How US educators are integrating Generation Global

As Generation Global has changed and developed over the years, schools have found different and unique ways to make the programme work for them. Dialogue is a set of skills that can transform education, turning a lesson into an opportunity to expand our perspectives and think creatively and critically about the world around us. We spoke with several educators in the United States who told us how they use Generation Global resources to support students in meeting these outcomes through dialogue. In these examples, they share their teaching methods and approaches, highlighting creative and impactful ways they foster global citizenship and dialogue skills at various intervention points in the school curriculum – and offering valuable insights for educators everywhere.

Case study: Preparing for Dialogue through classroom activities

Rachel from Analy High School in California has been engaging with Generation Global for 12 years now, watching the programme move from offline dialogue activities to instant online connections. This means she still utilises some of our original core skill building activities that worked well for her, teaching and preparing her students for dialogue even before they join the online Generation Global platforms. She focuses on global citizenship, and finds a strong correlation between the topics and events offered by Generation Global and the topics she teaches in the classroom. Beyond encouraging her students engagement, she has been active in the educator community, fostering connections with educators around the world.

When Generation Global released the online Ultimate Dialogue Adventure, Rachel joined us and has brought several classes to videoconferences over the years. This is partly due to her trust in the programme, which she described as feeling a level of safety she hadn’t previously found with global online edtech, but did whenever she logged in to a videoconference and saw the familiar face of one of our team. One of her favourite videoconferences was in fact with a neighbouring school from the same region – despite their similarities, her students found significant differences between them and the other class, encouraging them to re-examine their assumptions about the variety of perspectives and experiences people might have over even a small geographical difference.

Case study: Lunchtime clubs and career development

Cary from Farragut Career Academy in Illinois is the kind of educator who makes young people want to stay in the classroom. He has incorporated Generation Global into lunchtime clubs and extra credit activities, presenting it as an opportunity to further their educational horizons. In World Studies and Freshman Seminar, he has used the Generation Global programme to support teaching open-mindedness and communication through dialogue.

He first gets students interested by highlighting the opportunity to meet young people from around the world in a structured, supportive environment – which many young people may not have the chance to do otherwise. Then, he makes the wide range of topics we offer work for them. In some cases, that might mean integrating a topic into class, for example in the International Baccalaureate Career Programme where future doctors engage in Health & Wellbeing videoconferences and future teachers engage in Education videoconferences – an hour-long online facilitated dialogue over Zoom, where students connect with peers from around the world to dialogue about global issues and sensitive topics. Other times it is as simple as allowing the students to decide what topic means the most to them, and letting them lead the way.

Cary has the following advice for other teachers – “My advice to teachers is to make sure to prepare your students about the topics, but also the dialogue skills. More importantly, I highly recommend taking the time to sign up for Generation Global and provide their students with this memorable opportunity.”

Case study: Shaping the next generation of teachers through dialogue

For some teachers, Generation Global offers an opportunity to dive deeper into their class content. Jasmine from East Kentwood High School in Michigan teaches an elective class called Educators Rising, developing future teachers and integrating Generation Global into class time as part of the course. She and her class join Education videoconferences each year to learn about education in different countries, and share their experiences and hopes for the future of education. When they book into a videoconference, her class will check which other countries they will be dialoguing with to do some preliminary research into the education systems in those countries, to ensure they can ask informed questions and make the most of the opportunity to meet them.

She particularly likes that the students get to steer the conversation, and it is relatively hands-off for teachers during the videoconference. She encourages her students to come up with questions during their preparation, so they can contribute and encourage the dialogue with their peers during the session. She has found that her students can be a bit hesitant to start, but once they begin they always find their voices.

Case study: Integrating dialogue training throughout the school community

Some schools truly take the pedagogy of dialogue to heart, sharing it with every member of the school community and thereby fostering a culture of open and respectful communication, that impacts every aspect of school life. Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco is an International Baccalaureate school, so has always had a global mindset that they share with their students. They undertook the Essentials of Dialogue training offered by Generation Global with all members of the school community, to give them a grounding in dialogue that would support many other initiatives to expand their students’ perspectives.

Rachel, the Head of Convent High School and Chief Academic Officer, said: “The dialogue framework allows us to withhold judgment, and to engage with one another in a spirit of curiosity and open-mindedness. International mindedness requires that we know where we are coming from and what and how we think, but not to stay there. The practice of dialogue expands our capacity for encounter with other ideas and with people who may hold different values and beliefs. 

Our school has engaged all community members in the Essentials of Dialogue training and we have incorporated dialogue into all-school events when we invite an author to present to our community on a given topic. Last year, we invited the historian Annette Gordon-Reed to talk about Jefferson and the complexity, challenges and contradictions within his life story and his legacy. Professor Gordon-Reed’s presentation launched a day of dialogue, where students and faculty discussed topics such as problematic monuments, the concept of reparations and immigration. Our work with Generation Global is an anchor for our school. It has changed the way we engage difference, allowing us to live more fully into the mission of the IB that states “other people, with their differences, can also be right.”

If there is one common thread between these examples, it is their dedication to bringing the opportunities and skills of dialogue to their students in whichever way works best for them. Why not try some of their approaches, and bring dialogue into your classroom?