Category: Blog

By Dana Mortenson and KK Neimann

The challenges of education in the time of Covid-19 are unprecedented. Our children are stressed and anxious by the move to distance learning and the unknowns about how the school year will unfold. Children are disconnected from the support of their school networks and their friends, and the ongoing effects of social isolation are starting to show. In addition to worrying about their jobs and providing for their families, many parents are concerned about dealing with an entire school year of managing their children’s school work (wait, how do you multiply fractions again?). Under these circumstances, it is easy to understand the desire for a return to “normal.” Who hasn’t fantasized about putting kids on the bus and getting back into the regular school routine?

Even as we all grapple with these new challenges and adapt and rise to meet this moment, we are still struck by the opportunity presented in this crisis: to eventually come back better than before and resist a return to normal with our educational system. Normal wasn’t working.

Our education system is rife with inequities and rooted in a methodology from the Industrial era that hasn’t aged well when it comes to meeting the global challenges of our rapidly changing and indelibly interconnected world. As we think about the lessons we could learn from this global pandemic, we want to rebuild our education system so our young people are prepared to thrive and participate in the world as it is today and will be tomorrow–not as it was 10, 20, or 50 years ago.

This is not to diminish in any way the swift and big-hearted response of educators and administrators when Covid hit. On short notice and with no guiding precedent, districts and teachers moved classes online, set up meal programs, and partnered with a range of organizations to modify and supplement curriculum and provide emotional support. The achievements educators made, and continue to make, are laudable and remarkable, and we applaud and appreciate them.

As a middle school teacher and a national education leader, we were both heartened by these efforts not just because our families have benefitted, but because it shows that when pressed, schools and districts can make large-scale changes. Let’s capitalize on that momentum, and create a new normal that is more adaptive, inclusive, and future-ready.

At World Savvy, we are committed to creating an educational system that inspires students to learn, work, and thrive as responsible global citizens- and we’ve reached more than 730,000 students since our founding in 2002. As the pandemic has so harshly demonstrated, we are all connected, and we need to raise young people who possess the skills and dispositions to be leaders and changemakers in their diverse communities, locally and globally. To do that, we need to shift from a system that values what students know and move to a system that values and assesses what students can DO.

Here are three important ways we can re-imagine learning, whether it be in a classroom or over Zoom, and create a system that prepares students for the world:

Elevate skills: If we really want young people to be responsible and engaged citizens, then we need to teach them the skills and dispositions this requires. We have to rethink and reimagine the classroom experience and the traditional assessments teachers have used. No longer would we be grading to see if a student knows who was president during World War I–they can google that. We would be grading their ability to think critically about the information before them, to ask deep and probing questions, to seek out the perspectives they need to understand, to form opinions based on fact and exploration, and to find comfort in ambiguity. In life, there are no easy answers. Why should school be different?

It is also time that we stop using the term “soft skills” to describe empathy, resilience, and collaboration. As we look around the world right now, we can think of nothing more important than ensuring human beings have the capacity for these three things. At World Savvy, we help students to know more, care more, and do more in the world. Eighty-nine percent of students increase teamwork and collaboration skills and 93% of students are more open to new ideas and ways of thinking. These skills are absolutely essential to thrive in our complex and interconnected world, and should be taught and assessed with intention and urgency.

Elevate relevance: School does not need to be a right of passage; something kids suffer through so they can get to the next phase of their lives. School should be a place where valuable and important work is being done–work that directly connects to the world beyond the classroom. It should be a place that helps young people make sense of the world in which they live. Explorations of the Civil War and Reconstruction should include explorations of redlining and mass incarceration today. Explorations of immigration in the early 1900s should include explorations of the border wall, ICE and the lived experiences of immigrants today.

Students can practice critical thinking, research, empathy, and collaboration with any topic, so why not give them topics that are relevant to their lives right now, and that prepare them to engage in a world that is complex, interconnected and rapidly changing?

Elevate student choice and agency: Many schools offer students choices when it comes to the classes they take. French or Spanish? AP US History or AP Economics? Computer Science or Theatre? It is good for kids to have options, but none of those choices matter as much as the choices they get to make once they are IN the classroom.

Students need to have a voice in their own learning. Essential skills like critical thinking, coping and resilience, and questioning prevailing assumptions can be demonstrated in a myriad of ways, so let’s give students some power over how they show growth in these areas.

When teachers move from the center of the classroom, a place where they are the keepers of knowledge, and into the role of facilitators of their students’ learning, they create a space where students can fully and authentically engage with the material and learn to think for themselves. Students in World Savvy programs are Eighty-eight percent are more knowledgeable about themselves, their communities and the world.

There is nothing more powerful than asking a student “What do you care most about?” and seeing their curiosity ignite. Schools can help students identify their passions and take informed action on the issues that matter to them.

So rather than retreat to what we had before, let’s seize the opportunity that this major disruption presents. Let’s provide the support that educators need to build their own practice and connect with their peers about student-centered learning models. Let’s change the conversation about learning and teaching so that communities value the development of empathy and critical thinking over test scores and memorization. Let’s resolve to mend the inequities, adopt new methodologies, and empower the next generation to take their places as citizens of the world. We can do this. Let’s start now.

Dana Mortenson is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of World Savvy, a national education nonprofit working to educate and engage youth as responsible global citizens.

KK Neimann is a 6th grade social studies teacher at the Blake School in Minneapolis, Minn., and has a Masters in Education from Harvard.

---

Art by Andres Guzman (Instagram: @andresitoguzman)

This week, we grieve for America. For the familiar refrain of black bodies killed by structural violence rooted in white supremacy and the legacy of slavery. And as a consequence of the modern-day weaponization of whiteness that causes harm – and death – a straight line can be drawn from Amy Cooper in Central Park to George Floyd in South Minneapolis. 

The week began with the viral video of a woman in central park, calling 911 on a black man birdwatching, who asked her to leash her dog who was disrupting the habitat (and was off-leash against the stated rules). Then on Monday came the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, who crushed his neck for at least 7 minutes, ignoring cries of “I can’t breathe. Everything hurts. They are going to kill me.” And on Tuesday, in the WeWork in Minneapolis where World Savvy offices, a white CEO called 911 on a group of young Somali entrepreneurs who share the same space, using the office gym, assuming they were there illegally. Though this kind of institutionalized racism has been in the air we all breathe for hundreds of years, social media offers us all a window into its particular cruelty and violence. It is a reckoning that we cannot choose any longer to pretend is overblown or overstated. And yet, videos of murder sometimes offer fodder for debate, rather than a unified outcry for accountability and change. 

The weight of this, and what comes next – the healing and the repair – must begin and end with reflection and accountability for how we can all do better. Why does this matter, must it matter, to me? To our organization?

Reflection

I am a white woman living in Minneapolis, by way of New York City, where these most recent incidents occurred. I’m the mother of two daughters, and the co-founder of an organization that for 18 years has been committed to engaging youth in the pursuit of radical empathy, relentless curiosity about the world around them, critical thinking about the root causes of injustice, and deep understanding of the people who shape our communities–however different from ourselves and our own experiences. I founded World Savvy with my dear friend, Madiha Murshed; a Bangladeshi Muslim who endured the xenophobic backlash in post 9/11 America and believed a different future was possible, and that education was the most powerful platform to strive for that. But the calculus for my decisions – every choice I make as a parent and a professional and a citizen – are shaped and privileged by my lived experience as a white person. An advantage I did nothing to earn except be born in the skin I am in. 

When I talk with my children about the history of slavery and criminal justice reform, and systemic racism, it’s a choice; to ensure my children grow up awake and aware. But for a black or immigrant mother or father, these are not choices; these conversations are blueprints for survival for themselves and their children. They are the acknowledgment that this is a Tuesday morning in America, in 2020. I shudder to reconcile a world in which I would pray for the graphic video of my child’s violent murder to go viral, in search of an audience who can muster outrage; a world in which I would require that evidence to prove the injustice. And even then, to endure the inevitable debate of its merits – of the delayed and all too often unattainable justice for the atrocity.  

Accountability

In the face of this, and in the spirit of accountability, we are sharing the actions we are taking – actions you can take also – to call for justice for George Floyd, and to do your own work toward anti-racism:

Learn: we are recommitting ourselves to our own internal anti-racist work – to learning, listening, and working toward Ijeoma Oluo’s call to “fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself.” No matter where you are on your own anti-racism journey, the following resources offer chances for deep learning:

• A Public History of 35W, Mapping Prejudice, and MDP150 project shed light on the history of racism in policy and policing in Minneapolis.
• This Anti-racism resources for white people Google doc, this Shareable Anti-Racism Resource Guide, this Anti-Racist Allyship Starter Pack, and this spreadsheet of Anti-Oppression Resources all have a wealth of resources for both adults and children in their anti-racism journey. (Please note that attribution does not appear within the spreadsheet, and we have been unable to determine it – if you know who made this, please share so we can update!)
• The Aspen Institute “11 Terms You Should Know to Better Understand Structural Racism”
• The 1619 Project from The New York Times Magazine, curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Scene on Radio “Seeing White”
• Today’s Parent “How to talk to kids about racism: An age-by-age guide”
• Teaching Tolerance “Don’t Say Nothing: Silence speaks volumes. Our students are listening”
• The Washington Post “How should teachers and parents talk to kids about police violence?”
• The Conscious Kid
• These podcast episodes with Ricardo Lopez, a senior reporter for the Minnesota Reformer: Politico Dispatch and Today, Explained covering the history of the police violence in the city and how we got here today.
• This interview by Christiane Amanpour with Deray McKesson, civil rights activist and former Minneapolis Public Schools staff member, and Martin Luther King III, human rights advocate.

Listen: here are people of color in our community who are speaking up on behalf of justice, and provide additional ways to advocate for justice and supporting your neighbors of color.

Many individuals listed here offer additional resources they have created themselves for your own anti-racist journey. Please keep these things in mind when you interact with the resources they have created: 1) Most will have a welcome or “read first” section in their bio or website that includes instructions for how to utilize the resources and/or interact in the community they have created. Please read these first and honor them. 2) Many also have a Patreon page. If you utilize resources they have created, recognize the creative, intellectual, and emotional labor involved in this, and please support them however generously you are able.

Just a few of the voices we are listening to:

• Mike Griffin, Minneapolis Activist, @votegriffin
• Christiane Cordero, WCCO Reporter, @christianewcco
• Ricardo Lopez, MN Reformer Reporter, @rljourno
• Sheletta Brundidge, Author, @shelettaisfunny
• Nekima Levy Armstrong, Civil Rights Lawyer, @nvlevy
• Alicia Garza, Co-creator of Black Lives Matter, @aliciagarza
• Opal Tometi, Co-creator of Black Lives Matter, @opalayo
• Patrisse Cullors, Co-creator of Black Lives Matter, @OsopePatrisse
• Ijeoma Oluo, Author, @IjeomaOluo
• Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Activist/Writer/Educator, @MsPackyetti
• Austin Channing Brown, Writer/Speaker/Producer, @austingchanning
• Layla Saad, Author of Me and White Supremacy, @laylafsaad
• L Glenise Pike, Anti-racism educator and author, @elleglenisepike
• Rachel E. Cargle, Writer/Lecturer/Public Academic, @RachelCargle
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, Journalist, NYTimes 1619 Project, @nhannahjones
• Raquel Willis, Writer/Activist/Speaker, @RaquelWillis_
• Monique Melton, Anti-racism Educator, @moemotivate
• Reverend Jacqui Lewis, PhD, Anti-racist Activist and Minister, @RevJacquiLewis

Advocate: we are taking action and calling for justice for George Floyd and wider reforms to policing and policy.

This Google Doc, Taking Action for George Floyd, courtesy of the Coven in Minneapolis,  is “a collaborative resource list of ideas to help white people show up for racial justice” and includes many concrete actions we can all take right now.

Give: we are supporting organizations working for racial justice and criminal justice reform, local media, and those most impacted by George Floyd’s death.

At World Savvy we stand in solidarity and support of the many colleagues and organizations working toward this vision of a different future, a more just and equitable reality. We are here in support of the students, teachers, and families we work alongside who are adversely affected – every single day – by this structural violence. And we are committed to doing our own work that advances learning, discourse and truth-telling in the service of that vision for our future. 

And on behalf of our team, our Board, and the amazing network of colleagues and collaborators impacted by events like these that have become all too common in America, we grieve. And we will keep striving for a different reality, with relentless hope for a day when this is not a Tuesday morning in America.

---

By Dana Mortenson

Whole-school partnerships are at the heart of World Savvy’s work. Since our founding in 2002, we’ve worked with schools across the country to build inclusive, adaptive, future-ready learning environments.

Our World Savvy Partnerships program supports whole schools and districts to integrate global competence throughout leadership, teaching, and learning. This holistic approach allows us to reach the greatest number of students while creating deep, meaningful, and lasting shifts in K-12 education.

But what does that look like in practice?

This summer, we wrapped up nearly three years of partnership with Middle STEAM Magnet, a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) school, located in the Linda Vista neighborhood of San Diego, California.

Montgomery Middle is part of the San Diego Unified School District, the second largest school district in California, and their students are ethnically and religiously diverse, representing more than 15 ethnic groups and more than 60 languages and dialects. At Montgomery Middle, 35% of students are English Learners, 18% of students have an Individualized Education Plan, and as a provision 2 school, all students receive free breakfast and lunch.

The 3-year World Savvy–Montgomery Middle partnership focused on interdisciplinary thinking, building student agency through community research and public presentation, and design thinking in a STEAM environment.

We kicked off year 1 of the partnership by engaging 20 teachers in a day-long workshop. Teachers broadened their understanding of global competence, further explored how to apply STEAM to student learning, and practiced developing a project-based learning unit around the case study of food deserts.

Following the workshop, teachers received active coaching from World Savvy throughout the school year to design and implement two major inquiry-based units that include action projects for their students. We also partnered with Montgomery Middle to plan a design thinking STEAM camp for rising 5th graders.

In our second year of partnership, teachers built on their understanding of design thinking to support students as they developed Knowledge to Action projects.

Students learned about the Sustainable Development Goals and worked through World Savvy’s Knowledge to Action process to develop solutions to global and local issues.

One group of 7th graders was concerned about access to healthy food in their community. In order to provide consistent access to organic produce, they found a food truck that wasn’t being used two days a week, partnered with the owners and local farmers, and created a business plan to sell produce out of the truck.

Another group of students built a sculpture shaped like a wave made up of plastics and trash that they gathered from their neighborhood, saying –

“We wanted to raise awareness about how trash affects marine life and that they’re dying because of it.”

The second year also included support for Montgomery Middle to create a vision for their school that established a shared purpose and a common language for all community members and will help guide their work in the future.

In year 3, World Savvy worked with teachers to organize a fall exhibition and spring showcase of student work. World Savvy encouraged teachers to reflect and adapt and model those practices with their students. Training also included a focus on equity-based classroom practices.

At the end of the third year, students hosted their bi-annual Exhibition of Student Learning. In their Knowledge to Action projects, sixth graders focused on the history and future of the San Diego River. Seventh graders asked how they can be changemakers in their community and designed solutions to local and global challenges. Eighth graders focused on finding their voice. Students wrote poetry to increase awareness on topics connected to the Sustainable Development Goals and designed games highlighting the choices that people need to make in order to survive.

We’re invested in the whole school model of partnership because we know that it maximizes our impact on school culture and student learning.

Teachers at Montgomery noted that their ability to implement a project-based unit greatly increased as a result of working with World Savvy. For many teachers, their ability to help students apply design thinking also grew substantially and they felt more supported in their efforts to build an interdisciplinary STEAM curriculum.

When asked what she took away from the experience of working with World Savvy Jewels Krueger-Selle, a Montgomery science teacher, said, “so many things that I didn’t know before — this whole design thinking process. I always say I’m a scientist before I’m a teacher. I’m an environmentalist. I know there are problems. How do you take these things and inform the kids, but instead of being up in front at the board and saying, ‘This is what’s happening; write these notes down,’ actually bringing this idea of ‘How can we solve things?’ And letting the kids come up with ideas of their own instead of preaching ‘This is what we should do.’

These kids are our next world leaders. They have to figure this out themselves. So knowing now not to be that kind of teacher that I was when I first started ten years ago, when it was mostly me teaching and talking. Now it’s more about guiding the students.”

This is just one story of a World Savvy partner school, and we know that every school is unique. That’s why every World Savvy school partnership is custom built in collaboration with the school in response to their specific needs. Are you interested in becoming a school partner? Get in touch to start the conversation.

---

By Dana Mortenson

As elementary students embark on their academic career, many of the jobs they will hold decades from now are positions we can’t even conceive of today. To be successful in the decades ahead, we need to help students develop an understanding of the world and complex global issues, an appreciation and respect for cultural differences, strong problem-solving and collaboration capabilities, and comfort with ambiguity and change. If districts and schools across the country arm their teachers to build a globally competent teaching practice, as a country, our students will be much better prepared to face the challenges of the coming decades.

Effective Strategies

So, how can we effectively support teachers as they seek to build a globally competent teaching practice and equip their students with the skills they’ll need for the future?

It starts with giving teachers the time and the tools to build their practice, with the latitude to:

• Shift their role from the center of the classroom experience, to a facilitator and guide of the learning experience. 
• Use personal narratives—both from students and from those impacted by the issues the class is studying—as an opportunity to build empathy, understand perspectives, and authentically engage in problem solving. 
• Maximize opportunities for project-based learning to support student inquiry, critical thinking, and deeper learning.
• Provide learning structures and strategies that allow students from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and explore topics about which they’re passionate.
• Create learning experiences that allow students to integrate and develop social emotional skills, cognitive skills, and interpersonal skills.
• Support meaningful connections for students with peers from around the country, and around the world, in the service of problem solving and cultural understanding.

Global Teaching In Action
While it’s true there can be barriers to teaching in a globally competent way, districts and schools across the country are still making great strides in creating these environments. Let’s look at a few:

In its strategic plan adopted in September of 2014, Minneapolis Public Schools established “ensuring all students graduate ready for college and career with global competencies for the 21st century” as a central tenet. The district and its schools place a high value on recognizing the importance of bilingualism and biliteracy, and supporting teachers in leveraging its very diverse student population to build global competence across the student body.

According to Deputy Education Officer Elia Bruggeman, part of the success is based on an increased focus, among teachers and district staff, on topics such as globalization, diversity and inclusion, technological advancements, and changing demographics as key considerations in preparing their students. 

Across the district, 27 percent of Minneapolis Public School students speak a language other than English at home, and nearly 100 languages are spoken by its students. To date, the district has seen significant success providing teachers with resources to support project-based learning as a way to bring together diverse groups of students and build key skills such as problem solving and respect for multiple perspectives. 

Global competence also is prominently featured in the strategic plan of Mill Valley School District in California. Teachers in the district are given the autonomy to design curriculum with a focus on deepening student understanding and helping students achieve at high levels.

Superintendent Paul Johnson emphasizes the importance of thinking of teachers as designers, not being too prescriptive, and allowing them space to create and innovate within the district-wide global studies emphasis.

Building 21^st century skills, including critical thinking and problem solving, agility and adaptability, empathy, and entrepreneurialism, is an expressed value in the district, and project-based learning is encouraged.

Last fall, Mill Valley identified three teachers who were passionate about global competence, and enrolled them in the Global Competence Certificate as a way to build their knowledge. Beyond this, teachers are key voices in the district’s broader plan to create an articulated global studies curriculum from K-8, and they are given structured time to collaborate and wide license to create new approaches. With the training they’ve acquired, these teachers serve as district-wide leaders, sharing best practices in global competence and helping model the implementation of the district-wide global competence goals.

With both of these districts, and in an increasing number of schools and districts across the country, leaders are recognizing the importance of helping their teachers build a practice grounded in global competence. And thanks to them, as today’s students head toward graduation, we are ensuring that the next generation will be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to thrive in our global society.

Additional tools and resources to support teachers:

• Primary Source provides online teacher training
• Global Nomads Group for connections to classrooms abroad
• iEARN for classroom project-based learning

This essay was originally published on Ed Week in 2015. It is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

---