TEACH GLOBALLY: GLOBAL LITERACY INVITATIONS Vesna Dimitrieska & Leana McClain
There has been growing consensus
exploration beyond the pages of globally-
among educators, business and government
themed picture books.
sector about the urgency to have globally competent teachers who can prepare globally
Why Teach Globally?
ready students to thrive in today’s diverse, complex and interconnected world. Although
Rapid technological, economic, social,
numerous global competence frameworks
and environmental changes are making
and matrices emerge, there is lack of
today’s world increasingly interconnected
transparency about what teaching globally
and interdependent. Consequently, the world
looks like in classrooms and the types of
in which students live and work is
learning experiences that help students
increasingly different from the world in
develop their global competence. A team of
which their parents and teachers grew up
experts from Indiana University and, more
(Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). Although many
recently, mentor teachers, has engaged in
people do not realize how global everyone’s
systematic efforts to teach globally by
lives have become, recent societal trends
providing professional development to K-6
(e.g., career readiness, digital connectivity,
teachers throughout Indiana on how to use
demographic diversity, and cross-border
globally-themed picture books to create
challenges) have confirmed the urgency for
global literacy invitations, i.e., teacher-
global focus in education (Corapi & Short,
created and student-led learning
2016; Tichnor-Wagner & Manise, 2019).
investigations. The aim of the Global
Educators have the role to tailor students’
Literacy Invitations project is to help in-
educational experiences so they engage in
service teachers develop their own and their
more powerful, relevant and transformational
students’ global competence while engaging
learning to meet these continually evolving
in meaningful inquiry-based global
demands and opportunities (Gardner, 2007).
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