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Everybody has the power to change the world. 

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Everybody has the power to change the world. 

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We just have to believe that we can

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Carrie Underwood American Idol Performances

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Carrie performed "Change" from her album Play On on the Cnn special honoring Heroes for 2009

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What activities have you carried out in your class that have knowingly or unknowingly highlighted or celebrated international-mindedness?

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What activities have you carried out in your class that have knowingly or unknowingly highlighted or celebrated international-mindedness?

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This year, students have started to focus on the community we live in. During our first unit on biochemistry (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins & nucleic acids) an opportunity came up to take this information and apply it to our community. By indirectly teaching about foods, students participated in a barbecue chicken fundraiser to benefit a local man who is in need of a kidney transplant. Students also had the opportunity to brainstorm healthy meals that we could fix as a class and donate to the poor. We can use these same activities to improve our international-mindedness.

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The first time he found out his kidneys were failing, it was 2009.

A doctor had previously told Bobby Lucas in 2006, that he would probably need a new kidney some day when he was 60. After all, his mom suffered from chronic kidney disease, and both of his half-siblings did too.

But that year, in 2009, it became a reality for the Garner resident who was only 33 at the time. The doctor told him this time that his kidneys were failing and he would need to get on the transplant list then.

He had just lost his job of framing houses, due to the economic recession. So he didn't have health insurance. Money was tight. He had two young boys. He said he didn't feel too bad. So he put it off and spent time with his family.

"I didn't want to deal with it," Lucas said. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't see a difference. Or didn't think I saw a difference."

But four years later, he went to the doctor for the first time since 2009 after feeling sick. They drew blood and ran tests on him.

"The next day the doctor called and he said you need to get to WakeMed right now," Lucas recalled. "He said your kidneys are really bad. He said they are probably going to put you on dialysis."

Lucas had stage four renal failure and chronic kidney disease.

Three years later, at 40, he remains on dialysis in wait of a kidney donor. He goes to get dialysis administered three days a week for four hours each day, as the bad blood goes out of his body, while the good blood comes in. Lucas is hoping his wife Lorrie is a match. They have the same blood type and are waiting to see if the test results will indicate his wife his healthy enough to donate one of her kidneys.

Kidney transplants are steep in price. Lucas said the surgery is expected to cost somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000. While that will be covered, the medicine he has to take following the surgery will cost thousands of dollars for the rest of his life.

His church, Mt. Moriah Baptist, will host a fundraiser on Oct. 7 to raise money for the medicine post-surgery. The fundraiser is a barbecue plate lunch and dinner. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7:30 p.m., the church at 3000 E. Garner Road, a Raleigh address between Garner and Clayton, will serve half a chicken, boiled potatoes, green beans and a roll for $8.

People who can't pick it up at the church can order to have it delivered. For more information, call the church at 919-772-1273.

Placed on hold

When Lucas first got on the transplant list and started taking dialysis, he said he started to feel better. People who knew he was sick would tell him he looked good. And he felt good too. So he stopped going to dialysis hoping he could save some money.

But that didn't go over well with hospital officials. They penalized him for it, and placed him on hold on the donor list. He looked for someone in his immediate family who might give a kidney, but no one offered. His wife stepped up.

"You were just hoping that there would be someone to donate and it never happened," Lorrie Lucas said. "So I prayed about it and I felt like God was telling me to go ahead and do it. You're going to be OK. You can live on one kidney. You're going to be fine."

Donating a kidney also has its risks. There are ocassions where even though someone may be a match, their body could reject the kidney. That's what the medications are for, to help prevent that. But it doesn't always work.

Bobby Lucas said that is something he thinks about often.

"All the time," he said. "I don't like it. I don't like taking anything from her when there is nothing wrong with her. And I've got two sons."

Lucas said he has good days and bad days. The bad days are when he's drained from dialysis. Or if he hasn't gone, his heart starts to pound.

But he still tries to cherish the good days, he said.

Lucas said if there is one thing he's learned since having to undergo dialysis treatments three times a week for the past three years, it is to appreciate life.

He said he's learned a lot about himself by just staying patient and slowing down.

"I used to be in a rat race with things," Lucas said. "Now I just slow down and look at the birds."

Now he's hoping that patience will pay off in the form of a new kidney.

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Garner resident raising money for post-kidney transplant medication

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The first time he found out his kidneys were failing, it was 2009. A doctor had previously told Bobby Lucas in 2006, that he would probably need a new kidney some day when he was 60. After all, his mom suffered from chronic kidney disease, and both of his half-siblings did too.

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How can you help your students understand the importance of international understanding as it relates to your course?

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How can you help your students understand the importance of international understanding as it relates to your course?

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During this school year (2016-2017) I have decided to focus on making biology relevant. To show students that what they are learning can help to change the world, one small step at a time. On the first day of school, students were asked to brainstorm issues that are affecting this community, our state, our country and eventually our world. It didn't take long to figure out that some of the issues our country is facing, the world is also facing, most of the time to an even greater extent. We took those issues and paired them with the units we would be studying this year. Taking that little bit of extra time to explain and show students that what we would be learning is relevant was worth it. It made them excited for biology and excited to learn and apply this information.

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The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love? (Official Music Video)

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What are the ways in which the texts, topics, or ideas in your classroom have benefited from contributions from other communities, cultures, and nationalities?

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What are the ways in which the texts, topics, or ideas in your classroom have benefited from contributions from other communities, cultures, and nationalities?

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When we learn about genetics, students generate ideas about how cultures look and why people can look different even though we are all the same. We talk about genes and genetic defects that take place in certain cultures and also ones that can have an effect on any culture. For example, Tay Sachs disease is typically found in Jewish populations. Albinism can be found in any race or species on the planet. We tend to learn the most about other cultures and nationalities during this unit.

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How do schools today prepare students for global citizenship within biology and other group four subjects?

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How do schools today prepare students for global citizenship within biology and other group four subjects?

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In the 5 years I have been teaching, it has become very obvious that education leaders want us to take our curriculum to new heights and places. We often get caught up in our own little box and can't look on the outside. It is important for us to educate these students, the future leaders of this world, about how this information they learn is significant for them to become global citizens. Science is a world-wide subject. We need science to understand this earth and the life that is in it. The other group four subjects are world-wide as well. Teachers are looking outside of these boxes and are using current and past real life examples that makes curriculum relevant.
However, there are teachers out there that do not understand the importance of what it means to be a global citizen and therefore their students cannot grasp the concept either. This is where teachers need to come together and work for a common goal of preparing out students for global citizenship.

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Commentary

We are living in a world that is increasingly interdependent. Local and global affairs are deeply intertwined, and technology has transformed the ways in which most people interact, access knowledge, work, and participate civically. These changes are part of our ever-increasing globalization-a process that is shrinking our planet and bringing us all into more intense contact with one another, often across lines of social, cultural, and racial differences. Preparing students to live and work in an integrated world and contribute to improving society fulfills public schools' intended purpose.

But many schools fail to provide students with such opportunities at a moment in history when the need has never been greater. Ethnic and religious differences continue to be a source of conflict rather than the basis of productive and creative collaboration. These differences are exacerbated by politicians who capitalize on fear, creating walls that marginalize many groups and contribute to further alienation. Rhetoric in the U.S. presidential race and in the United Kingdom's Brexit vote echo these themes of unease.

Recent tragedies in cities around the world underscore a widespread attitude of bigotry and prejudice. Recent headlines recount a succession of deaths resulting from this attitude, including in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Orlando, and St. Paul in our own country, as well as in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Iraq, and Turkey.

This educational failure highlights the paradox that even though children across the world have greater access to education than they've had at any time in the past century, and globalization is bringing humanity closer together, we have also been pushed further apart. To help students respond to this crisis in a constructive way-rather than with fear-schools must take responsibility for effective and more deliberate global-citizenship education. Advancing such education requires a well-designed curriculum and built-in support for educators to develop global competency themselves. This effort should embrace professional-development opportunities, along with the guidance of strong school and district leadership.

There is an existing body of effective practices in global education on which educators can build. After reviewing different approaches, a group of current and former colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and I created a framework for a K-12 global competency curriculum that is project-based and interdiscipliary. The curriculum, which is highlighted in our recently published book Empowering Global Citizens: A World Course, is influenced by the United Nations' sustainable-development goals-a vision of inclusive progress for all nations that should be required reading for any globally minded educator.

The framework takes academic subjects and emphasizes how to integrate topics with clear global dimensions, such as environmental studies, world history, and public health. In addition to helping students develop knowledge of critical global challenges, educators must also address the range of skills global competency requires, from foreign-language study and religious literacy to a curiosity about the world and an understanding of personal agency, empowerment, and leadership. Using technology, educators can encourage students' project collaboration with peers in other countries to reinforce these learnings.

To better prepare teachers and school leaders, districts should encourage their educators to pursue opportunities to learn about global education practices in other countries, including by researching the field of comparative education to ensure their teaching methods and curricula are effective. Educators around the world, and the children they teach, must take the time to learn from one another.

If we are to help students develop the capacity to make their communities and societies more inclusive and sustainable, school and district leaders must provide the conditions, empowerment, and support for teachers to integrate global education curriculum in the classroom. In so doing, schools can help replace fear of difference with understanding. These lessons will prepare students to collaborate with others beyond the classroom as they work to appreciate a shrinking world.

Published in Print: August 3, 2016, as Our World Is Shrinking; Let's Appreciate It

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Commentary We are living in a world that is increasingly interdependent. Local and global affairs are deeply intertwined, and technology has transformed the ways in which most people interact, access knowledge, work, and participate civically.

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What does it mean to be a global citizen? 

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What does it mean to be a global citizen? 

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A global citizen is somebody who is mindful of events taking place across the globe. A global citizen is aware of the situations in other countries and effects they may have on the world. Most importantly, this term describes a person who is willing to listen to other people's beliefs and values  to keep an open mind about the world in which we live. Global citizens come together to make a positive difference for this earth.
Check out this video from Global Citizen. It describes how all people can be a global citizen and can take action to rally together to improve our world. This can help to form an understanding of being a global citizen.

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What International Mindedness means to me

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What International Mindedness means to me

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International Mindedness (IM) is being aware of events that are taking place around the world. It is having respect for other people with their beliefs and values. As productive citizens of this world, we need to be informed about these circumstances because it can have a huge impact on not only the country we live in, but countries around the world. As teachers, we need to educate our students about what is going on in this world, and open their minds to how we can help make our world a better place to live. By having IM, people can help to change our world.