Bridges for Students
- Bridges to the World Distance Learning
CCWA will make a number of its major lecturers, international visitors and other experts available for conversations with 8 to 10 classrooms at a time through the distance learning facilities operated by WVIZ/
ideastream at Idea Center in Playhouse Square. Students in their classrooms will not only see a live presentation but also will be able to ask questions and exchange ideas both with the guest presenter and with students in the other participating schools.
A week to 10 days before each event, a local expert will meet with the classes via distance learning to orient students to the historical, political, and economic significance of the country or region to be discussed by the visiting dignitary, as well as to create a better understanding of the culture and heritage of the people residing there. They also will be given guidance in framing more penetrating questions to get the most from the experience.
The classes will be selected from history, political science, economics, foreign language, and others in the 18 Greater Cleveland high schools that are paying members of the North Ohio Technology Association created by WVIZ/
ideastream. In addition, classes in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, whose membership is supported by a foundation grant, are included as well. (A list of participating schools is attached.)
While a maximum of 10 classes can participate in the 2-way discussions, an unlimited number can view the proceedings.
Two distance learning sessions that have already occurred are:
October 27, 2009: Clare Lopez, Professor, Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies and formerly with the CIO on
Iranian Intelligence:
To view Clare Lopez's presentation click here
November 17, 2009: Michael Green, Ph.D. Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Associate Professor, Georgetown University, on
Ideas and Power in Asia
- Bridges to the World In-school Presentations
During the 2008-09 school year, CCWA piloted a
Bridges to Africa program at John Hay High School. On three occasions, when the Council had speakers scheduled for evening lectures, the speaker met with students at the school. They included the Ambassador Peter Ogego from Kenya; Timothy S. McCoy, vice president of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), and Majka Burhardt, a mountain climber who discussed her experiences in creating a documentary in Ethiopia.
Each session was preceded by an orientation session conducted by a local educator. They included Dr. Behane Ghaim, a Baldwin Wallace history professor from neighboring Eritrea, for the presentation on Ethiopia, and Dr. Meshack Owino, a CSU history professor from Kenya, for the other programs.
This year the Council plans to expand the number of personal visits to schools, with an emphasis on reaching additional schools in CMSD, Shaw High School in East Cleveland, and inner ring suburbs that have a heavy concentration of low income and disadvantaged students.
- Bridges to the World Professional Development Series for Teachers
This new program will consist of four, day-long sessions on the topic of
Bridges to the World: Race, Religion, and Culture. These are critical forces that many teachers are hesitant to address in the classroom because of the potential controversial content, but are essential to understanding international relations and global issues today.
The sessions are as follows:
January 21: Dealing with an overview on global awareness and race
and religion in Latin America
February 9: Religious complexity in the Middle East and Islam in non
Middle Eastern settings
March 11: India in the modern world and China's evolving role
April 20: Resources for future curriculum development and teaching about the world
The curriculum is being developed by a committee headed by Don Ramos, history professor emeritus but still teaching at CSU, and Jim Moore, associate professor of general social studies in the CSU College of Education. Faculty will be drawn from Cleveland area institutions, such as Baldwin Wallace College, Case Western Reserve University, and John Carroll University. Some experienced classroom teachers may also be involved.
All sessions are to include exercises in the use of the Internet to find background materials on the topics under study. This was a skill requested by teachers who participated in the Council's pilot series of professional development workshops held in the spring of 2008.
The sessions are planned for 20 teachers and will be offered at the modest fee of $100 for the series. Participants will receive complementary copies of
Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives, an NCSS (National Council for the Social Sciences) Bulletin with guidelines for dealing with controversial subjects and
Gun, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, the acclaimed book by Jared Diamond.
One and two hours of graduate level credit will be offered by CSU for an additional fee of $439.25 per credit hour and will require completion of follow up assignments.
The Council is planning to reserve about a fourth of the slots for participation by teachers from Cleveland Schools and will raise funds to pay for the substitute teachers of Cleveland schools as well, estimated at $600 per teacher for the series. Other schools do not require such reimbursement for substitute teachers.
The series is being developed as collaboration between CCWA and the Center for Educational Leadership at CSU and will be held at the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County.