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Teacher Q&A: Maureen Sullivan, Bedford High School
Maureen Sullivan teaches English at Bedford High School. With support from Primary Source, she has created an international speaker series that connects her 12th grade students with leaders on a range of global issues.
PS: How did this summer's Teaching for Global Understanding institute influence your speaker series?
Maureen: When I began to design Global Voices two summers ago, enlisting students' curiosity to become engaged, culturally literate citizens was a priority. Primary Source has been an invaluable resource in the process of developing curriculum, particularly because of the quality and range of opportunities offered. Teaching for Global Understanding in the 21st Century enabled me to expand my search for timely, credible materials. The interactive exchange adopted by those who presented during the course solidified the importance of offering my students something similar. This year, I shared the Wide Angle film Back to School with my students, and their poignant reactions to underprivileged children who were profiled led me to seek Anish Kattukaran to launch the guest speaker series. Had I not learned through Primary Source about the film, issues around global economics and education, and the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals, my students would have missed an enduring lesson.
PS: Recently, your speaker series featured Anish Kattukaran, the founder of the Make Poverty History Emirates Campaign. He currently sits on the Global Council of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP). How did your students react to Anish's talk?
Maureen: Several students were amazed that Anish accomplished so much when he was so young, their present ages, and when he made a point of mentioning his first initiative in Dubai, he revealed a successful strategy that catapulted his goal. By contacting larger corporation leaders and CEO's, he discovered instant gratification, because most responded and acknowledged their willingness to contribute. Since Anish's visit, students are discussing ways to raise awareness about global poverty, perhaps even organizing a Bedford Stand Up day, while several plan to connect further with Anish to support GCAP.
PS: Who do you plan to bring in next (for the speaker series)?
Maureen: Our class recently visited the Peabody Essex Museum, where among other exhibits, students saw the Yin Yu Tang House. Later this month, students will have completed Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and B.U. professor and Chinese scholar Shelley D. Hawks will be visiting my classes to speak about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. As we read modern short stories from Under African Skies (edited by C. Larson), and explore Africa, West African dancer & drummer Sidi "Joh" Mohammed Camara, will conduct an interactive workshop for students.
PS: What do you hope your students will gain/learn from these speakers?
Maureen: Experiential insight and awareness that individuals improve our world, especially when invested in earnest concern for the larger community. Each guest is pursuing a heartfelt dream that requires empathy and hard work. Just as most of the speakers, Bedford students are privileged and capable, so interacting with these active models will resonate of possibility for their own future direction.
PS: Are there resources that were provided during the Teaching for Global Understanding institute that have helped your students gain a more global perspective?
Maureen: I continue to consult and utilize all of Primary Source's resources. I require students to locate and annotate reliable resources regularly, as they explore issues and regions related to the course. I have bookmarked and annotated several that tie directly to Teaching for Global Understanding. For example, after watching the film, Kandahar, students researched the history of landmines and consulted BBC links to make relevant cross-cultural connections. I also showed them a clip from Nobelity, a film we viewed in the Global Understanding course. Class discussion and writing testified to how little students knew about gender issues in the Middle East, and the politics of war. My students are technologically savvy, and it is quite gratifying to provide them with resources that foster deeper understanding of the changing world.
More Primary Source News
Maureen Sullivan teaches English at Bedford High School. With support from Primary Source, she has created an international speaker series that connects her 12th grade students with leaders on a range of global issues.
PS: How did this summer's Teaching for Global Understanding institute influence your speaker series?
Maureen: When I began to design Global Voices two summers ago, enlisting students' curiosity to become engaged, culturally literate citizens was a priority. Primary Source has been an invaluable resource in the process of developing curriculum, particularly because of the quality and range of opportunities offered. Teaching for Global Understanding in the 21st Century enabled me to expand my search for timely, credible materials. The interactive exchange adopted by those who presented during the course solidified the importance of offering my students something similar. This year, I shared the Wide Angle film Back to School with my students, and their poignant reactions to underprivileged children who were profiled led me to seek Anish Kattukaran to launch the guest speaker series. Had I not learned through Primary Source about the film, issues around global economics and education, and the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals, my students would have missed an enduring lesson.
PS: Recently, your speaker series featured Anish Kattukaran, the founder of the Make Poverty History Emirates Campaign. He currently sits on the Global Council of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP). How did your students react to Anish's talk?
Maureen: Several students were amazed that Anish accomplished so much when he was so young, their present ages, and when he made a point of mentioning his first initiative in Dubai, he revealed a successful strategy that catapulted his goal. By contacting larger corporation leaders and CEO's, he discovered instant gratification, because most responded and acknowledged their willingness to contribute. Since Anish's visit, students are discussing ways to raise awareness about global poverty, perhaps even organizing a Bedford Stand Up day, while several plan to connect further with Anish to support GCAP.
PS: Who do you plan to bring in next (for the speaker series)?
Maureen: Our class recently visited the Peabody Essex Museum, where among other exhibits, students saw the Yin Yu Tang House. Later this month, students will have completed Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and B.U. professor and Chinese scholar Shelley D. Hawks will be visiting my classes to speak about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. As we read modern short stories from Under African Skies (edited by C. Larson), and explore Africa, West African dancer & drummer Sidi "Joh" Mohammed Camara, will conduct an interactive workshop for students.
PS: What do you hope your students will gain/learn from these speakers?
Maureen: Experiential insight and awareness that individuals improve our world, especially when invested in earnest concern for the larger community. Each guest is pursuing a heartfelt dream that requires empathy and hard work. Just as most of the speakers, Bedford students are privileged and capable, so interacting with these active models will resonate of possibility for their own future direction.
PS: Are there resources that were provided during the Teaching for Global Understanding institute that have helped your students gain a more global perspective?
Maureen: I continue to consult and utilize all of Primary Source's resources. I require students to locate and annotate reliable resources regularly, as they explore issues and regions related to the course. I have bookmarked and annotated several that tie directly to Teaching for Global Understanding. For example, after watching the film, Kandahar, students researched the history of landmines and consulted BBC links to make relevant cross-cultural connections. I also showed them a clip from Nobelity, a film we viewed in the Global Understanding course. Class discussion and writing testified to how little students knew about gender issues in the Middle East, and the politics of war. My students are technologically savvy, and it is quite gratifying to provide them with resources that foster deeper understanding of the changing world.
More Primary Source News
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