NCSS IX: Global Connections

 

     It is vital for social studies teachers to help students understand Global Connections. Global Connections have played an important role in history and will continue to do so even more today, as well as in the future. Our world in more connected globally than it ever has been in history. It is important for me to let students know that global connections have a major impact on them, and that they can have an impact on global connections as well. My studies of global connections throughout history up to today through the undergraduate and graduate courses I have taken have helped me gain valuable insight into the importance of global connections. Some of the undergraduate courses I took related to global connections include World Regions and Global Economy & World Politics. Some of the graduate courses I took related to global connections include Politics of Developing Areas and Global Governance.

     I began to address Global Connections in my lesson planning in Spring 2013 in the Comprehension and Content Area Reading class. I wrote a lesson plan on the reasons America won the Revolutionary War and the Battle of Yorktown (See Evidence 3). The Revolutionary War started off in New England; however, by 1781 it had become a world war. The US was able to make global connections with foreign powers like Spain and especially France to help us defeat the British. The global connection we made with France was vital in us winning the Battle of Yorktown and ultimately the Revolutionary War. Perhaps, my strongest lesson on global connections was the activity I did on the Columbian Exchange in the Fall (See Evidence 1 and 2). The Columbian Exchange resulted in goods, crops, ideas, and unfortunately diseases being able to reach new regions of the world where they had not been before. The Columbian Exchange also made Africa, Europe, and the Americas more interconnected than ever before in world history.

     I found it harder during my Spring student teaching to address global connections because I was teaching a US History class. I think it is easier to address global connections in a World History, World Politics, or World Geography class. Despite this I was able to address global connections during my lesson on territorial gains (See Evidence 4 and 5). I was able to do this because much of what is the continental US today used to be a part of Spain, Britain, France, or Mexico. Those global connections with other countries impact the culture in those regions of the US today. Also my Prelude to the Civil War lesson began to address global connections because the South was against tariffs due to their cotton trade relationship with France and especially Great Britain.

     Global Connections is a vital aspect of social studies that I will continue to incorporate into lessons during my teaching career. I can do this through current events or map activities demonstrating to students these connections, and having them do projects on global connections. It is important for students to stay up to date on these global connections, as it is becoming nearly impossible to be isolated in today’s world or the world of the future.

 

Evidence