Exploring the World through Cultural Community Story Boxes

by Kathy G. Short

Young children understand the world through making connections to their lives and experiences within their families and communities. Some educators believe that their need for connections means that young children are egocentric and unable to understand cultures outside of their immediate life experiences. We believe that story provides a way for young children to see themselves as connected to children around the world. They may not understand where that specific community is located–seeing the other side of the globe as a nearby city–but they can still feel connected to children living in communities that differ from their own. Continue reading →

Connecting to Family Funds of Knowledge through Story

by Kathy G. Short

The oral stories that are shared in families both reflect and build on family funds of knowledge, providing a potential connection for meaningful home/school partnerships. At Worlds of Words, we have been exploring family story backpacks as a way to connect with families. Typically, the materials we send home from school tell parents how to do school with their child rather than encouraging them to share their stories and knowledge with us—we want to bring the home into school rather than just take school into the home. Continue reading →

Introducing Children to Global Cultures and Languages

by Kathy G. Short

The focus of the June blogs is on the classroom resources that we have been developing in Worlds of Words to encourage the integration of global literature into preschool, elementary, and middle school classrooms. Each blog will focus on a different resource, describing the resource and the ways in which we are exploring that resource in classrooms as well as providing links to book lists and engagements for educators who want to create their own sets of these resources. Continue reading →

“The Aftermath of Diaspora”

by Holly Johnson

The month of May has allowed us to think about diaspora and movement. And with such movement, there is the question of the aftermath of such movements. Do those who were forced to move feel settled in their new homes? Is the new place even home? I would suggest that the aftermath may be similar to borderlands, whereby there is a hybridity of both the old mixed with the new. Continue reading →

“World War II and Diasporas”

by Rebecca Gasiewicz

“These writings may shock or horrify you, but that is not my intention. It is my greatest hope that the pages in this jar stir your deepest well of human compassion. I hope they prompt you to do something, to tell someone. Only then can we ensure that this kind of evil is never allowed to repeat itself.” Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray Continue reading →

“The Sentiments of Diaspora”

by Holly Johnson

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“When I am asked who I am, I say, I am an African who was born in America. Both answers connect me specifically with my past and present … therefore I bring to my art a quality which is rooted in the culture of Africa … and expanded by the experience of being in America.” (Tom Feelings, The Middle Passage)

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“The Nature of Diaspora”

by Holly Johnson

The month of May in many locations heralds the return of spring and the renewed energy of insects, birds, and animals. They forage throughout their landscapes, spreading and scattering seeds, nuts, and pollen as they travel. With their movement, they create a natural diaspora that spreads life to new locations that may be appreciated or rejected, depending on how that new life is perceived by the environment in which it starts to grow. Similar to this natural diaspora and subsequent outcomes in the new environment, human diaspora also interjects lives and situations that are either appreciated or resented within the new environment with treatment similar in replication to that which is found in the natural world. Yet, all too often, human diaspora is not “natural” but rather forced as part of horrific circumstances generated by other human beings who do not recognize the humanity of those they have displaced, mistreated, or killed. Continue reading →

Global Inquiry and Content Teaching Through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Social Studies

by Melanie Landon-Hays, Tracy Smiles and Kenneth Carano

For our final blog post, we reflect on the discipline that is perhaps most naturally suited to a study of global perspectives built on the stories of a discipline. Social Studies is a content area built on global stories of people, places, and events—their connections and their impacts both across time and space—that serve as a foundation for understanding one’s own place in the world in relation to the perspectives studied. Continue reading →

Global Inquiry and Content Teaching through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Math

By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles

First, a confession. As “literacy people” we are not particularly fond of math. Cultural models are the story lines, or theories that belong to socioculturally defined groups of people (Holland & Quinn, 1987; Strauss & Quinn, 1998; Gee, 1998). We, who identify as “literacy people,” cannot deny the storylines we internalized about math: it is difficult to understand, comes easier for people who are predisposed with mathematical talent, is irrelevant, a set of skills we will rarely use in the real world. Continue reading →

Global Inquiry and Content Teaching through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Science

By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles

In our first blog post we presented a framework for how we think about constructing classroom experiences that, through the stories of that discipline, apprentice students into disciplinary learning that fosters authentic, and relevant knowledge and presents opportunities for inquiry. This week we are examining science. Continue reading →