https://is.gd/JjOXgM

Setting up a Pen Pal

The lesson would consist of students watching the short film Cocoon, told from the perspective of elementary, middle, and high school students during the global lockdown in 2020. Students will be prompted to discuss their thoughts and feelings about how the pandemic impacted their lives and communities. After watching the video, it would be engaging to also research how students in other countries around the world were impacted by the pandemic (including, but not limited to, specifically how their education was impacted by it). Students can explore the following questions and can respond using technology, such as Seesaw or Screencastify:

• Why is social distancing and isolation so difficult? 

• How do changes in routine affect our daily lives? 

• What is normal? 

This lesson encompasses SEL competencies of self-awareness, social awareness, and self-management.

Global Oneness Project: How I Feel About the Pandemic

Directions:

1.) Create/Log in to your snapchat account

2.) Connect/Subscribe to a friend/channel that is focused on the education system for a country overseas

3.) Talk about your experience in a Google Doc and then share it with me below:

nrashid24@bw.edu

This approach offers multiple benefits:

Real-World Problem Solving: Students experience coding in real-world scenarios where their work will be used and tested by others with diverse perspectives.

Feedback Across Borders: By sharing code with international peers, students receive feedback from outside their local circle, learning new approaches and solutions to common programming challenges.

Cross-Cultural Understanding: As students communicate with peers in other countries, they build empathy, respect, and a deeper understanding of how others approach similar tasks.

Global Network Building: Students gain valuable connections with fellow young coders, potentially sparking long-term collaborative projects or friendships.

This initiative can help students realize that coding is a universal language and that they can be part of a larger global community. With the world increasingly interconnected through technology, this exercise not only builds technical skills but also instills values of teamwork, inclusivity, and cultural appreciation, key aspects of global citizenship.

With ePals, an educator can set up a profile and then search for another classroom to connect with. The profile highlights the age of the students, subjects, language spoken, purpose of the communication, class size, region, etc. This makes endless learning opportunities for any teacher

Teachers can choose to set up pen pals, share ideas for fun activities, collaborate with other teachers, or choose a project type: that may include a video for a cultural exchange, collaborative research project, or discussion on global issues.

This free website will open the door for any learners aged 3-19.

https://www.epals.com/

Collaborative Skills: Through iEARN, students work with peers from over 140 countries, developing teamwork, communication, and digital collaboration skills crucial for today’s interconnected world.

Cross-Cultural Awareness: By engaging with students from diverse backgrounds, iEARN fosters cultural understanding, helping students appreciate different perspectives and develop a more inclusive worldview.

Jake Mostyn

offering a variety of authentic student-to-student learning opportunities in English.

It is a leading platform for collaborative global learning that connects students with: exciting learning activities, virtual adventures, the world's leading experts, and other students from 150 countries!

Discussion Clubs, Challenges & Games Monthly “challenges” to create a video or photographic entry are some of the interactive activities that help to develop critical thinking skills, cross-cultural communication and an understanding of the value of hearing multiple perspectives.

Virtual Field Trips

Immersive real-time 60 mins field trips around the globe that are live-streamed, like seeing giraffes in Kenya.

Power Hours with Experts

Live online discussions with experts, guest speakers and professionals from different areas, like NASA astronauts.

Teachers can collaborate from one classroom to another, where students engage in live video exchanges and lessons as well as multimedia file sharing. IDialogue’s platform matches grade levels, facilitates scheduling and navigates time zones helping students to explore other cultures and build meaningful friendships.

“When I log into iDialogue from India, read the posts of students from other countries... I better understand their mentality and ...it is like a window to another dimension.” -Indian Student

As students prepare holiday cards for the exchange, they will explore the significance of various cultural celebrations such as Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Eid. This activity encourages them to research these traditions, understanding the customs, values, and histories behind each celebration. By learning about different cultures, students develop empathy and respect for others, which is a fundamental aspect of global citizenship.

Once the cards are prepared, students will have the opportunity to connect with peers from around the world. By sending and receiving cards from other schools, students will gain insight into the lives and traditions of their counterparts in different countries. This exchange helps break down barriers and stereotypes, allowing students to see that despite geographical distances, we share common values of kindness, joy, and celebration.

After the cards have been exchanged, students can engage in discussions about their experiences. What did they learn about the different holidays? How did it feel to connect with students in other parts of the world? These reflections can lead to meaningful conversations about our shared humanity and the importance of inclusivity and understanding in a diverse world.

https://www.website.iveca.org/

(visit this website for ideas and links to help globalize your morning meeting or classroom)

Our school prioritizes morning meeting everyday for 30 minutes. Morning meeting is a chance to build relationships, create a class community, and set a positive tone for the day. There are four parts to morning meeting that make it effective. (Greeting, Share, Activity, Message) Globalizing morning meeting can help enhance students understanding of the world, foster curiosity, and create cultural awareness.

Examples on how to globalize your morning meeting:

Greeting:

• Greet each other in a different language

• Greet each other with a cultural gesture

• Use matching cards to have students greet their matching country/ cultural 

Share:

• Share a story about the first or last name

• Share a cultural tradition in their family

• Share an interesting fact about the cultural 

Activity:

• Read a culturally diverse story, folktale, or poem

• Create a culturally diverse craft

• Show and tell an item that represents their cultural

• Introduce diverse music or dance

Message:

• Include fun facts about a country or culture

• Highlight cultural celebrations, holidays, or events

• Include diverse “Words of the Day”

• Include global news

To implement this in a high school classroom, I would take the following steps:

1. Project Planning and Topic Selection – I would choose a unit with natural global connections, such as the Civil Rights Movement, immigration policy, or women’s suffrage. Before connecting with another classroom, I would scaffold the project with mini-lessons on research skills, primary and secondary sources, and historical analysis.

2. Setting Up the Class2Class Platform – I would create a teacher account and explore the platform to find a partner classroom with a similar age group or curriculum focus. I would establish a secure communication plan for students to collaborate through discussion boards, shared documents, or video calls on the platform.

3. Assigning Roles and Responsibilities – Within each classroom, students would have specific roles such as researcher, writer, designer, or presenter. This ensures that each student has ownership of a portion of the project and develops both academic and collaboration skills.

4. Structured Collaborative Activities – Students would complete their individual research first, then participate in joint activities with their international peers. For example, a student researching Martin Luther King Jr. could pair with a peer studying Nelson Mandela, and together they could create a joint digital poster highlighting leadership strategies, challenges faced, and the social impact of their movements.

5. Cross-Cultural Reflection and Discussion – After completing the project, students would write reflection essays or record video journals discussing what surprised them about their peers’ history and culture, what similarities and differences they observed, and how this project changed their perspective on global citizenship. Teachers can guide discussion questions such as: “How did your partner’s historical context shape their movement differently than yours?” or “What lessons can we apply to modern social justice issues?”

6. Showcase and Assessment – Students could present their final projects to the class, school community, or even host a synchronous online session with the partner classroom. Assessment could focus on research quality, collaboration, creativity, cross-cultural understanding, and ability to synthesize global perspectives.

Using this strategy, students develop critical 21st-century skills including digital literacy, communication, collaboration, and empathy. They also gain firsthand experience in global citizenship by engaging with peers from diverse backgrounds, understanding how historical events and social movements resonate differently across the world, and seeing the interconnectedness of societies. Implementing Class2Class in a U.S. History classroom transforms traditional lessons into interactive, meaningful learning experiences that prepare students to think globally and act responsibly in an increasingly connected world.

The juniors can create a blog or running document. Each month, one class company shares a recipe they've requested from a fire department from another country. They will make the recipe and bring it in for their classmates - and instructors - to enjoy while everyone researches the fire service and education in the country from which the recipe came. The company who requested the recipe should have also received information they can share with the class in the blog post, and the other companies add to the blog post with their comments of what they've learned.

The blog posts would not only be evaluated for content but also be assessed using the Discussion Tips from Avid.