Julie Kinnaird | September 8, 2020
The power of a story, or one’s narrative, can be transformative, whether you are the storyteller or the one gifted with the story. This fall UNC World View introduces four unique and exciting virtual programs for K-12 educators. Through a common theme of Shared Narratives: The Power of Global Perspectives we listen to and learn from those with lived experiences and the voices of experts in intercultural communication, musicians, educators, historians and more.
We start on October 8. Participants will be introduced to Story Circles. This methodology promotes intercultural competence development in building more inclusive societies and can be used in and out of classrooms. Dr. Darla K. Deardorff, Executive Director of the Association of International Education Administrators, will lead us in a training experience to build intercultural competencies based on her newly released Manual for Developing Intercultural Competencies: Story Circles, published by UNESCO and Routledge.
On October 22 we cross cultural bridges by hearing the story of friendship and music of Beijing-born, guzheng prodigy and vocalist Wu Fei and Nashville-based, clawhammer banjo player and vocalist Abigail Washburn. These musicians will share their journey of friendship across continents and cultural diplomacy by intertwining Chinese and Appalachian folk music! The program will also feature strategy sessions featuring World View’s 2019-2020 Global Music Fellows. The integration of music across the curriculum enables students to engage in rich textual analysis of diverse, interdisciplinary primary source materials, as well as further develop global competency skills such as recognizing perspectives and communicating across cultures.
On November 19, we are excited to partner with the Choices Program at Brown University to explore their new unit, Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom and Legacies, and introduce strategies for using the unit with students. Joseph Jordan, Director of Carolina’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History and interim Vice Provost for Academic and Community Engagement will kick off the program with a talk, followed by an interactive session exploring the lessons and activities in the new unit.
We close the semester with an important program, Stories from the Holocaust, on December 3. In this program we will dive deeper into discussing how we honor and preserve the stories and memories of another’s lived experiences from the Holocaust. The program will also offer sessions with resources for teaching the Holocaust in K-12 classrooms.
Educators are encouraged to register for one or all programs! Each program will offer 0.5 Continuing Education Unit when the accompanying program study guide is completed and returned to World View. For more information and to register click here.