Twelve Lessons to Open Classrooms and Minds to the World

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 13, 2018) - To celebrate International Education Week, the NEA Foundation is releasing a book written by educators for educators focused on global learning. Twelve Lessons to Open Classrooms and Minds to the World includes lesson plans for every grade.

The book is the culmination of an extensive, year-long global learning professional development program run by the NEA Foundation, a public charity founded by educators for educators to improve public education for all students. The Global Learning Fellowship includes educators from across the country.

Bound by the idea that in this increasingly flattened world, learning to think critically about global affairs is of utmost importance, the 2018 Global Learning Fellows, a diverse cohort of 46 educator leaders, came together to create an easily-accessible guide to provide educators with essential tools they can use to prepare students for active global citizenship. With support from the NEA Foundation and working with Harvard Professor Dr. Fernando Reimers, the Fellows organized themselves by grade level, created and then tested a set of lesson plans they are now sharing with educators worldwide in an effort to prepare students to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

The book delivers globally-themed, standards-based, one lesson per grade, from kindergarten to high school. It is adaptable for all subjects and grade levels, providing educators around the world with tools they can use to prepare students for active global citizenship.

"What excites us most about the book project is that it reflects the Foundation's ethos of educator leadership in practice," said Harriet Sanford, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation. "Our Fellows produced the lesson plans over the past school year, working in grade-level cohorts, refined them, and then tested them in their classrooms. Importantly, the lessons have also been reviewed by a panel of external curriculum experts."

Each chapter, organized by grade, includes:
• Subjects
• Instructional Goals
• Student Learning Objectives
• Resources

The appendix includes handy lesson plan templates, rubrics, and additional global resources, making it a practical, valuable resource that any educator can adapt for use in his or her own classroom.

It is linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a universal call-to-action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

Dr. Fernando Reimers will be hosting a panel discussion about the book at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on Tuesday, November 27th. More details about the event are available here: https://bit.ly/2RSaEIm

The book is available on Amazon as an e-book for 99 cents, as well as other formats. For more information on the NEA Foundation's Global Learning Fellows visit https://www.neafoundation.org/for-educators/global-learning-fellowship/.


About the NEA Foundation

The NEA Foundation is a public charity founded by educators for educators to improve public education for all students. Since our beginning in 1969, the Foundation has served as a laboratory of learning, offering funding and other resources to public school educators, their schools, and districts to solve complex teaching and learning challenges. We believe that when educators unleash their own power, ideas, and voices, communities, schools, and students all benefit. Learn more at neafoundation.org
Editor's Note: Please use our correct name, the NEA Foundation. The "NEA" is never spelled out. It is not the National Education Association Foundation.