Setting Intentions

World Leadership School Partnership
EHS-Santa Rosa (Cusco)
Anna Tuttle
August 15th, 2009

Why did I do this, and what am I hoping to get out of it?


Personally, I feel strongly about the value of globally-connected and globally-relevant learning. My family chose to live overseas for six years while I was in middle school and high school. When I think about the concerns we shared before we left rural Indiana for Tokyo, Japan, we were mostly concerned about barriers to feeling comfortable- how would we be able to live our lives, go to school, play sports, if we didn’t speak the language? Luckily, we were able to attend an English-speaking American school, so the barrier to ‘friends’ and ‘school’ was somewhat taken care of. But in terms of truly understanding and falling into the culture, we needed to spend some time learning the language, learning customs, and in native settings. It was a powerful and interesting experience, and one that left me most with a desire to keep a global perspective on any issue once I moved back to the States. So far, this has been easy for me. But it has not always been easy for everyone else I’ve met in the last seven years living here.

In my Environmental Science class, students need to recognize that environmental problems here in our city, state, country are not our own, alone. Any environmental problem always involves a larger geographic area than map borders will allow. Additionally, even if we don’t have a specific problem in our area, it is happening somewhere else. Take severe starvation and poverty. While this is a local issue, it is mostly more of a global issue, threatening the lives of a majority of citizens of several countries (specifically in Africa) every day. Primarily, I hope for my students that connecting with another classroom, in another geographic area, presents a personal connection to a peer with a problem that was once impersonal, but can become personal.

For my own development, I hope to really master the tools available to make this connection. I am not afraid of technology and am mostly comfortable “messing around” with it. But I want to learn and discover the best way to connect with these students to really foster that peer-to-peer interaction. So my main goal is to grow my skill base in creating connections with other teachers in other areas. Of course I also want to learn and understand the Peruvian culture and perspective on our global issues. I am really excited to gain this perspective.



World Leadership School Journal Entry # 1
Chelsy Hooper
Aug. 13, 2009

Why did you volunteer for this position?

My position at Ensworth is Middle School Technology Coordinator. As the Tech Coordinator, I feel that working with another classroom using web 2.0 tools will be a perfect fit for our tech curriculum in 6th grade. I also have experience teaching foreign language and living abroad, so I am accustomed to being open to other cultures. I heard about the service learning work that the High School is doing with WLS and hope to encourage similar meaningful experiences at the Middle School.

What do you hope to get out of it?

I hope that my students will have meaningful interactions with another classroom in a different culture, while learning practical web skills that will prepare them for working in an interconnected world future. I hope that personally I will be a good role model for other teachers, encourage them to reach out and create their own global partnerships in their own disciplines. I also hope to become an expert user of a variety of web 2.0 tools in order to be a resource and to support my colleagues in global endeavors.

Global Education Program Intro

A presentation given at Ensworth's Back-to-School Inservice on August 11, 2009

Global Education Programs

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