By Whitney Hamilton
whitney.hamilton@education.ky.gov

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, an experienced world language teacher or global competency guru at your school, Global Collaboration Day (GCD) is for your students. The day is an opportunity for students to get involved with their world and practice these principles right from their classroom.

The last Global Collaboration Day, held every September, took place on Sept. 21, 2017. GCD is a 24-hour online event for educators, students and organizations to host or attend a virtual activity that connects them with other teachers, students and organizations across the globe. The day is sponsored by the Global Education Conference Network, a team of education professionals who are dedicated to raising awareness about global competency.

The idea for GCD developed through the work of the network’s annual Global Education Conference, which is held each November. Although GCD has yet to reach the popularity of the Global Education Conference, there were attendees from more than 70 countries who came together virtually to celebrate globally connected teaching and learning through this school year’s first-ever online Global Education Fair.

This virtual fair was a free event to educators and school districts and provided an opportunity for teachers and students to collaborate with individuals around the globe, while increasing cultural awareness, global citizenship and equity and diversity in classrooms. Participants registered for the event and then used the link emailed to them to access the schedule of events and sign up for sessions.

Sessions were organized by time zone as well as by the intended audience, so it was easy for teachers to choose events that would work well for their age groups and schedules. The Global Education Fair provided elementary to postsecondary students with an opportunity to grow globally through engaging in activities created by these groups or by other classrooms, or by sharing their own projects and work with classrooms across the world.

The Global Education Conference Network is planning its second online Global Education Fair, which will take place during the week of March 23. For more information about upcoming Global Ed events, visit the group’s website.

 

Whitney Hamilton has served as an elementary literacy consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education in the Division of Program Standards since July 2017. Before joining KDE, she spent 15 years teaching 3rd grade in Madison County. Her first 11 years teaching were in a self-contained classroom, while she spent the last four years teaching English language arts. Hamilton earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from Eastern Kentucky University. Literacy was also her content focus while earning her Rank I certification through the Continuing Education Option. She will complete her education specialist degree from Eastern Kentucky University in May.