The adviser of the International Junior Writers Club (IJWC) was officially certified as a global educator by the U.S. Department of State after completing the IREX-administered professional development, Foundations of Global Education, on October 27, 2019. The IJWC adviser was a member of the original small cohort selected from across the U.S. to participate in this professional development to help promote global education and global competence in U.S. classrooms in order to help address global goals for sustainable development. As part of its specific objectives, the professional development allowed the participants to build an understanding of frameworks for global and cultural competence; identify and explain cross-cultural communication; incorporate global activities and teaching methods into their classrooms, schools, and communities; engage with experts in the field of global education; and build a network of global educators in their content and geographic area. As a follow-up activity, the cohort will meet this coming December to discuss the process of and planning for implementing global education and to debrief, share reflections, and plan for the future.
The IJWC adviser shared some successful IJWC activities with the cohort. He also learned more strategies from global education-related activities and ideas of other cohort members. Global education experts that substantiated the professional development by sharing their expertise included Dana Mortenson, Chief Executive Officer of World Savvy; Sydney Chaffee, CCSSO 2017 National Teacher of the Year; Mohamed Abdel-Kader, Executive Director of the Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute; Heather Singmaster, Director in the Center for Global Education at the Asia Society; and Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program alumni Laureé Akinola-Massaquoi, Ellen Kraft, Matthew Cottone, Todd Noyes, and Maria Zelaya.
