¡Feliz viernes a todos!

I am so happy you are reading today because I am showcasing a great resource from Teaching for Change, which is another blogging site full of great teaching guides and supporting resources for the classroom. This week, to honor our themes of Afro-Caribbean cultures, Black History Month, Haiti, love and community, I am highlighting their resource for Teaching about Haiti. Because of all the supporting documents available through the page, this resource makes including Haiti in classroom discussion even easier! According to Teaching for Change, “It is important for students to gain a deeper understanding of the history and the roots of…Haiti. The U.S has been involved with Haiti for centuries, yet it has received little attention in textbooks or the curriculum. Part of our commitment to the people of Haiti can be to not only increase our support but also our awareness. As informed citizens, we can advocate for respectful and constructive relations with Haiti in the months and years ahead.” Continue reading →

Using Literature to Teach Global Citizenship

The theme for this series of “En la Clase” posts is how to bring multiculturalism into our classroom in authentic ways. As I mentioned in the previous post, one of my most important goals each year was to help my students learn what it meant to be a global citizen. One of the first steps in doing this was to expand the focus of our classroom beyond its four walls. I needed to begin to encourage all of us (myself included) to think beyond the narrow focus of our own lives. Bringing literature from around the world into the classroom was one of the easiest ways I found to accomplish this.

In order for this to really work, meaning I wasn’t just picking random books that caught my interest throughout the year, I had to have a plan of attack. Now, there are numerous ways to go about this, much of it depending on the age level of your students and the organization of your curriculum instruction and your daily schedule. The suggestions below are just that, you will probably have to modify them to make them work for your classroom.

Continue reading →