Global Citizenship

Earlier this week, I asked students to visit an online news source and read about an international story that interested them. They then summarized the details in a Google Doc. Today, we began sharing the stories that we read about as a way of introducing our new Global Citizenship theme. Cory told us about the recent Typhoon in the Philippines, Laurea told us about the latest from Israel/Palestine, and Alexandra and Matthew both wrote about Voyager 2 exploring the edge of our solar system. Sharing these stories helped us begin to think of the larger world around us, and our place in it. 

We also discussed the famous quote from Socrates, "I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world," and how that declaration might be interpreted. Socrates lived 2400 years ago, so our discussion moved to the present day, and what it might mean if someone said such a thing today. We talked about how our lives in the State of Michigan, in the United States of America might have an effect on people living elsewhere. How do our lives affect people living in China? In Africa? In Indiana? 

Many ideas were put forth. For better or worse, much of what we buy in Michigan was made in China. We may eat food that was grown in Indiana, or we may eat consume livestock that once grazed on clear-cut areas of rainforest in Brazil. A shirt that is dropped off in a donation bin in Ann Arbor might find its way to a new owner in Africa. Pollution from a factory in Pennsylvania might effect the fishing in Canada. A foreign country might receive aid from our government, which is made up of people who represent us. The more we talked, the more connections were made, driving home the idea that even if you've lived in Michigan your entire life, you've probably had an effect on many people around the globe. We'll be exploring many of these ideas as we begin working with our new theme. 

We see a Global Citizen as someone who:

• is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their own role as a world citizen;

• respects and values diversity;

• has an understanding of how the world works economically, politically, socially, culturally, technologically and environmentally;

• is outraged by social injustice;

• participates in and contributes to the community at a range of levels from local to global;

• is willing to act to make the world a more sustainable place;

• takes responsibility for their actions.

Of course, we're still not quite done with Ancient Civilizations! This week, we began composing thesis statements for our research papers, and constructing our outlines.