Teacher-Student Initiative 2022-2023

From the Land to the Sea: Exploring Ecuador’s Rich Culture and the Biodiversity of the Galápagos

Teacher-Student Initiative

Information and Application

Read more about the Teacher-Student Initiative from our 2021-2022 report.

For additional information, please contact Courtney Harris-Brown at chbrown@unc.edu or visit worldview.unc.edu.

“The UNC World View Teacher-Student Initiative offered my high school English class the opportunity to learn about a relevant real-world issue. It was learning that my normal content could not have offered.”

Dr. Stephanie McGirt, SandHoke Early College High School                                                      

Meet the 2022-2023 TSI Participants!

About UNC World View

Established in 1998, UNC World View is a public service program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that equips K-12 and community college educators with global knowledge, best practices, and resources to prepare students to engage in our interconnected and diverse world. With more than 92 official K-12 partnerships across the state and beyond, UNC World View reaches thousands of teachers every year. Participants have come from all 100 counties in North Carolina. In 2019 alone, more than 100,000 North Carolina K-12 and community college students were taught by UNC World View participants.

The Teacher-Student Initiative

The Teacher-Student Initiative is a program designed for North Carolina high school teachers who are interested in globalizing their classrooms. As part of the Teacher-Student Initiative, teachers from diverse subject areas, from pre-calculus to fine arts, will work with faculty members and strategic partners to strengthen their understanding of an interdisciplinary global theme and further study the connections to educators’ STEAM specialties. Participants will learn how to integrate global content into their individual classrooms and then work alongside the TSI assistant director, faculty, and peers to design a lesson plan that puts that learning into action in their classrooms. UNC World View Students Day will virtually connect teachers, their students, and faculty members to provide additional content and allow students to engage directly with faculty experts. At the end of the TSI program, teacher-participants will gather in Chapel Hill for a culminating “Collaboration Celebration” and workshop where they will share lesson plans and best practices for teaching the global theme. The Teacher-Student Initiative will thus create a community of students, teachers, and faculty dedicated to tackling global challenges and promoting global education in their North Carolina classrooms.

The Teacher-Student Initiative – World View Students Day

UNC World View Students Day is designed to cultivate a collaborative classroom experience with high school students, in partnership with their teachers and UNC faculty along with UNC strategic partners at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). On UNC World View Students Day, students will meet virtually with faculty experts to discuss global challenges and brainstorm deeper connections between their prior classroom knowledge and research on the pressing global theme. This year’s World View Students Day will focus on exploring Ecuador’s rich culture and the biodiversity of the Galápagos.

We are thrilled to be able to host two (2) UNC World View Students Days this year, allowing teachers to attend the presentation that closely aligns with their North Carolina Standard Course of Study. This year, UNC World View Students Day will be led by Prof. Diego Riveros-Iregui and Prof. Deborah Morrollo. Prof. Riveros-Iregui will discuss the biodiversity of the Galápagos Islands, while Prof. Morillo will speak about Ecuadorian culture and arts.

Prof. Diego Riveros-Iregui is Co-Director, Center for Galápagos Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Prof. Riveros-Iregui’s research focuses on watershed science, forest and soil processes, ecosystem ecology, and human-water-environment interactions. Before coming to Carolina in 2013, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Colorado (2008-2010) and as an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska (2010-2013). His field studies include subalpine forests of the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Colorado, agricultural landscapes of Nebraska and Iowa, and highly impacted sites of the Andes Mountains of Colombia and the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador.

Prof. Riveros-Iregui teaches courses on hydrology, watershed science, environmental systems, and field methods in physical geography. He regularly teaches a field course on Tropical Ecohydrology to UNC students who travel with him to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. In total, he has taken 34 UNC undergraduates to Ecuador with support from UNC’s Study Abroad Office and the Center for Galápagos Studies for a three-week course. The course focuses on the hydrologic cycle and the interactions and feedback between hydrological and ecological processes, with an emphasis on the sustainability of freshwater resources.

A native of Quito, Ecuador, Prof. Deborah Morillo studied fine arts at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. When she was in her junior year, she went to Illinois as an exchange student, where she discovered the pleasures of anonymity, plus the opportunity to pursue a career in education. Deborah became passionate about teaching children the joy and wonder of artmaking. Upon graduating from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Deborah returned to the United States to earn her Master of Art in education at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Deborah has since worked as an art teacher (kindergarten – 12th grade), a museum educator, head of the art department at USFQ, and of course, an artist. In addition, Deborah co-authored a book called Mi Museo in which Ecuadorian artworks are portrayed and correlated to the alphabet. It includes activities that motivate reading and creativity methods. In Deborah’s work, she explores the construction of the feminine, motherhood and time in everyday life through painting, drawing, and textile art.

Over the past 15 years, Deborah has taught drawing, painting, botanical illustration, and creative lab classes at USFQ. Aside from her work as a professor at USFQ, she is also the director of the University Biennial of Multimedia Art.

Program Goals:

1. To provide high school educators with professional development opportunities by working virtually with UNC faculty along with UNC strategic partners at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). experts to strengthen their understanding of an interdisciplinary global theme and further study the connections to educators’ STEAM specialties
2. To virtually connect high school students, in partnership with their teacher, UNC and USFQ faculty
3. To enhance professional breadth for the teacher and greater global awareness for students as they become the world’s next generation of leaders

Program Benefits:

• Participants who complete all program requirements will be offered up to 3.0 CEUS or 30 PDCH for 30 hours of professional learning.
• Participants who complete all program requirements will earn a stipend of $500, in the summer of 2023.
• Participants will receive professional development and UNC resources related to the program, including coaching by UNC World View’s assistant director.
• Participants will collaborate with cohort members at UNC-Chapel Hill on lesson plans developed in reference to the Teacher-Student Initiative

Program Eligibility and Conditions of Participation: 

• Participants must be high school educators teaching in North Carolina.
• Participants must have at least one (1) full year of teaching experience.
• Participants are required to participate in a virtual orientation on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, at 4:00 p.m.
• Participants are required to attend the in-person K-12 Global Education Symposium: Reimagining Teaching and Learning for a Better World held at UNC-Chapel Hill on Thursday, October 13, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Participants must identify and submit their content standard via email by Thursday, November 10, 2022.
• Participants are required to participate in one of the introductory virtual workshops held on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with Prof. Diego Riveros-Iregui (UNC) and/or on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with Prof. Deborah Morillo (USFQ). Participants must have access to the internet, a webcam, and a microphone.
• Each participant is required to submit one lesson plan on or before Friday, March 31, 2023. (Additional information on lesson plans will be provided.)
• Participants are required to host a UNC World View Students Day in their classroom on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., with Prof. Diego Riveros-Iregui (UNC) and/or Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., with Prof. Deborah Morillo (USFQ).
• Participants are required to attend an in-person Collaboration Celebration at UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday, April 28, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Participants are required to provide the name and contact information of a supportive leader within their building or district.

2022 – 2023 PROGRAM TIMELINE AND KEY DATES

PROGRAM APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

• Review the program goals, benefits, conditions of participation, and timeline/key dates.
• Complete the UNC World View Teacher-Student Initiative Application Sections I, II, III, IV, and V.
• Click on the “Submit” button at the end of this page to send the application to UNC World View or email the application and any supporting documents directly to worldview@unc.edu.

For additional information please contact: worldview@unc.edu

Sponsors

In collaboration with