I am almost at the close of the year....only 2 months after this holiday break. I will post photos and experiences of the journey as reflections about my time here, as well as what I have learned about starting a start up in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Think Globally and Act Locally had been my mantra for the last 2 years. However, understandng why you must develop global competencies is importatnt.
After watching the video, if you are a Lenart Student, your challenge is to choose a topic from the video, complete research about why knowing your seleeccted topic will help you prepare for to compete in the 21st century. A competition will be posted for your entry soon. What is a 21st Century Education? http://youtu.be/Ax5cNlutAys This is truly one of my great passions that I have not been able to pursue for the last few months as I took on a big assignment. As the International Baccalaureate Coordinator for the Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme I was working 14 hour days. Next week, I will embark on a new endeavor with Lenart Regional Gifted Center, CPS school. I am very fortunate that I will bring all International Baccalaureate experience into my new position.
For you global citizens, this means exciting posts, starting with some student interviews from Indonesia that I did not get to post. Also, look for my. next contest that will start on January 27, 2014. Think Globally and Act Locally had been my mantra for the last 2 years. However, understandng why you must develop global competencies is importatnt. I mentioned it in my last blog and plan to write more about how to prepare and get your parents to help you in a blog in August. However, I wanted to share with you a video that I included in my last blog in case you missed this and open a discussion with any summer readers of my blog.
After watching the video, if you are a student I would like you to reflect about what you have learned last year and share with me if you believe you are getting a 21st century education and why? What is a 21st Century Education? http://youtu.be/Ax5cNlutAys Today, I was reviewing a few French magazines online for a project, and I discovered that by 2015 France will discontinue all public telephones. While it is no secret to why, the reasons are very close to those of most American telephone conglomerates in America. However in France, Belcagom, a Belgium company supplies all public telephone cabines in France. Belcagom has experienced a significant decline in the use of public phones in France since the entrance of cell phones to the market. Last year, the average public phone was used 14 minutes a month compared to 15 hours a month in 1997. There was a time I never would have thought that public phones would cease to exist in urban cities. It would have been like telling me video stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood would go out of business! Oh my how they have changed! These stores too have been greatly affected by Internet technologies. The disappearance of this social entertainment as a staple brick and mortar business has had a dramatic effect on the local economy. Since Netflix, and Blockbuster have gone online there are a myriad of jobs that have been replaced by a new sector in the work place, leaving those who have not updated their skill set in an undesirable place. Let’s take a look at the jobs that disappeared or have affected other industries with the disappearance of these 2 store chains nationwide: · Store managers · Assistant store managers · District managers · Sales clerks · Stock clerks · Office clerks · Secretaries · Distribution warehouses · Decrease in shipping needs via UPS Technology is definitely reshaping the labor market in ways we cannot really project. In fact, I saw a great YouTube video entitled What is 21st Century Educaton (2012) by the Smithsonian Student that asserted in 2012 many of the top jobs did not exist in 2002 such as: · Media Content Expert · Sustainability Managaer · User Experience Specialist · Telework Manager Video: What is a 21st Century Education? http://youtu.be/Ax5cNlutAys The advances in technology are so vast and rapid; it is critical to change how you construct your worldview and the skills that you develop. To compete with your peers around the world, you must have global competencies, such as the following: · Oral and Written competency in a World Language · Excellent critical thinking skills (meaning the ability to take issues, situations, and problems and diagnose root components to have a systematic perspective) · Ability to communicate and collaborate with diverse global citizens from various cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds These are only a few. I will write a blog soon about this in the coming weeks!!! Think Global Challenge: One of the careers listed below is a career that has already been automatized, and is predicted to be severely on decline in the 10 years as a “stand alone” skill. Choose your answer and post your reasons why. I will post the answer next week. A. Attorney B. Accountant C. Electrician D. Marketing Director This is an interview with the wine producer of Chateau Font Blanche. For you French speakers, and French lovers, this is an opportunity to practice your listening skills. Transcript of video in English coming this weekend. I arrived in Bordeaux two days ago. I will be here a fews weeks. Jael and Solomon are traveling with me, so please visit the G-kids page. Bordeaux is a city in the southwest of France in the region of Aquitaine and the department of Gironde. People from Bordeaux are called Bordelaise. Bordeaux is known as the wine capital of the world, having this prestigious status since the 18th century. UNESCO has classified the historic part of the city in 2007 as an “outstanding urban and architectural ensemble." Tuesday, I had the opportunity to tour the city and attend a professional class on wine and participate in a degustation. A degustation in French means a wine tasting. The class was most informative. While I will not share every note that I took during the class, I will highlight some of the most pertinent points that will spring board you to your journey in becoming a connoisseur. Interesting Facts about wine in Bordeaux The date on the bottle of wine does not refer to the year the wine was bottled, but the year that the grapes for that wine were harvested. Wines in Bordeaux are classified by:
These classifications reveal the quality of the wine. Usually wines produced in communities, smaller quantities are usually better quality. Red wines (Noble Grapes)
Red wines (Acceptable Grapes)
White Wines
When you taste wine, you do not drink the entire class. There are usually two tasting of a wine. The first taste reveals the savors. You take some wine and hold it in your mouth then, discard it. When you do the second tasting to the wine, you swish it around, and then discard it. The second tasting usually reveals different savors that you did not recognize the first time. While many of your are too young to taste wine, this mini lesson will certainly give you the savoir faire when you turn 21. Blog, Monday June 17, 2013 Field trip to school: SMA pesantren terpadu hayyatan toyyibah School Tuition is 22 million rupiah Room and Board: Each month 1.9 million The government does not provide any financial support for Pesantren, an all boys Muslin boarding school about 3 hours from Cimahi.. The school is responsible for obtaining its own funding. Pesantren is a type of Islamic school with a special curriculum, which is mostly fifty percent religious studies and the other academic disciplines. Before it was not a popular school in Indonesia. However, recently, they have developed a an interesting curriculum based on the credit system like we have in the United States. They have also created partnerships with international schools in Southeast Asia and in the United States. On my way into the school, I met a student named Fauzi who was picking up his diploma. He shared with me in perfect English that he had spent a year in Oregon. This is a great value to the educational experience of students at the school, as they experience international perspectives in education. As we continued to walk to the hall for the welcome speech I thought about our public schools in the United States While, this international experience is available through a private Muslim school, I could not help feeling it provides a significant, distinct advantage for some students . Studying abroad while in high school enable s the student to learn about another culture and hone their language skills. This means they go off to college already bilingual!!! Even students in Indonesian public schools are fulling the important global competency of learning world languages early. Most students start studying English and German by the 4th grade. This early exposure to language is important since we live in a global community where borders are ceasing to exist!!! In America, this opportunity is not readily available to all our students in elementary. In the United States the average public school does not provide world languages, despite the research that shows studying a language improves student abilities in other disciplines, such as math and English comprehension. In Chicago, there are very few world language programs in schools that are in high poverty areas. The few that are available reside on the north side in affluent neighborhoods. Most studentsl have an opportunity to take a world language in in high school, but this is such a late start. The work to obtain good conversation skills becomes a mini mountain for most students. This is definitely an area public schools need to seriously revisit if we are to seriously CULTIVATE globally competent students. INDONESIAN Cultural FACT Traditional Martial arts in Indonesia is called pencak Silat (it is required at the Pesantren school, but offered as an option in Indonesian public school.) Yesterday, I was walking around the school and was thinking about how space is organized here, and how school accommodates culture. In the middle of the school is a mosque. While Negeri 2 Cimahi is a public school, since Indonesia is predominately a Muslim country, the faith of the students is tightly nestled in the education and the cultural practices of student education. I remember duirng a presentation last week, the call to prayer sounded. I was in the middle of a presentation, and Anni quietly whispered to me, we stop all activites and wait before continuing when there is a call to prayer. This gives those who may be involved in a different activity to excuse themselves and go to the mosque for prayer. Faith is an integral part of the culture in schools in Indonesia. I believe it knits the community of learners together more than the school mission. (photo) This is a photo inside the mosque. The girls change to white robes and cover their heads. The black curtain separates the girls from the boys. |
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Margo Martin is an award-winning educator that immensely enjoys inspiring kids to cultivate their minds and become global citizens who can compete in an ever changing and competitive world. Archives
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