This document discusses ways to improve global competency among high school students. It defines global competence as having the knowledge, skills, and disposition to understand and act on global issues. The document notes that global competency is important for students' future careers and lives in an interconnected world. It outlines strategies for schools to bring the world to students through activities like international speakers and exchange programs, and to bring students to the world through trips abroad. For the English department specifically, it proposes developing a world literature course and incorporating more global texts into existing courses to expose students to diverse perspectives and cultures.

1. Global Competency:
Sharing Perspectives and
Generating Ideas
By Deanne Moore
Hingham High School

2. Overview
• What is global competency?
• Students’connection to global competency
• Why is global competency important?
• How can we integrate global competency
into our school?
• How can we integrate global competency
into our English program?

3. What exactly is
global competecy?

4. Global Competence Definition
Possession of the knowledge,
skills, and disposition to understand
and act creatively on issues of
global significance.
Source: The Asia Society

5. • Investigate the World – students investigate the
world beyond their immediate environment
• Recognize Perspectives – Students recognize
their own and others’ perspectives
• Communicate Ideas – Students communicate
their ideas effectively with diverse audiences
• Take Action – Students translate their ideas
and findings into appropriate actions to improve
conditions.
• Source: The Asia Society
A globally competent
student can . . .

6. Why does global competency
matter to our students?

7. It’s all about our
students . . .
• Their interests and passions
• Their knowledge and insight
• Their skills and abilities
• Their morals and values
• Their humanity
• Their future – as citizens, as family
members, as workers, as human beings

8. I asked my students . . .
Why is global education
important?

9. Students Speak
“We are a country of mixed cultures and
ethnicities, so doesn’t it only make sense
that we know and understand the cultures
that affect our day-to-day lives and the
world around us. Why let the unknown
remain a mystery?” - Claire von Loesecke

10. Students Speak
“The United States is a global power;
therefore, it is important to understand the
U.S.’s impact on the world. We should not
be influencing other countries if we are not
educated about them.” Liv Benger

11. Students Speak
“I feel that the best way to avoid major
misunderstandings with other cultures is to
learn about them and learn to appreciate
them” – Caitlin Durand

12. Students Speak
“Global education is essential to students
at HHS because my peers and I are not
only citizens of our nation, but we are also
citizens of the world” – Liv Benger

13. Why is
global competency
important?

14. To name a few reasons . . .
• Global economic situation
• Global environmental issues
• Global humanitarian efforts
• Regional and global conflicts
• Global health challenges
• Global political topics
• Global business environment
• In other words . . . the globalization that
impacts each and every one of us

15. Why? Another perspective
“All major hiring companies need global citizens.
Global sensitivities, global perspective, global
insight, along with maturity and a capacity for
risk-taking, are exactly the skills every major
organization is looking for – in every industry.”
– Kevin Gill, Global Director of Staffing for Honeywell

16. Why? Another perspective
“In the financial world, cultural awareness
and cultural adeptness are far more
important than undergraduate major or
existing skill sets… These needs touch all
industries, from banking to healthcare to
engineering.”
- Jonathan Jones, Firmwide Campus Recruiting
Director for Goldman Sachs

17. Why? Another perspective
• “The 21st century isn’t coming; it’s already
here. And our students have the
opportunity and challenge of living and
working in a diverse and rapidly changing
world. Public schools must prepare our
young people to understand and address
global issues, and educators must re-
examine their teaching strategies and
curriculum so that all students can thrive in
this global and interdependent society.”
• - NEA President Dennis Van Roekel

18. How can we improve
global competency
among our students?

19. What do we do next?
A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

20. How?
1. Bring the world to Norwell
2. Bring Norwell to the world

21. Bring the World
to Norwell High School
• Establish a faculty/student/community committee to champion global
competency
• Modify the curriculum
• Establish a global certificate program (i.e. https://
hinghamgcp.wordpress.com and
http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/core/Travel/GCP)
• (further) develop international student exchange program
• Participate in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange
• Invite globally-focused speakers and performers
• Participate in globally-focused service projects
• Encourage establishment of globally focused extra-curricular
activities and clubs
• Hold globally focused movie nights / book clubs
• Create an International Week
• Create an international photo gallery
• Other ideas?

22. Bring Norwell
to the World
• International teleconferences (Global Nomads)
• Exchange programs
• One-week February/April break trips abroad
• International service trips and programs
• World Challenge
• Fulbright Teacher Exchange program
• Other ideas?

23. What can we do
in the English Department
to help our students develop
global competency?

24. Our First Steps
1. Concrete measurable goals
2. Teacher training (Primary Source,
Teachers As Scholars, etc.)
3. Rethinking and renovation of curriculum

25. Ideas . . .
• Create a world literature course
• Modify existing courses to include more
global texts and topics. For example,
American literature lends itself nicely to
this approach.
• Assign students outside reading/
independent reading assignments with a
global focus

26. What does a world
literature course look like?
• The mission of the World Literature course is to use literature
as a vehicle to better prepare our students to be productive,
knowledgeable, and thoughtful citizens of the world. This
course will introduce students to the importance and pleasures
of reading and writing about an international body of literature.
Students will read high-quality fiction, non-fiction, and poetry
texts that represent various world cultures and, in the process,
will examine various peoples’ history, culture, religion, politics,
traditions, perspectives, mores, and values. Students will
explore literary concepts in the texts such as narrative style,
figurative language, theme, conflict, and characterization, as
well as aspects of different world cultures that connect us as
human beings. As enrichment, students will also have the
opportunity to interact with speakers, films, artifacts, museums,
and food from the regions covered in class. By the end of the
year, students will have a greater appreciation for and
understanding of other cultures and their literary traditions.

27. Potential texts
• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
• Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
• To Live, by Yu Hua
• Balzac and the Chinese Seemstress, by
Dii Sijie
• And many, many more . . .

28. Let the Adventure Begin!