Global Horizons Project (1989 - 2016)

The Global Horizons project at the Center for International Education works to promote a greater awareness of the world community in Massachusetts’ K-12 schools by providing global and multicultural education curriculum resources and training to educators throughout the Western Massachusetts region. The Massachusetts Global Education consortium under the Massachusetts Department of Education funds the project. There are two major activities in this project i.e. (i) plan and implement workshops for K-12 educators, and ii) operate a global and multicultural education curriculum resource center.

 

The primary activity of the project is offering weekend workshops for educators on a range of topics that reflect global issues and culture such as: multiculturalism, global citizenship, immigration and refugee issues, identity, tolerance, technology and social media, gender issues, environmental issues, racial issues and so on.  A typical workshop is attended by 15 to 20 teachers from schools in Western Massachusetts

 

Examples of recent workshops include:  ‘Multicultural Education: Teaching and Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners’, ‘Cultural Humility in the Classroom: Promoting Psycho-social Well-being of Immigrant, Refugee and Minority Youth’ and ‘Gender and Education in Massachusetts classroom’. Workshops planned for spring 2017 include: ‘Using Mythical Adventure: Exploring how Cultural Stories Can Connect Us to Each Other’, and ‘Understanding and Addressing Racial Issues in Massachusetts K12 Classrooms’. Registration is free for all K-12 educators including student teachers and the participants receive a stipend for attending the workshop.

 

The workshops are well-received by the participants. Here are some comments from participants in previous workshop evaluations.

 

“Thank you! As usual, this workshop was very helpful. It is particularly helpful to use this information with young children who are still open to learning about and questioning gender roles”.

 

“Very exciting experience and the food is great! Thanks! The process is a humbled journey to learn more about the beauty of this profession. I am glad I am in! See you next time!”

 

“Presenter was well prepared, concise able to facilitate a group. The materials were put forth in a way that allowed for open discussion. There was room for people to comfortably and respectfully disagree with a statement”.

 

“I enjoyed the variety of interactive activities of the workshop and the space to share the ideas + experiences”.

 

Global Horizons is overseen by Professor Jacqi Mosselson and managed by Mahboob Rahman and Vongai Changamire, graduate students in CIE.