213 Global Education Review 5 (3) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Adetunji, Adegoke (2018). Humanizing K-12 Classrooms Worldwide Through Equitable Partnerships. [Review of the book The Global Education Guidebook by Jennifer D. Klein]. Global Education Review, 5 (3). 213-217. Book Review Humanizing K-12 Classrooms Worldwide Through Equitable Partnerships “The Global Education Guidebook” by Jennifer D. Klein By Adegoke Adetunji Global education, as a field or discipline, is replete with cognitive-affective constructs such as global competency, global sensitivity, global awareness, global self-representation, global consciousness, and global understanding. These constructs perhaps suggest how individuals perceive themselves in this changing world and continuous self-orienting efforts in it (Mansilla & Gardner, 2007). Citizenship; therefore, becomes very fluid as individual identity is either shaped or framed by seamless influences emanating from the global system or globalizing forces (Pike, 2000). For instance, identity formation for college students must consist of wide- ranging experiences, knowledge, and insights in order to be global (Chickering & Braskamp, 2009). Teachers, educators, or global education practitioners may have to grapple with an inexorable conundrum: how to teach global education to K-12 learners, integrate multiple global perspectives and issues into school curricula, aligning classroom teaching with standards (e.g. the Common Core Standards), assessments, and measurable learning outcomes. To address these quandaries: first, educators, teachers, and global education practitioners perhaps need to reflect on their positionality, ideas of global education, and appropriate frameworks that will determine learning strategies and classroom activities. Pike (2015) elucidates the two binary ideologies of global education—moral and pragmatic perspectives. Pragmatic perspective of global education fosters employability of students through study abroad programs and the acquisition of intercultural and global competencies, whereas moral perspective puts a premium on mutual understanding, commonalities in Humanizing K-12 classrooms worldwide 214 domestic and global issues, injustices, and interdependence of humankind in the current world system. The Global Education Guidebook is a compendium of guidance, resources, learning approaches, and frameworks that teachers or global education practitioners can employ in building equitable learning partnerships to help learners develop humanized consciousness of the world and their roles as social actors in it. Though Mansilla & Gardner (2007) demonstrate how a constructivist learning approach can foster co-creation of knowledge (for example, globalization and associated issues), the author presents practical ways that teachers can actively and meaningfully engage K-12 students in learning and participating in global issues through collaborations with their peers around the globe. In addition, it provides many practical ideas teachers can use for community-based projects and collaborations with teachers in other countries. The author helps readers decipher how global issues can be integrated into curriculum or school subjects, assessments, and practicality of global education terms and its cognitive-affective constructs. The core of this book is how to prepare students to thrive in a complex and volatile world, and urgency for global partnerships and educational engagements beyond the usual school curriculum and standards. Most importantly, it explicates the integration of global learning into the curriculum and academic goals. The book has ten chapters, and these chapters address a practical dimension (action) of global education: how to assess students’ global competencies, learning approaches in global education/competency, and significance of human and non-human resources. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the contextual (temporal) purpose of global education, with reference to the U.S. military’s description of the world, after September 11, 2011, as a VUCA world: “Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.” Thus, these descriptors indicate the urgent rationale behind global and intercultural competency development, as learners may have to work or collaborate across borders that are multifarious in nature—political, cultural, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious. Global education/competency framework, matrix, and domains, and instructional strategies for global competency (project-based learning, problem-based learning, design thinking, understanding, by design, and place-based education) are presented in this part of the book. Further, strategies for global partnerships such as classroom-to- classroom exchange, classroom-to- classroom collaboration, classroom-to- classroom co-creation, and non-school partnership can be explored so that education will be humanizing and profound. The author suggests exploratory, participatory, and active learning—service- learning experiences, hands-on, and real- world problem solving skills. In addition, the quality of topics in global education is judged by human elements, relevance, and appropriateness to the learners’ age group. Chapters 4 and 5 are highlights of existing partnership programs or 215 Global Education Review 5 (3) organizations that teachers or educators can join, and these organizations are in two categories: established partnership programs and purpose-based organizations. Educators can join purpose-based organizations in order to focus on specific topics or mission, for example the environment or peace building. Teachers/educators can find partnerships through organizations that are interested in global education (iEarn, IREX’s Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, International Institute of Education, Fund for Teachers, Global Exploration for Educator Organization and others). iEARN, for example, has a good reputation and a long record of meaningful educational projects to meet teachers’ curricular needs and schedules. These partnerships have to be reciprocal. Language and other communication tools are integral parts of global education programs or partnership building. In Chapter 6, the author explains how language could become a hindrance to building partnerships, but offers plenty of leeway for educators and teachers. Teachers can co-opt interested parents, especially immigrants who are multilingual, into their global education programs. These parents may serve as interpreters, and they can also perceive their languages as an asset to the school. A choice of suitable modern communication tools is also a part of global fluency. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous technologies for communication (wiki, Skype, Twitter, WebEx, RealPresence, Go To-Meeting, Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, and Google Hangouts) possibly creates humanizing experiences and deep human connections. Chapters 7 and 8 address the issues of equity in global education, social justice, and possible ways to avert save-the-other thinking, which becomes a bulwark to equitable relationships. As the author writes, “equitable global partnerships [must be] based on trust, mutual respect, and a shared global collaboration and development” (p.8). Teachers or global education practitioners must avoid exoticism—seeing partners as fascinating objects rather than as whole human beings (p. 131). To foster intercultural skills, learners have to see the world through multiple lenses. In particular, Chapter 8 concentrates on social justice issues and those challenges teachers may have to deal with, and highlights some practical steps, such as identifying the dominant narratives in the community, balancing individual biases by encouraging diverse voices and resources, and choosing social justice partners thoughtfully. Cognitive dissonance is necessary in order to engage topics that are not comfortable, namely race relations, identity, sexuality, and privilege. The concluding chapters (Chapters 9 and 10) focus on assessments and “local” partnerships. The author points out some challenges of assessing global competency. Many global education goals— skills such as humility, empathy, and open-mindedness— are rather difficult to quantify. However, T- charts are included for helping to make global competencies more concrete. Teachers can develop competency indicators (“looks for”s and “listen-for”s) Humanizing K-12 classrooms worldwide 216 such as students asking questions more than making assertions, or handling setbacks without blaming their peers. Teachers can also use discipline-specific rubrics for global competency assessment within different subject areas (see Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). Quick exit-ticket reflections, journals, capstone projects, and graduation portfolios can be used for the assessment or measurement of students’ growth or competency. Thus, abstract learning becomes more concrete for learners and teachers. Innovative global education teachers need to include their colleagues, and they can foster a global education revolution. Some of these strategies are: developing enthusiasm and administrative buy-in, teaching and meeting the community stakeholders about global education, policy change initiatives in local school districts, ongoing professional development, building global education teams with teachers and administrators who recognize the power of global learning, global fluency through student travel, and fostering a constructive worldview across the community. The Global Education Guidebook is based on the author’s experience. The author describes herself as a product of experiential project-based education, who has acquired a lot of classroom and industry experience teaching English and Spanish in Central America and in a school for girls. She has also worked as a consultant and teacher coach for various international educational organizations, such as the International Institute of Education in Washington, DC and the Center for Global Education in Canada. The book’s target audience are classroom teachers, educators, and global education practitioners, who may be teaching in a K-12 environment or facilitating global education workshops. Though scanty, the author aligns her suggestions, worksheets, and other ideas within an existing framework. For example, Mansilla and Jackson (2011) is widely referenced in this book. However, The Global Education Guidebook may not serve the need of those who are interested in “purely” academic books; it is bereft of sound conceptual or theoretical frameworks on global education. The author disrupts the traditional style of writing academic books by incorporating perspectives from practitioners and teachers (I refer to them as “testimonials”). These teachers have been involved in global-classroom projects, technology-based global connections, etc. The book foregrounds the effectiveness of personal stories. There are several narratives or stories related to teaching global education or intercultural competencies. As the author argues, “storytelling is power; it’s the ultimate democracy” (p. 90). Overall, The Global Education Guidebook could be useful for training global competency or for teaching global education topics. Those who are interested in global education can also harness numerous resources from the book. References Chickering, A., & Braskamp, L. A. (Fall 2009). Developing a Global Perspective for Personal and Social Responsibility. Peer Review 11, 4: 27-30. 217 Global Education Review 5 (3) Mansilla, V. B., & Gardner, H. (2007). From Teaching Globalization to Nurturing Global Consciousness. In M.M. Suárez- Orozco, ed. Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization and Education. Berkeley & Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. Mansilla, V.B. & Jackson, A. (2011). Educating for Global Competence: Preparing our Youth to Engage the World. New York: Council of Chief State School Officers’ EdSteps Initiative & Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning. Pike, G. (2000). Global Education and National Identity: In Pursuit of Meaning, Theory Into Practice 39, 2: 64-73. Pike, G. (2015). Re-Imagining Global Education in the Neoliberal Age. In R. Reynolds et al., eds. Contesting and Constructing International Perspectives in Global Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. “The Global Education Guidebook: Humanizing K-12 Classrooms Worldwide Through Equitable Partnerships.” By J.D. Klein. Bloomington: Solution Tree, 2017. ISBN: 978-1943874637 About the Author Jennifer D. Klein holds a BA from Bard College and an MA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, both in literature and creative writing. Her articles have been published in Independent School, The NSSSA Leader, and The Educational Forum. She also blogs irregularly for a variety of forums. She taught college and high school English and Spanish for 19 years, including five years in Central America and 11 years in all-girls' education. In 2010, Jennifer left teaching to begin PRINCIPLED Learning Strategies, through which she provides professional development to support the integration of authentic student-driven global learning experiences in schools. She is director of educator development for World Leadership School, coaching teachers in global integration and facilitating projects between North American classrooms and schools around the world. She is a national faculty member for the Buck Institute for Education, facilitating workshops on project- based learning, and she provides strategic coaching to schools involved in TakingITGlobal's Future Friendly Schools project. Jennifer is also central partner in the Centre for Global Education's international video conference programs, delivers professional development workshops for Fulbright teacher programs through the Institute for International Education and the US State Department, and is a regional consultant for the Center for Global Education at Asia Society's International Studies Schools Network. About the Reviewer Adegoke Adetunji is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and a teaching assistant in Multicultural Programs at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.