Nobelity Throughout the Academic Year
Purpose
Educating and raising awareness of global concerns; making connections from international concerns to our students’ world.
Part of raising awareness is creating an environment of global awareness without overwhelming students. This “lesson” is a continuous thread that will keep the spirit of Nobelity alive throughout the academic year. As we know, our students are visual creatures and reinforcing through visual media is a subtle way to keep the spirit of awareness and caring alive.
Creating a Nobelity Environment
There are many ways to create visual reminders that reinforce the knowledge gained from the DVD. Consider implementing one of the following:
- Take advantage of the fact that Nobelity offers nine Nobel Laureates. Use this to your advantage and marry the nine conversations to the nine month academic calendar. Devote one month to each Nobel Laureate and his or her cause.
- Hang a large map similar to the one Turk used at the beginning of the video. Encourage students to post articles they find about problems around the world. You may also hang a second map and post articles that offer solutions to these problems or you may choose to use one map and, as the year continues, replace the initial articles with corresponding articles that offer solutions.
- Begin each month with a chapter from the DVD and spend one day viewing and discussing each chapter (discussion questions may be found in the Listening Guide on this website). The remainder of the month, encourage students to explore the problems introduced by each chapter independently (or in groups); by the end of the month, students should be discussing and sharing possible solutions. You might consider requesting students to present these solutions in a power point or posting them on the Nobelity website.
- Ask students to consider small steps they may take to become part of the solution. Celebrate these activities by posting photographs, written accounts and posters that students have created to document their efforts.
These activities may be integrated into many classrooms and you control the time devoted to these topics. Some may choose one day, others may decide to build a full unit around Nobelity. As the world becomes smaller and more complex, raising awareness of these issues falls upon the shoulders of the educator. Every step, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction.