Yulia Bezriadina Meghan Gleason Vanessa Mathews Mario Nunez Sara Sepkowski William Walsh

Discussion Facilitation: Decolonizing the Mind for World-Centered Global Education by Merryfield and Subedi Reading: http://learn.education.illinois.edu/file.php/1715/403/Merryfield_Subedi_2006.pdf Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvbGC0IxAw0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJjTi-JprxQ Discussion Questions: How would you teach students who are not culturally aware to become openminded, to oppose stereotyping, etc. in order to develop this idea of "global perspective?" Is it much easier for students who have been marginalized or abused within society to develop a global perspective? (Ie- African American or Hispanic students who have grown up in a racist community enter a social studies class with an understanding of inequality and injustice) List ways students can learn how to develop skills in cross-culutral communication and cooperation in order for them to understand the world/society is dependent on working with people different from themselves? The article argues for not just a multi-cultural approach to social studies, but rather a world-centered global education. As prospective history teachers, what do you think about this idea? What are the benefits of this idea and what are the drawbacks? (When teaching a U.S. history course, will you have the time or materials to do so?) What role do you think textbooks play in reinforcing the colonized mind and Eurocentric thinking? Can you think of any examples that you experienced in high school?

How can a teacher advocate for a global perspective when the textbook is clearly Euro-centric and what role or metaphor should they take on? Do you think a teacher could use a Euro-centric textbook to their advantage? What teaching techniques or lessons/units could you use to counter or push students past the colonized mind? They touch on the use of racist or prejudice literature and contrapuntal or opposing histories and literature (i.e. critically analyzing colonial texts that have Orientalist or paternalistic perspectives). Do you think this is an effective way to break down the Euro-centric barrier? Can you think of more ways to do so? Merryfield and Subedi highlight the simple use of the term Third World in textbooks and how it shoved 85% of the worlds population into a single and primarily negative category. They highlight that the only shared characteristic of these people are that they are not of European heritage. How do you think terms like Third World can affect a diverse group of students? What message is it sending the students? When teaching Social Science in your classroom what do you feel will be more important to teach the ideas of understanding, perception, consciousness, empathy etc. or historical content? What should the balance be between content and intro/intraspection? Is it possible to teach qualities and characteristics such as the ones previously listed? Video 1: What do you think are the most important reasons for a global education? Why do Merryfield and Subedi think global education is so important? Do you agree or disagree, or have something to add? Video 2: From your own experiences in secondary school, what histories would you say are left out of textbooks? Have you seen this change since youve graduated? How would you rate their bias? Are the textbooks at your practicums any different? Is is possible to include every ones history in textbooks? How would you manage the amount of content? What is European diffusionism and how have you seen this practiced in classrooms (either through your own experiences or in classrooms you might have observed)? How might you, as a future teacher, prove to your students the fallacies of European diffusionism?

How can teachers approach the teaching of social studies (especially history) in a manner that helps to decolonize the mind? (hybridity, contrapuntal) Overall, how can successful social studies teachers decolonize the minds of their students? (perspective consciousness, interaction with students of diverse cultures) Activity 1: Where are these people from? What is your reasoning or logic? How do they relate to the world? - New Orleans, Post Hurricane Katrina

Australia

New York City, Times Square

Palestinian Children

Haiti Earthquake - Looters

Kabul, Afghanistan

Tsasala Tribal Dancer, Canada

Hawaii

Activity 2 Take a lesson plan (from discoveryeducation.com) and hand them out to the different groups. Task: How would you take this lesson plan that could be used in an American History class and adapt it so that it has a more globalized perspective? First briefly explain what the original lesson plan included. Then briefly explain your groups adaptation/s. Feel free to write on the lesson plans. Possible questions to ask after task: -Did you find the task to include a globalized world view in your already-developed lesson plan? -If you entered into a job where the curriculum was laid out, do you think it would be easy/appropriate/okay with the other teachers/principal if you adapted the lesson plan? -What came/comes into account when including a broader world view to a lesson plan? (Demographic of students, geography, location of where youre teaching, what youre teaching...)
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/we-the-people-a-history.cfm http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/civil-rights-an-investigation.cfm http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/east-meets-west-americans-on-the-move.cfm http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/abolishing-slavery-in-america.cfm http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/african-american-population-shifts.cfm