the good stuff" means you're giving them the tools to improve and grow so that independence is more accessible later.

Therefore, PBL, with its focus on writing and speaking and thinking and cross-curricular reading, is just what these students need to improve quickly and deeply. Miyake-Trapp emphatically states that "In PBL, English Learners develop a sense of agency and take ownership of their learning... simultaneously practicing academic language and literacy skills while engaging in critical thinking."

So what are some strategies that teachers can use in the classroom to give EL students more access to PBL?

8 Strategies to Scaffold PBL for EL Students:

Provide choices of accessible research.

Don't release EL learners to research alone. Give them curated choices. Miyake-Trapp suggests, "Think podcasts, leveled books, magazine articles, online tutorials and videos, in addition to traditional classroom resources."

Make sure all directions use visuals.

Anything that is written in text can be illustrated in icons, pictures, gifs, or videos. Better yet, try Screencasting your instructions so that students can view them over and over as needed.

Frontload key vocabulary and concepts.

Give EL students a head start to help them build schema around PBL and your content area.

Create a PBL Roadmap with visuals.

Create a timeline in the classroom with a general overview of the journey to come. "Consistently refer to this poster," says Miyake-Trapp, "so learners have a sense of Where they've been, Where they are, and Where they're going."

Teach collaboration.

Knowing how to work together must be taught explicitly. Have students practice the structure of discourse so they can participate in meaningful conversation and debate. Provide sentence stems. Teach different ways to come to a consensus. Give the EL students the language to advocate for themselves with peers, and give mainstream students the language and comfort to collaborate with empathy. Note: Rotate around the groups, adding your own input and listening to how EL students are interacting, as an easy and authentic informal assessment.

Don't neglect explicit English language instruction.

PBL embraces direct instruction, small group instruction, and independent learning. That gives you ample time to pull students for extra support while other students are continuing their research or preparations. Note: Why not pull EL students to help them WITH research and preparations so they can come back to the group with something new to contribute to the whole?

Integrate students' backgrounds and experiences into the process.

Voice and choice are front-and-center in a PBL unit. Honor the connections EL students make with the content by giving them opportunities to bring their backgrounds and experiences to the product or process.

Have a PBL-focused bulletin board.

The same kind of bulletin board that helps visitors understand what's going on in a PBL-focused room can also be used to help EL learners. Keep this board updated with current instructions and exemplars using visuals, keywords, and text. But rather than take down last week's instructions in lieu of current directions, build on those earlier visuals and texts without taking them down so that those who progress slower can still have independent access to this information.

All students can benefit from these targeted tactics, and you're probably using some of them without even knowing it. So don't be nervous about engaging in PBL with your English Language Learners. The inevitable growth that you will see, and their enthusiasm for what they are learning and how they are contributing, will help you realize their strengths and potential.

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PBL with English Language Learners: A Vital Need

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A powerful argument that all students are "ready" for PBL, with 8 strategies for scaffolding projects for English Learners.

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Colorin Colorado's bank of resources about using PBL with MLs.

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Project-based learning (PBL) offers many benefits to English language learners (ELLs), including hands-on activities, peer interaction, rich language use, and a chance to explore personal interests.

ELLs may need some additional support or guidance in order to make the most of PBL, and the following resources share ideas on how to make it a successful experience for all students.

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Project-based learning (PBL) offers many benefits to English language learners (ELLs), including hands-on activities, peer interaction, rich language use, and a chance to explore personal interests. ELLs may need some additional support or guidance in order to make the most of PBL, and the following resources share ideas on how to make it a successful experience for all students.

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Includes simple protocols that can be used with students to help with perspective-building. Includes my favorite, the 3Ys.

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PZ's Thinking Routines Toolbox | Project Zero

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The Toolbox organizes the Thinking Routines into categories that describe the types of thinking the routines help to facilitate. Some routines appear in more than one category, and some routines have different versions that offer modifications for specific age groups or more specific conceptual challenges.

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Teaching resources, online professional development for educators, and education blog.

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Act now! For Giving Tuesday, your gift to the National Geographic Society will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Make your tax-deductible contribution today and make TRIPLE the impact for Explorers working to preserve threatened species around the world.

Donate today!

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Education Resources | National Geographic Society

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Inspire learners to explore National Geographic through interactive lesson plans, maps, storytelling and a wide variety of resources to illuminate their world.

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Lesson plans, mostly appropriate for middle and high school, but some for upper elementary.

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Global Learning and Awareness | PBS LearningMedia

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Explore why learning about the international community matters. Learn about major global issues—including education, global conservation and environmentalism, global health, and human rights—through videos, images, background essays, and lesson plans. These resources are designed to foster understan…

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Teaching guides and books related to various global issues.

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CitizenKid is a collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be engaged global citizens. The collection aims to make complex global issues accessible for children ages 8 to 12, and covers topics such as water conservation, biodiversity, food security, microlending, citizenship, global awareness and more.

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Subject-specific guides with simple ways to integrate global education into the curriculum.

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Tatiana Cardeal/Oxfam

These guides are the foundations of great global citizenship. They outline the key principles of taking a global approach to teaching and learning, as well as practical guidance for embedding it into your lessons.

Each guide has been created with teachers in mind and includes advice, teaching ideas and activities to help you on your way. Whether you want to explore the world in the classroom or develop global learning across your whole school, we have a guide for you.

Salahuddin Ahmed

Education for Global Citizenship

Packed with creative ideas, advice and case studies to support the development of global citizenship in all curriculum areas.

Global Citizenship in the Classroom

A practical guide filled with tools and ideas to increase participation and develop global learning in the classroom.

Teaching Controversial Issues

Young people frequently face making decisions about a wide range of issues on which there are many different views. This guide includes strategies, guidance and activities for teaching controversial issues.

The Sustainable Development Goals

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals present "a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030."

Deepen your understanding of education about and for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and see how global citizenship education approaches and methodologies can underpin good practice.

Maths and Global Citizenship

Consider how real world contexts can enrich maths teaching and help unlock how it can be applied.

Science and Global Citizenship

Deepen learners' understanding and discover practical ideas for adding a global lens to science.

English and Global Citizenship

Ideas for learning about the world whilst improving speaking and listening, reading, writing and media literacy skills.

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These guides outline the key principles of taking a global approach to teaching and learning, as well as guidance for embedding it into your lessons.

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Lots of activities and resources especially appropriate for elementary.

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Kid World Citizen - Activities that help young minds go global

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Activities that help young minds go global

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Includes lessons, activities, and resources connected to the global goals.

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Educators are increasingly aware that the challenges of our changing world will require students to think and learn in new ways. In addition to teaching core academic content, our schools need to cultivate key skills: global awareness, critical thinking, media literacy, collaboration, intercultural communication, technological ability, and civic engagement. This guide will provide educators with resources about global issues and 21st century skills. This guide includes all web-related resources. For additional resources, including books and films, see the links to the left.

Click the tabs above to navigate through the guide by topic.

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LibGuides: Preparing Students for Global Citizenship: Introduction

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LibGuides: Preparing Students for Global Citizenship: Introduction

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There is something happening across the country and around the world right now. It's hidden in the planning sessions of colleagues, in the professional development opportunities at schools and conferences, and in the hallways as teachers and administrators talk with each other about their students.It's been happening in pockets for so long, that now those groups of teachers and leaders are starting to bring in new teachers and new leaders to build a true culture of learning that looks and feels different.It's taking shape as a revolution of sorts (but not some type of education reform) that is beginning to make its way into every school and every classroom.The textbooks are no longer "good enough", and the multiple-choice tests are no longer "good enough", and the lectures are no longer "good enough" for our kids.We've seen what can happen when students are presented with a problem to solve, a challenge to overcome.We've seen what can happen when students have learning experiences that are both relevant and meaningful to them as an individual and citizen.We've seen what can happen when students own their learning, have a choice in the process and performance task, and get to choose how they can demonstrate understanding.Project-based learning (PBL) is no longer relegated to gifted classrooms, honors classes, and exploratory specials. PBL is an active piece of the K-12 learning experience, found in every subject, in every grade level, and in every part of curricula and scope and sequences.PBL is taking over traditional finals and mid-terms as the performance task. It is showing up as HOW you teach the unit, instead of only an ending project to the unit. PBL is growing because it engages and empowers students to learn experientially and share that learning in new and unique ways that go well beyond the classroom.Yet, many teachers are asking: How do we plan and implement PBL? How do we "fit it in" our current curriculum? How do we assess it using our current grading guidelines? How do we manage this type of learning?These are all real concerns and questions that cannot be dismissed. PBL takes time to plan, implement, manage, and assess. Then it takes time to tweak, improve, and highlight.In The PBL Playbook, we dive into specific answers to all those questions, and what PBL looks like in each grade level and subject area!The PBL Playbook is right for you if:You are a teacher ready to move towards an authentic learning experience for your students.You are a superintendent, district administrator, or principal who is leading a school through project-based learning.You are a coach, staff developer, or teacher leader that wants to help guide colleagues into PBL with a gameplan that works.

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The PBL Playbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Actually Doing Project-Based Learning

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There is something happening across the country and around the world right now. It's hidden in the planning sessions of colleagues, in the professional development opportunities at schools and conferences, and in the hallways as teachers and administrators talk with each other about their student...

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The PBL Simplified Podcast empowers teachers and school leaders with examples from PBL classrooms, leadership inspiration, and practical PBL resources. Subscribe to the weekly podcast and visit WhatisPBL.com to get started on your PBL journey!

Whether you are a teacher or school leader, there is something for you on the PBL Simplified Podcast.

1st Wednesday: PBL Leadership

2nd Wednesday: PBL Showcase - a PBL facilitator shares a PBL Unit with listeners

3rd Wednesday: PBL Leadership

4th Wednesday: PBL Guest Interview

Subscribe and listen to real educators like yourself, who are innovating in the classroom to help their learners become part of an inspiring story. For more Project Based Learning resources, visit WhatisPBL.com.

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PBL Simplified Podcast - Magnify Learning

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The PBL Simplified Podcast empowers teachers and school leaders with examples from PBL classrooms, leadership inspiration, and practical PBL resources. Subscribe to the weekly podcast and visit WhatisPBL.com to get started on your PBL journey! Whether you are a teacher or school leader, there is som