DC Teachers Become Students at Primary Source
Payne Elementary School Teachers Gain Knowledge and Resources to Prepare DC Students for Today's Interconnected World
Last month, six educators from Daniel A. Payne Elementary School, a World Cultures Catalyst School in Washington, DC, traveled to Boston to attend Primary Source's Teaching for Global Understanding in the 21st Century summer institute. The week-long program featured lectures and workshops on five global themes: the economy, the environment, health, human rights, and peace studies. Joined by 50 educators from across the country, the Payne teachers gained new resources and ideas for integrating the study of world cultures and histories into their curriculum.
Timothy Street, Kindergarten teacher at Payne, said of the experience, "We came away with new technological skills that can be put to use instantly and can have quite a huge effect on classroom engagement... I felt empowered, intellectual, and invested in my own growth and that of my peers." The Primary Source institute featured Harvard Business School professor Catherine Duggan, Amnesty International USA's Joshua Rubenstein, and other prominent scholars and leaders. The course included hands-on workshops for teaching about global water use, food and nutrition around the world, and children's literature.
The DC Catalyst Project, an initiative of the DC Public Schools Office of School Innovation and the DC Public Education Fund, helps schools implement and grow programs organized around one of three themes: science, technology, engineering, and math; arts integration; or world cultures. As a World Cultures Catalyst School, educators at Payne Elementary School seek to prepare students for life and work in an interconnected world.
