Tag: global competence

A World Savvy Approach to Navigating the Future of Education

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

Our National Director of District and Strategic Initiatives KK Neimann explores World Savvy’s innovative approach to education on The Good Life EDU Podcast presented by Nebraska’s ESU Coordinating Council. In KK’s words, World Savvy is a “capacity builder.” Through multi-year Comprehensive School Partnerships, we work with school leaders and educators to embed global competence and create inclusive, adaptive, and future-ready learning environments.

Tune in to learn more about global competencies, fostering teacher empowerment, and enhancing support for students! 

Listen to the podcast here. 

World Savvy is continuing to expand our work with schools and districts across the country. Reimagine education with us and learn more about our school partnership opportunities to embed global competence into your learning environment.

Navigating Change and Ambiguity with World Savvy

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

World Savvy team members, National Director of District & Strategic Initiatives KK Neimann and Executive Director – Western Region Harben Porter, were invited to talk about our transformational work on the Make It Mindful education podcast with hosts Seth Fleischauer and Lauren Pinto.

In this episode, the hosts explore the concept of global competence with KK and Harben and in doing so, talk about how it can prepare students for the increasing complexity and unpredictability of our future. A key challenge schools face today is ensuring students graduate with the core skills that will be needed in a future that’s changing at such a rapid pace we can’t fully predict what jobs to prepare students for! KK shares that there is one certain thing we can tell young people about the future: they need to be prepared to navigate change and ambiguity. 

Listen to the podcast here.

How can schools equip their students with these essential skills to thrive in an uncertain future? World Savvy’s answer is through teaching for global competence – developing the skills, behaviors, and dispositions needed to thrive in a diverse, complex, and interconnected world. 

KK and Harben also discuss the need for a shift in the traditional approach to teaching, toward one that’s more student-centered. Through our Comprehensive School Partnerships, World Savvy supports teachers to not only embed global competence into the classroom but also to make learning more relevant and personal to students so that they feel connected to the content, leading to better student outcomes. 

But none of this is easy and pushback to new concepts and ideas is bound to happen. Perhaps Harben says it best. World Savvy is a partner that helps schools navigate “the messy work of systems change and transformation.” Learn more about our school partnership opportunities or connect us with a school today!

Opening the World Through Education

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

There’s nothing like an international experience to shine a light on why schools need to better prepare students to become global citizens. That’s why World Savvy has partnered with EF Education First on their international educational trips for school leaders that highlight how to integrate culture, identity, and global competence into classrooms right here at home. 

Our CEO, Dana Mortenson, recently appeared on Break the Ice Media’s Destination on the Left podcast with Nicole Mahoney. She was interviewed alongside Kate Berseth from EF to talk more about this partnership and the crucial need to embed global competence into our learning environments, as well as how our education system can better prepare students with the skills they need for success, leadership, and citizenship in our diverse and increasingly interconnected world.  

Listen to the podcast here.

World Savvy is an organization that partners with schools to reimagine education and create more inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning communities. We are continuing to expand our work across the country. Connect us with a school or learn more about our school partnership opportunities.

Global Competence Skills and Artificial Intelligence: A Discussion with Dana Mortenson

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

World Savvy is pleased to share a recent podcast discussion featuring CEO and Co-Founder Dana Mortenson, focusing on the fascinating intersection of Global Competence Skills and Artificial Intelligence.

During this conversation on WOUB Public Media’s NPR Teaching Matters podcast, Dana delves into how AI is reshaping the educational landscape and its potential to promote global competence, inclusivity, and active learning methodologies. At World Savvy we are passionate about empowering students to become responsible global citizens, and we are both curious and excited about the role AI will play in this.

Whether you’re an educator, a student, a parent, or anyone with an interest in the future of education and technology, this podcast is a valuable listen. 

Listen to the podcast here.

World Savvy is an organization that partners with schools to reimagine education and create more inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning communities. We are continuing to expand our work across the country. Connect us with a school or learn more about our school partnership opportunities.

Iterative Learning: Why Our Schools Need to Abandon Compliance

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

The workforce that students are preparing for is changing at an unprecedented pace and will only continue to do so. The shift towards a competency-based education model is imperative, especially one that equips students with the essential skills needed to prepare them for a complex, ever-changing world.

This is what World Savvy’s CEO and Co-founder, Dana Mortenson, advocates for in a recent article, “Iterative Learning: Why Our Schools Need to Abandon Compliance,” which appeared in District Administration, a K-12 education publication. She explains how moving to a model of education focused on competencies will empower students to learn and re-learn for the rest of their lives.

Read the article here.

District Administration is a leading K-12 education publication for school district leaders that covers topics in edtech, staffing, leadership, analysis, and thought leadership.

About World Savvy

At World Savvy, we partner holistically with schools to reimagine education and create more inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning communities. We do this by collaborating with schools to embed global competence–the skills, values, and behaviors that prepare young people to thrive in a more diverse, interconnected world–into their strategic vision, school environment, and teaching and learning practices. Connect us with a school or learn more about our school partnership opportunities.

Conversations on Connection: Dana Mortenson

Posted on by Gabrielle Horta

Inspired Teaching’s Continued Exploration of School Connectedness

World Savvy’s CEO and Co-Founder, Dana Mortenson, spoke with the Director of Teaching and Learning at the Center for Inspired Teaching, Jennifer Fournel, about elevating student expertise and fostering cultures of connection.

In their conversation, Dana shared an effective tactic to help teachers dive deeper into who their students are and how the students’ lived experiences may help to inform classroom culture. Hear what Dana said about World Savvy’s work, belonging, youths as experts, curiosity, and more.

Derived from the organization’s Global Competence Matrix, the World Savvy team uses Global Competence prompts — questions that “get outside of potentially more one-dimensional and surface-level understanding” — in place of traditional ice-breakers. Think “Describe the last time you tried something multiple times before finally getting it,” vs. “What did you do this summer?”

As you continue to learn more about your new students and work to build equitable, engaging learning environments, we hope you are inspired by the prompts Dana shared — as well as the rest of her conversation with Jenna — to build authentic connections and community in the school year ahead!

Listen, read, or watch the interview.

World Savvy is an organization that partners with schools to reimagine education and create more inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning communities. We are continuing to expand our work across the country. Connect us with a school or learn more about our school partnership opportunities.

St. Anthony New Brighton Symposium

Posted on by Kady Cheng

St. Anthony Middle School 8th grade students present innovative solutions to social issues through partnership with national K-12 education nonprofit World Savvy 

On Friday, May 5, 2023, 8th grade students across St. Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis, MN, culminated their middle school tenure with capstone project presentations to their families, teachers, and the larger community.

The capstone projects are grounded in the Knowledge to Action Framework, a youth-led design challenge that brings students together to create ideas for action in their local community. Students identify an issue they care about, build their knowledge and understanding of the complexity of the problem they are hoping to solve, and support the creation of informed solutions designed to tackle the issue’s root causes. 

“I’m so proud of the creativity students have shown with their projects, which range from websites to business plans, short stories to 3D models!” says Drue Schwitters, student teacher from St. Anthony-New Brighton Schools. “I also am impressed by their persistence as they work through these hard topics. We are so excited to see these projects come to life as we finish the year!” 

The end-of-year student symposium is part of a larger partnership with World Savvy – a K-12 national education nonprofit organization headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. World Savvy partnered with St. Anthony-New Brighton School’s 8th-grade capstone student council advisor Alison Criss to support the project design, curriculum planning, and scaffolding of skills throughout the school year to ensure students can successfully execute their projects. 

“I’m so grateful to partner with World Savvy this year! It’s been an opportunity for me to grow in my teaching practice, learning and applying new frameworks, strategies, and collaborative structures in my classroom,” says Criss. “I’ve felt supported during the entire process while being given the freedom to adapt their materials and make them my own. Writing an entirely new class was such a daunting task, but working with World Savvy turned it into a joy!”  

World Savvy has facilitated thousands of Knowledge to Action processes with schools nationwide. The process is a microcosm of World Savvy’s systematic work with schools to build more relevant, student-centered, and future-focused learning environments.

“By collaborating and cross-pollinating their ideas over the last few months, students have honed their skills and strategies for collaborative communication, inquiry-based research, analysis of the world through critical lenses, and strategic written and oral communication,” says Melanie Peterson-Nafziger, World Savvy professional learning facilitator who has been the lead partner with St. Anthony-New Brighton Schools. “In next year’s iteration of this capstone project, we intend to deepen students’ interdisciplinary investigations of local manifestations of globally significant issues right in their own communities. By investigating global issues that are deeply relevant in their own communities, St. Anthony students will perforate the walls of their classrooms, learning with and from community organizations and stakeholders and preparing to take action on globally significant community challenges.”

We are continuing to expand our work across the country. Connect us with a school or learn more about our school partnership opportunities.