First, I would challenge the grade level team how we can create opportunities of developing the international mindedness within the units of inquiry.

Second, I would call the whole school pedagogical team to reconsider the whole school events we celebrate together to be in favor of promoting the international mindedness.

Third, I would suggest to reconsider the after-school activities as an important form of supporting the international mindedness awareness.
The UOI students and teachers' reflections will reveal how well the mentioned above will work. The reflection questionnaire about school events and after school activities will demonstrate their effectiveness.

That’s all from me now and looking forward to reading your plan points.

Cheers,

Lesya.

 

1.   Implementing an idea based on a world map hanged in class with pins on the countries of origin of my students. The first week of every month can stand in the name of someone’s country. We can then:

·       Play the national anthem of the country.

·       Have special activities during class related to the country in question. 

·       Collaborate with all subject teachers, and home room teachers for an interdisciplinary learning. 

·       Ask members of the school community or parents to join the class for a talk. 

 

2.  In relation to the French language learning, having a list of countries that have French as their mother tongue language. 

Learners can make presentation comparing two countries, while studying similarities and differences in the culture and heritage.

 

3.   Having the students have pen pals with whom they would share different experiences. I think this would help students develop a personal connection and get a better understanding of diversity and different perspectives and cultures. 

 

4.   Celebrating the International week at school with parades, costumes, Food, and flags of the countries our learners originate from.

 

5.   Reading books about celebrities that were different in a way or another, and recognizing their achievements ex: Beethoven (suffering from deafness) , Van Gogh (mental health and lost ear) , Martin Luther king (civil right movement), Mahatma Ghandi (non-violence resistance)

It is the school philosophy that is cherished in me embedding international mindfulness. 

Therefore, my PYP coordinator needs to approve my ideas. 

The LST team needs to help in some areas of focus.

Being an inclusion school, the SEN team will be involved to make sure the students of determination are beneficing as well.

 

Depending on the activity proposed, I sometime need the intervention and collaboration of the team, the parents, and some people outside the learning community.

 

Is this a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy? 

As learning is a lifelong process, with the collaboration of the vertical team, some of my ideas could stretch over the whole PYP/MYP phases.

Others, the stories, are short-term strategies that learners will still remember years after.

 

The effect on the learners, the team, and the parents, and their feedback will demonstrate how much this plan is working. The results can be clear and fast by watching the kids act with mindfulness and respecting each other’s differences, showing compassion etc.... The student may reuse some facts in other classes, in some thoughts.

 

                     

·Students will explore and use their research skills to inquire into the diversity that exists across the world; culturally and environmentally. They will watch a video on ‘Our Fragile Earth’ and engage how it is the only planet that helps sustain life, giving way to diversity in geography, cultures and different lifestyles.

· Students will explore and appreciate the diversity of flora and fauna that exists around the fragile planet Earth and how it sustains the human life on Earth. 

· Students will research on the impact of human activities on the planet Earth that is damaging the ecosystem, making it impossible for life to continue. They will explore the increasing harmful impacts on the Earth caused by human activities by engaging with the NASA: Climate change website. 

· Students will be shown a video in which Greta Thunberg, the teenage global changemaker, can be seen advocating about Global warming and climate change to the world leaders at the United Nations Summit.

· Students will learn about the Carbon footprint and how they can use a tool to calculate their carbon footprint

· Students will reflect on their activities that might be environmentally harmful and calculate their carbon footprint using a carbon footprint calculator. They will then research how they can minimise it.

· Students will carry out a campaign against climate change and educate and communicate to their peers how they can be more caring towards their environment, advocating a sustainable lifestyle to help protect planet Earth.

· Students will be encouraged to adapt a more environmental friendly lifestyle at home.

Developing international mindedness in students requires time and a commitment to collaboration. This includes students, classroom teachers, single-subject teachers, librarians, media-specialist teachers, inclusion specialists, and so on. Teachers and students learn from each other as they share knowledge, perspectives, and experiences; discuss how to design, plan, facilitate and assess learning and teaching; and consider how to transcend knowledge. Collaborative teaching practices between year-level and subject-specialist teachers will be adopted. For developing international mindset in students, I will collaborate with subject specialist teachers (English, Math, science, social studies, Art, ICT, Music and other language teachers) to identify areas in which they could teach international mindedness and aspects of the curriculum that could foster growth for additional discussion. The main areas could include: being able to think from different perspectives, being open-minded, empathetic and reflective, communicating respectfully, and considering your impact on the wider environment.

Students, classroom teachers, single-subject teachers, librarians, media-specialist teachers et

Is this a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy?

This is a long-term strategy as international mindedness is a continuous and ongoing process, facilitating students make authentic connections globally whenever possible. They will become more aware of their actions and will start making conscious choices that would promote a sustainable way of living.

Students will appreciate and respect cultural diversity and consider it as a medium to explore and research into different arenas. They will become aware of the global consequences of the human actions on the environment and will start adopting measures which promotes sustainability. The most authentic success criteria can be considered as the feedback from parents. 

 

 

In the art room, I would start the year by asking students to teach each other how to say ‘hello’ in their own language and encourage them to say hello to one another in a different language as I call the roll; ensure we explore artists from different times, cultures and styles throughout the year; invite local artists to run workshops or share their artworks with students.

 

o   Can you make this change alone?
I think it’s important to collaborate with the school community in order to implement international-mindedness successfully. Small changes can happen in the classroom at the beginning.

o   Who might you need to collaborate with?
Parents, teachers, students and leadership are all vital members of the learning community we would need to collaborate with.

o   Is this a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy?
This plan would be a long-term strategy in order to make a lasting change, and can only improve through trial and error. 

o   How will you know it is working?
I would know it is working by observing the overall school climate; when students demonstrate open-minded and caring learner profile attributes, and principled actions. 

1.    Sharing stories with children from around the world:

Sharing stories with children from around the world invites discussion and celebration of our similarities and differences, they encourage empathy towards others and spark curiosity about the world around us. First I start reading stories with the students about different cultures and then I start an open discussion of our similarities and differences, seeking their curiosity about the world around us and about how to help others.

2.    Art and Music:

I believe that viewing artwork from different cultures; in music children share songs from their own culture and talk about the occasions when these songs are sung. I have also created a Modern Foreign language classroom corner in my classrooms: a designated part of the classroom where children can display in their mother tongue key vocabulary they would like to teach to the rest of the class. 

 

3.    International day 

I have prepared for an international day where each class will represent a different culture with their costumes and food and invite them all to share it together I have prepared for a costume parade where each class or group can sing a song representing this culture with its languages putting into consideration that each group should search for all the needed information themselves. In a conclusion, students have enough time to discuss together and ask each other questions about the countries they are representing and gather all the knowledge and information they are eager to know. On that day children and the teacher wears different national costumes walk in the playground. Students make a post about different countries' food.

4.    Activities during music classes

Learning songs in different languages is also another way to become mind opened. As we know music is an international language and it can bring together all different types of cultures.  I have always tried to use different songs of different cultures to make them aware of them.

 

 

5.    PenPals

I love the idea of having students have penpals that they can share different experiences. I think this helps students develop a personal connection and get a better understanding of diversity and different perspectives. I have even had my students video chat as a whole class. International Schools around the world offer such a wonderful opportunity to have international friends. They can send letters, emails, or video chats depending on what the student is comfortable with.
 
 
 

6.    Incorporate students’ languages into the curriculum

 

In my classrooms, students sometimes learn how to say “Good morning” and “Hello” in other languages and greet each other every day in a different language. I hang up a poster showing how to say hello/thank you in different languages.

 7. Decorating the corners of the school

 

In my schools, teachers are encouraged to decorate each corner of a country around the world. I think diversity is also a good way to embed international-mindedness. By understanding and respecting other people’s perspectives it helps children to develop empathy.

 

8.    Our similarities and Differences

I did this after winter break when I had so much snow. We, as a class, made snowmen, then talked about how each of our snowmen looked different and similar. Just like each snowflake is different, each of us is unique. Then we made a "me" book to explore our difference. This way prepared my students to know we all are different in some ways. I also explained to the students how important every culture is and how to respect each other's culture. I showed some videos on how people embrace other people's culture and how beautiful it is. Then, I gave my students the chance to say what they feel about other people's cultures and how and which one they would like to have an experience with.
 

1.     Introduce students to one culture. Show students a picture of this culture doing something that is transitional to them. Ask students what they see, think, and wonder. Record findings on an anchor chart. Have students read ideas and questions that are on the anchor chart with you. 

2.     Ask students about specific cultural vocabulary and have students identify whether they already know about the vocabulary or not. Have students do an activity with this vocabulary. Connect it to being open-minded.

3.     Talk about a specific traditional that the culture celebrates/ takes part in. Read a book, show a live video, or realistic photo of this. Have students reflect on what they saw. 

4.     Review the reflection that students made and have them apply their knowledge by taking part in something of the culture that matches the video or pictures shown. Let students know if they need to bring specific things to school to take part in this. 

5.     Have students complete an end project to show what they learned such as research or a posture making/ diorama. 

6.     Have students present their projects. 

7.     Circle back to the see, think, and wonder. Have students answer questions in the wonder that have been identified throughout their learnings. 

 

1.     Introduce students to one culture. Show students a picture of this culture doing something that is transitional to them. Ask students what they see, think, and wonder. Record findings on an anchor chart. Have students read ideas and questions that are on the anchor chart with you. 

2.     Ask students about specific cultural vocabulary and have students identify whether they already know about the vocabulary or not. Have students do an activity with this vocabulary. Connect it to being open-minded.

3.     Talk about a specific traditional that the culture celebrates/ takes part in. Read a book, show a live video, or realistic photo of this. Have students reflect on what they saw. 

4.     Review the reflection that students made and have them apply their knowledge by taking part in something of the culture that matches the video or pictures shown. Let students know if they need to bring specific things to school to take part in this. 

5.     Have students complete an end project to show what they learned such as research or a posture making/ diorama. 

6.     Have students present their projects. 

7.     Circle back to the see, think, and wonder. Have students answer questions in the wonder that have been identified throughout their learnings. 

This would be something that is a long term strategy. All of this change would have to be made with a whole school and grade level team collaboration. It would need many people not just one. 
I would know that it is working by my students reflecting back to the questions they made at the beginning and if they can answer them with their understandings. Also, by looking at their final projects and presentations. 

 

Our next unit is Where We Are and the central idea for the unit is “Families around the world share similarities and differences,” which is a perfect unit to incorporate multiculturalism and global perspective with.

As the HR teachers will be planning the unit soon, I will be able to contribute to the planning process. Though most of students in the grade level are from the host country, there are some students whose parents are from other culture and our faculty (especially in the secondary school) is really diverse. 

1. I will suggest to utilize the human resources we have in our school community – inviting them to the classroom and have students ask questions about their culture and the country.

2. The country where I currently live don’t celebrate Christmas (it’s a Buddhist country) but it’s really easy to find Christmas decorations everywhere. I think we can talk about various celebrations around the world as well as different beliefs and find commonalities among them.

3. After some cultures are introduced, we can conduct a research on a country of student choice and then share and learn from each other. Students will show their specific interests, which should be offered as a learning experience such as learning other language, art & crafts, singing & dancing, cooking, etc. # 1 (inviting teachers/families from other culture within the school community) can be done in this step as well.

4. I know that the secondary school has an International day, but I am not sure if the primary has it. I think it would be a fun way to wrap up the unit. I will bring it up to the admin during the curriculum meeting, but if it isn’t feasible to carry it out as a whole school event, I will suggest our grade level to alternate it by turning each classroom into a country. I have done it previously and the students really loved it. This also provides an opportunity for children to learn how to reach an agreement, problem solve and work as a team, which is a foundation for international mindedness, open-minded.

 

Since we are still doing the distance learning, it may not be viable to try out the above ideas. However, discussion itself can bring more awareness in international mindedness and we can stretch it to other UoI’s as well as school culture in general. And we will be able to measure its effectiveness via reflect part of the UoI Planner. 

Things I could do in the classroom to encourage this:

I cannot do this on my own and would look to veteran teachers for assistance with my ideas. The strategy is shorter goals building upon each other that would extend to long-term results. Doing small assessments could help assist; some informal, some formal. 

Cameron Kilgour

As a Grade 3 teacher, I am planning on implementing the following ideas to help further embed international mindedness in the classroom.

Pupils could spend some time developing inquiry questions that could then be asked over a video-call and discussed with their peers from around the world. I could organise this with my own educator network. Or, perhaps pupils could begin pen relationships which would allow them over time to develop a sense of connection with people elsewhere around the globe. 

Also, pupils could engage with physical artefacts from different cultures, thinking about them, wondering, and seeing similarities and differences between different objects. This would work particularly well with food I imagine- everyone loves food. 

Another potentially fruitful avenue could be storytelling. Pupils could hear and share stories from different cultures, comparing and contrasting what they hear. 

Thanks,

Cameron

In a learning community like an educational institution, we need constant support of our peers. I truly cherish the team work to embed international mindfulness at our school. In general scenario, we, as second language teachers meet with PYP coordinator and share/seek validation on our ideas. 

 

I collaborate often with my second language team members, homeroom teachers to plan my activity. I also collaborate sometime with parents to seek their support and involvement.

 

Is this a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy? 

I plan my activities in a way that rest with student for lifelong journey. Thus, I plan for long-term strategy.

 

Mindfulness and cultural inclusion takes effect in my activities and with the task assigned to my students. They create posters, presentations, make video to share their ideas as well show team spirit for their classmates. I record their reflection on each learning engagement in digital tools. I conduct also assessments in each and every unit to monitor their progress.

 

                     

 

1.     To tell students that we have teachers come to our school from all over the world. Encourage them to be open-minded and to communicate with these teachers and ask any questions. 

2.     After traveling to different countries ask students to tell to class what they have known about the country and people. Find some connections and differences with our own country.

3.     Try to expand every topic we learn and encourage to think globally.

4.     To know more about traditions and holidays of the foreign student’s country whom we have in our class. 

5.     Try to learn more about different festivals and holidays celebrated in other countries. Set up An International Day which will be celebrated annually. On this day every class will be representing one particular country with all attributes.

·         Can you make this change alone?

Of course not, the whole school should to take part.

·         Who might you need to collaborate with?

With all the teachers, PYP coordinator, and other school stuff.

·         Is this a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy?

International mindedness can’t be gained in one day so this is a long-term strategy. Once we taught student to think globally we must refer to it as often as we can.

·         How will you know it is working?

When I’ll see that international mindedness become students’ usual and efficient part of thinking.