Charlé LaMonica | February 14, 2017
When I tell people that I am a high school math teacher interested in global education, I am often met with perplexed stares. After all, numbers are numbers, no matter where you are in the world. But, with the help of World View, I’ve seen ways to incorporate global education into my math curriculum.
So begins the narrative of Haywood County’s Pisgah High School math teacher, Stephanie Morgan, winner of the 2017 James L. Peacock Scholarship to attend World View’s March 2017 seminar on Latin America and North Carolina. Stephanie will also attend Stories of Africa: Connected Over Time and Across the Globe.
This seminar scholarship is awarded to a North Carolina educator who has attended a World View global education professional development program during the 2015-2016 or 2016-2017 academic years and has demonstrated a commitment to bringing the world to North Carolina students.
Stephanie infuses her math classes with global content and skills learned at a 2016 spring seminar and fall global symposium and creates globally-relevant lessons for her students. For example: at the spring seminar, a session given by Professor Greg Gangi on the German Energiewende provided her with lots of charts and tables that could be analyzed. Graph analysis in and of itself may not sound global, she states, but being able to present such to her students within a global context while also being applicable to the green energy discussions prompts students to think about global issues within a math classroom. In Chadd McGlone’s Global Math Stories session in the fall, she gained a resource that presents issues from given global regions in mathematical context and forces students to use mathematics to solve the issue. The Iron Ore Express, for instance, fits wonderfully into her Math I curriculum by asking not just for linear equations, but also making comparisons between types of equations her students study. Again, points out Stephanie, this gives a global context to the mathematics students learn.
Great educators listen and discuss, evaluate and encourage, inspire students and aspire to improve him or her self as an educator every day. Congratulations to Haywood County’s Pisgah High School math teacher, Stephanie Morgan, and the work she does every day to prepare students to become thoughtful global citizens who will be collaborative and competitive in the global marketplace.
About James L. Peacock:
James L. Peacock is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received a B.A. from Duke University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has served as chair of the UNC faculty, chair of the Department of Anthropology and director of the UNC Center for International Studies. Dr. Peacock was instrumental in the founding of World View and helped World View fulfill our mission for over 15 years. The scholarship is offered in appreciation for his commitment to global education. Read more about Dr. James L. Peacock here.