being taught, should be required to go
abroad.
“We think it ought to start at kindergarten. The fact is that the large majority
of the classroom teachers defining the
world for kids are themselves globally
illiterate. And that’s a harsh thing to say,
but it’s a truth.”
As of this spring, World View had 72
partners among North Carolina’s school
districts, schools and community colleges.
It has reached into 95 of 100 counties,
110 of 115 school districts and 53 of 58
community colleges.
Wanda Forte was a teacher at Mac
Williams Middle School in Fayetteville
when she participated in World View programs, including a trip to South Africa.
The impact influenced her lifestyle as
well as her teaching style. She became a
world traveler and took Spanish classes to
increase her ability to communicate on
subsequent trips. Her classes experienced
other cultures through lessons that
reflected her travels. In a unit on Japanese
culture, Forte led a class in creating their
own Zen gardens.
“The trip to Africa has been the most
exciting event of my life,” she wrote in an
e-mail. “It has opened my eyes to so
many possibilities, and so many thoughts
are flowing ... my classes at Mac Williams
are enhanced every day, and the enthusiasm of my students is heightened because
of my experience through World View.”
Johnnie Simpson, the vice president
for instruction at Richmond Community
College, said an immersion in global
issues through World View was particularly valuable in a rural area. “This program is going to make a big difference in
our college,” he said.
The program has forged at least one
exchange project. In June 2006, World
View took 43 K- 12 and community college educators to China. As part of the
program, World View connected schools
and colleges with sister institutions in
China. One of those links, between Pitt
Community College and the Wuxi Institute of Technology, near Shanghai, has led
to subsequent visits by Chinese educators
to Pitt County and a return trip to the
Shanghai school.
World View has reached into the
upper administration of the schools. An
online course on globalization, to be
offered five times this year, was the result
of Janice Davis’ experience with the program. Davis was deputy state superintendent of public instruction before she
retired. The course has expanded to three
courses — one for K- 12 teachers, one for
K- 12 administrators and one for community college faculty and administrators.
World View convenes a symposium
each fall in Chapel Hill, where teams
from partner institutions are assigned a
faculty member, usually from UNC. This,
Phay says, establishes a lasting connection
with the University even for teachers and
administrators who didn’t study here. The
other major annual events are seminars in
the spring, and a Global Education Leaders’ Program, which Phay calls a “crash
course on globalization.”
Partners also can send a faculty member abroad with World View. The program
has taken participants to places such as
Senegal, Honduras, India and Spain to
visit schools and to take in the culture
and history of the country.
World View is funded not by the University but with $316,000 a year directly
from the N.C. General Assembly. Participants’ school districts cover course registration fees in most cases.
“In August, we worked with our
10,000th educator,” Phay said. “There is a
huge need for this, and we are really only
touching the surface of the great need.
We need to be taking 10,000 teachers
abroad.”
Documentary Photo
Edward Kidder Graham House
Rare opportunity to live next
to picturesque UNC Chapel Hill
campus. Highly significant
Edward Kidder Graham House
(1908) was home to two notable
university presidents. Shingle-style
house on large lot in quiet, desirable
National Register neighborhood;
walkable to chic downtown.
Eligible for NC homeowner tax credits.
Requires complete rehabilitation.
Approximately 3,200 sq. ft.
$900,000
— Juliann Neher
Preservation NC
(919) 832-3652
or visit www.PreservationNC.org
for properties available for restoration
