A Letter to Educators

Welcome to One World Education.  Our website provides an outlet for middle and high school students to publish their reflective writing about culture, local and global issues.  We then provide teachers with an engaging and standards-aligned curriculum around each student Reflection as resources that present the youth perspective for your teaching about core academic subjects and 21st century issues.  Each One World Experience on our homepage offers a student-authored article, which we call a One World Reflection.  You will also find information about the student author and curriculum to use with the One World Reflection.

The idea for One World Education (OWEd) began in 2006 when I asked some students why they weren’t interested in the textbook’s information. A student replied, "I just don't know anyone there, why should I really care?" Other students agreed. I then began teaching World Geography through the experiences of people around our world. Although the lives of others were now entering their classroom, another student asked, "How do teenagers like us live there?" I asked the class if they shared this desire to learn about our world through the eyes of other young people. Their responses have changed the way I approach education.

Teaching about our world through the stories and experiences of youth has exposed me to a level of student engagement I'd never before experienced.  My students felt they were learning in a stronger way because they could more easily relate to the source of the information. They were also learning from their peers and other teenagers who lived or visited the places they were learning about. As my curriculum incorporated more reflections of youth sharing their experiences about culture and global issues, student engagement, learning and assessment scores all increased dramatically.  

However, I found few sources to obtain curriculum with young people’s interactions with culture and global issues. I created One World Education to help fill this educational void.  With a growing number of youth exploring our world abroad and in their own countries and communities, I felt my students needed an academic outlet to share and learn from other people their age. Look how their idea has grown!     

I encourage you to promote the One World Education theme of empowering students to return their experiences and knowledge to teach others. Please share with us how One World Education has affected your teaching and students' learning, and how we can continue to adapt our resources to help promote global awareness, literacy and meaningful citizenship.

Thank you for your commitment to education.

Eric Goldstein
Teacher
One World Education, Founder & Director
Eric@oneworldeducation.org