I chose this video, Learning World Affairs Through Digital Media, because as an expat educator it has clear implications for my students. My students are aware of affairs in their country and continent, but very often unaware of events in other parts of the world. I believe the same is often true of American students. In a globalized society, we need to work on filling the gaps in global history in our curriculums the world over.
I have not used the program Second Life before, but it appears to be very similar to the video game The Sims and would be very easy for students to learn to use. I do not see a place for that particular platform in my current curriculum, but integrating more information about global affairs and visiting news sources from other countries is something that can be included in my students writing assignments, whether on or offline.
I feel my kids would prefer to play The Sims (which they do) than create another online environment, and of the computer education endeavors I may implement I'm not sure my boss would understand the merit of this particular platform either.
I feel a good goal for my classroom is to re-visit my 'five minute writing' activity at the beginning of class utilizing more global affairs types of issues; and highlighting news on foreign, English language news websites for my students to get a more global perspective.
I would definately agree that students here in the US are very unaware of world affairs. However, I would also say that most American adults are blissfully unaware of much of the rest of the world. It's a very commendable goal to get school age kids interested in (or at least aware of) what is happening throughout the world. Perhaps if teachers can accomplish this, then world may improve. It's much easier to allow bad things to happen in places that don't seem connected to yourself. When you are more aware of these people and their countries, it becomes more difficult to simply ignore.
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