by Joyce Yang | 8 Aug 2023 | Education, Media Literacy, Personal Reflections
Living in a globalized world means appreciating the nuance of diverse perspectives and shared experiences. Global Citizenship Education (Canva). The field of education loves its buzzphrases. Standards-based grading. Project-based learning. Media literacy education. ...
by Joyce Yang | 17 Mar 2023 | Europe, Personal Reflections
Think of Paris and your mind brings up the scent of fresh baked baguettes, not the reek of rubbish on the Rue de Rivoli. Trash accumulates meters away from the Notre Dame Church in Paris, 16 March 2023. Typically, my morning commute to the News Decoder co-working...
by Nelson Graves | 16 Dec 2022 | Journalism, Media Literacy, News Decoder Updates, Personal Reflections
News Decoder has been a return to roots for me — a startup with slim financial returns that belie both its social worth and the joy of working with youth. The author is the founder of News Decoder. This month he is turning over management of the educational nonprofit...
by Maame Afua Kome-Mensah | 8 Dec 2022 | Africa, Contest winners, Personal Reflections, SOS-HGIC, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I often wondered what it meant to be a ‘winner.’ Now I know a winner sees a problem and, with teamwork, finds solutions. The author receiving an award for placing 5th in Orator of the Year competition at her school. This article, by high school student...
by Asher Lefkoff | 7 Dec 2022 | Culture, Education, Europe, Personal Reflections, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
It’s the serenity and commotion that I love about Spain. I must seize the day because I will never again be 17 running around a Spanish city I love. Zaragoza (Photo by Asher Lefkoff) This article, by high school student Asher Lefkoff, was produced out of News...
by Aline Itege | 1 Dec 2022 | Education, Health and Wellness, Kepler, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
When the language of instruction in Rwanda shifted from French to English, I stumbled academically. My father taught me to ask for help when in a jam. The author with her father in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2008. “That was my first time in Kigali. My father had...
by Helen Womack | 24 Nov 2022 | Culture, Personal Reflections
Writing should not tie you up in knots. It is no more formal than speaking. Write as you would speak. Think of writing as speaking on paper. (Courtesy of Lansing Community College Library) Two authors taught me how to write. One was British civil servant Sir Ernest...
by Luna Lee | 17 Nov 2022 | China, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights, Miss Porter's School, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
My parents bring school supplies and health necessities to rural China. “The Forgotten Schools of Ghost Town” is my calling, too. Four students walk up a barren mountain with dusty backpacks on their shoulders. We see them every year. The four are always...
Student reporter Luna Lee of Miss Porter’s School in the U.S. state of Connecticut gives a heart wrenching account of how children in rural parts of China willingly trek long distances in harsh conditions for an education housed in places few people would consider a school. Her first person story about a nonprofit run by her parents to help these schools and these young people demonstrates how in many places education is a privilege that people don’t take for granted.
Exercise: Students should consider whether in their own country education is considered a privilege or a human right. Have students look at this map of data from UNESCO of primary school completion rates and determine in what countries the fewest and largest percentages of students who go on to secondary education.
by Skylar Bennett | 14 Nov 2022 | Personal Reflections, Politics, United States, Youth Voices
I find a political home in neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party. Instead, saving U.S. democracy is my call to action. The author keeping tabs on the latest political news. I was in high school and too young to vote in 2016. Still, for me and many other...
by Helen Womack | 4 Nov 2022 | Asia, History, Personal Reflections, Russia
A reporter recalls riding in the first Soviet tank convoy pulling out of Afghanistan in 1988 and considers the barriers women overcame to report on war. The author (left) together with colleagues from Italy and Germany riding an armoured personnel carrier out of...