This document describes several international professional development programs for teachers: 1) ILEP and TEA programs that provide education courses, workshops, teaching practicums, and cultural activities for international secondary teachers at U.S. universities. 2) The Teachers for Global Classrooms program that trains U.S. teachers to develop globalized curricula and share knowledge with their school communities. 3) Program activities include an online course, symposia, and international field experiences to help teachers build global competencies and integrate global learning. 4) Suggested essential questions for global education that connect to class disciplines, identify assumptions, and tools for student research.

1. Leveraging International Professional
Development for Classroom Learning

2. International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP)
& Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA)
ILEP (semester) and TEA (six week) are intensive
professional development programs for international
secondary school teachers at a U.S. university including:
• A customized course in education;
• A customized technology workshop;
• A teaching practicum at a U.S. secondary school;
• Organized U.S. civic and cultural activities.
• Full participation in two higher-level undergraduate or graduate U.S.
University courses (ILEP Only)
Programs of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs

3. Teachers for Global
Classrooms (TGC)
U.S. teacher participants become skilled
practitioners and ambassadors of globalized
pedagogy resulting in enhanced student learning
outcomes within the U.S. education system.
o TGC Fellows are skilled authors and analysts of pedagogical
materials that infuse a global perspective into the core curriculum ;
o TGC Fellows are equipped with the knowledge, skills and tools
necessary to be effective catalysts in their school communities into
centers of global engagement.

4. Program Activities
• A graduate level online course designed specifically for
U.S. teachers to build essential global teaching
competencies and skills in order to integrate globalized
learning into curricula;
• Two Global Education Symposia in Washington, D.C.
(pre- and post-travel); and
• An international field experience through a two or
three-week country visit upon successful completion of the
online course. Current countries of travel: Brazil, Ghana,
India, Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, or Ukraine.

5. Essential Question for
Global Education
• Draft a question connected to global concept/issue
and classroom discipline
• Identify Critical Assumptions
• Develop Supporting Question
• Identify Tools for Research
• Engage students and/or staff

6. • How does environmental ethics impact the
Indonesian culture through laws, literature,
point of view, age?
• How is population growth affecting learning
in Indian secondary classrooms?
• How is the rising waters in the Amazones
state (Brazil) impacting life “here” and
“there”?

7. For whom the blog’s told…
Posted by: edlightened
We teach our students that a story’s meaning is determined in part by the lens through which
Blogging
the story is viewed. We teach them to try on different “critical lenses” and watch how the
“moral of the story” seems to shift and shimmer in the new light.
It is likewise true that the stories we tell, and how we tell them, are determined by the lenses
we ourselves are wearing. Once you accept both these lessons, life, and it’s interpretation, is
never simple again.
So how do I tell this story of my journey to Brazil? What is my lens? Who is my audience?
• Teacher Professional The trouble is, it’s as if I’m looking through the stained glass window of my audiences and
obligations asking, “Which lesson is most important? To whom do I dedicate this story?”
Development: Blogs For my family…
This is a story about a woman who belongs to the world. A mother that at times is taken
as reflective practice away as she follows her compassion to young people at the margins of society.
For my students…
This is a story that will percolate into their classroom all year at the most
unexpected moments of learning and laughter, reminding them that education
reaches beyond the four walls of their classroom.
• Classroom Learning: For my school…
Engage your learners This is a “glocal” story of educational programming dedicated to the intellectual,
professional, and ethical development of local and global citizens.
while you are gone For my country…
This story is a fledgling attempt to blow-apart the antiquated confines and barriers
of American public education, to better prepare beautiful minds to engage and
compete in a wider world of wonder.
• Connect Classrooms: For the world…
What of this country? What will this story mean to Brazil? Its schools? Its youth? After this
trip, what will be my greatest obligation to them? What is my obligation to all the
Facilitate interactions remarkable, tenacious young people I have met in Kenya, China, Mexico, and now Brazil?
How can this story break down borders and build bridges for them?
between your And for me…
What is the chapter heading in the novel of my life? My “100 years of attitude?”
students and I have no definitive answer. Just the literary and universal notion:
“Ask not for whom the blog is told. It’s told for thee.”
students abroad

8. This street artist caused
controversy when he was
invited by a professor at the
university to “tag” this water
tower.
Youth is in the Eye of the Beholder
Posted by: edlightened | June 19, 2012 | No Comment |
The concept of “youth” differs around the world, but some things remain the same. In most countries, youth have to carve out places of belonging. Sometimes this
process can be destructive, sometimes creative.
At this public high school, the staff responded to the “graffiti problem” by giving students permission to do murals on the walls.
In Brazil, you can see the varied colors of youth everywhere. You can see these varied colors in the diverse ethnicities and histories of those living in this country. You
can also see these colors as you pass through the city streets. Graffiti is everwhere.
It used to be that Graffiti was seen as a blight in a city, a sign of urban decay. But now, with documentaries like Exit Through the Gift Shop and artists likeBanksy,
there is a growing understanding that grafitti often reflects the desires, critiques, and stories of otherwise voiceless and marginalized communities. Most often, grafitti
tells the story of a country’s youth.
Graffiti on a skateboarding storefront in downtown Manaus. Underpasses seem to be popular places both for skate boarding and street art.
Today while visiting the Federal University of Amazonas, I encountered graffiti in an unexpected space: on the side of a water tower in the middle of the Amazon rain
forrest.
The University itself is a wonderful surprise, nestled in the midst of the forrest, it is a welcome escape from the Urban Jungle into the literal jungle. It has been
deliberately designed to be in harmony with the environment, rather than in conflict with it. The open spaces, natural wood, and landscaping make you feel like you
are at a tropical retreat rather than educational institution.
This street artist caused controversy when he was invited by a professor at the university to “tag” this water tower.
As we toured the grounds, I was delighted to encounter beautiful graffiti on the side of the water tower. When I remarked on this, the student giving us the tour (A
communications major and head of the school newspaper) she explained, that indeed, this artist had been invited to come and do this artwork here, much to the
dismay of some of the professors at the institution. It is fitting that Graffiti remains provacative regardless of whether it is sanctioned or not.
She went on to explain that a professor at the school studies and documents graffiti around the world and that the process and project surrounding the graffiti can be
found at this blog:
(Link to come)
I cannot intepret these fables, manfestos, or memoirs for you, but I can give them greater visibility in this space and allow them to speak for themselves.

10. Reinvigorating Unit Plans
• Now, what would you do differently? How would you teach
this unit differently?
• Now, what kind of impact do you hope it will have on
student? What are the outcomes you want? What would you
like students to do differently?
• Now, what might try differently in your teaching practice?
Include changes in any aspects of curriculum, instruction,
assessment, classroom expectations, etc.

11. Additionally…
• Global Education Course
• State cohort planning sessions
• Cross-cultural communication development
• Discipline specific peer learning groups
• Professional learning networks
• In-country debrief: What? (Understanding )
So What? (Relevance) Now What?
(Application)