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Nobel Women:  Drama Pedagogy for Global Citizenship Education 

 
Dorothy E. Blanks 

 

University of Tennessee, USA 

 
Abstract 

 
In response to the need for teacher training in global citizenship education 
(GCE), a workshop was designed and led for a group of teacher educators 
at a large, southeastern university in the United States.  Research-based 
instructional approaches for teacher training in global education were 
combined with the Oxfam (2006) GCE framework, drama pedagogy, and 
the lives of women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize.  The result was 
a workshop that encouraged teachers to include elements of GCE in their 
teaching, as well as the belief that the individual can make a difference. 

 
  

Introduction 
 

Global citizenship education (GCE) is a vital part of educating today’s youth.  This, in 
part, means encouraging children to broaden their world views to encompass not only 
their immediate surroundings, but the world at large. “For our children to live 
successfully and peacefully in this globalized world, we need to help them develop the 
appropriate skills, knowledge, attitudes and perspectives” (Reimers, 2008, p. 25).  In 
order for students to understand the interconnected nature of global relationships, 
however, teachers must first be aware of the concept of global citizenship.  
Considerable training is needed in this area.  For example, Robbins, Francis and Elliot 
(2003) found that while three quarters of trainee teachers agreed that global citizenship 
should have a high priority in the secondary school curriculum, only 35% felt confident 
to contribute to the teaching of global citizenship.  
 

There is agreement among global educators that equipping pre-service teachers with 
the tools, conceptual frameworks, and authentic information for teaching with a global 
perspective is imperative (Haakenson, Savukova, & Mason, 1999; Kirkwood, 2001; 
Osunde, Tlou, & Brown, 1996).  As Zhao (2010) states, “This requires a new generation 
of teachers who are able to act as global citizens, understand the global system, and 
deliver a globally oriented education.  To prepare this new generation of teachers, we 
need a teacher education system that is globally oriented” (p. 429). 
 

Review of the Research 
 

In response to the need for teacher training in global citizenship education (GCE), a 
workshop was designed and led for a group of teacher educators at a large 
southeastern university in the United States.  The researcher first analyzed the relevant 



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literature in the field for teacher training GCE.  These research-based instructional 
approaches were combined with the Oxfam (2006) GCE framework, drama pedagogy, 
and the lives of women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize.  The result was a 
workshop curriculum that encouraged teachers to include elements of GCE in their 
teaching, as well as encouraging the belief that the individual has the power make a 
difference. 
 
The Oxfam Framework for Global Citizenship Education 
 
Components of global education were first described by Hanvey (1976), and have been 
expanded upon and refined since then.  Oxfam’s (2006) outline of global citizenship 
education was selected for the basis of this research.  The Oxfam framework divides 
global citizenship education into three categories, each with five or six sub themes: (1) 
knowledge and understanding, (2) skills, and (3) values and attitudes.  The sub themes 
of knowledge are social injustice and equity; diversity; globalization and 
interdependence; sustainable development; and peace and conflict.  The skills to be 
developed are critical thinking; ability to argue effectively; ability to challenge justice and 
inequality; respect for people and things; and cooperation and conflict resolution.  The 
values and attitudes to be encouraged are a sense of identity and self-esteem; 
empathy; commitment to social justice and equity; respect for diversity; concern for the 
environment; and the belief that people can make a difference. 
 
The Oxfam (2006) component that was of primary importance to the workshop was the 
belief that one can make a difference.  It was this sense of self-efficacy and 
empowerment that was most important to be encouraged with the Nobel Women 
Readers’ Theater (NWRT) curriculum.  As Banks (2004) stated, “When we teach 
students how to critique the injustice in the world, we should help them to formulate 
possibilities for action to change the world to make it more democratic and just” (p. 300).  
If we teach students to critique the world without hope of making a difference, we may 
leave students disillusioned and without agency (Freire, 2000).   
 
Teacher Training in GCE 
 
Solid research has been conducted on effective ways to train teachers in global 
education by Avery (2004), Haakenson et al. (1999), Merryfield (1998), Bacon and 
Kischner (2002), and Appleyard and McLean (2011), to mention a few North American 
researchers.  Avery (2004) identified six components of teacher education programs 
that can contribute to world-mindedness.   The first component was the need to help 
teachers and students understand the development of their own perspectives as well as 
the perspectives of others.  This concept, known as perspective consciousness, was 
first expressed by Robert Hanvey (1976). It is the awareness that one‘s own culture, 
family, acquaintances, and experiences have an impact on how each of us interprets 
the world.  The second component identified by Avery (2004) was that global issues 
need to be incorporated into teacher education courses because most U.S. citizens are 
not acutely aware of international issues. Third, teachers should be prompted to 
understand young people‘s perspectives about social and political issues. Fourth, 



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teacher education programs should introduce teachers to methods that will enable 
students to make correlations among concepts.  This refers not only to the need for 
interdisciplinary instruction, but also helping students to make connections between 
ideas.  The fifth component is that teachers should be provided the ability to analyze 
school materials to understand how the nature of citizenship is established in these 
materials. Not only must students be encouraged to critically evaluate source material, 
teachers also must be critical consumers of educational material.  Avery‘s (2004) final 
component is that American teacher education programs should help teachers develop 
the ability to understand the difficulties marginalized groups go through in developing 
civic identities, both within the United States and around the world. 
 
 
Figure 1 
Teacher Training in GE Instructional Strategies 

 

 
Haakenson et al. (1999) outlined three steps in preparing pre-service teachers to teach 
with a global perspective.  Teachers must first gain knowledge of the world and 
perceptual understanding.  Teachers in training must also be exposed to a myriad of 
instructional strategies that promote knowledge of the diverse world.  Finally, they must 
be personally committed to globalizing their teaching approaches. Merryfield (1998) and 
Bacon and Kischner (2002) stated that preparing teachers to teach from a global 
perspective included having cross-cultural experiences, cooperative learning, 
interdisciplinary thematic instruction, problem-solving tasks, experiential learning and 
community based learning. Research by Appleyard and McLean (2011) found that best 
practices for professional development in GCE included consistent use of pedagogies 
such as experiential learning and explicit modeling; targeted instruction in specific 
intellectual, affective, and action domains of GCE; providing pre-service teachers with 
opportunities to practice and reflect on the implementation of GCE in classroom 

Teacher Training in GE 
Instructional Strategies 

Appleyard & McLean (2011); Avery (2004); Bacon 
& Kischner (2002); Haakenson et al. (1999); 

Kirkwood (2001); Merryfield  (1998) 

Type of 
Activity 

Active & 
Experiential 

Appleyard & 
McLean (2011); 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); Merryfield 

(1998) 

Cooperative 

Appleyard & 
McLean (2011); 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); 

Merryfield (1998) 

Problem-
Based 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); Kirkwood 

(2001); 
Merryfield  

(1998) 

Reflective 

Appleyard & 
McLean (2011) 

Type of 
Content 

Interdis-
ciplinary 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); 

Merryfield (1998) 

Cross-
Cultural 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); 

Merryfield (1998) 

 

Controver-
sial Issues 

Bacon & Kischner 
(2002); 

Merryfield (1998) 



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settings; and developing collaborative networks of support.  These approaches to 
teacher education (see Figure 1) were considered when designing the global education 
workshop. 
 
Drama Pedagogy 
 
Drama can be a powerful pedagogical tool, especially for affective learning like building 
attitudes.  It is a multidimensional, multi-skilled, holistic approach to learning that 
simultaneously evokes and extends students’ intellectual, social, emotional physical, 
moral, creative, communicative, and aesthetic abilities (Verriour, 1994).  Types of 
dramatic activities include short plays, readers’ theater, simulations, mock trials, 
reenactments, role play, choral reading, and other strategies that draw students into the 
action of their own learning (Turner, 2004).  The integration of drama into the social 
studies provides a vehicle with benefits for both social science and language arts.  
Reading and writing skills are developed through historical dramas (Almeida & Cullum, 
1994; Howlett, 2007).  Students that act out history enhance their understanding of 
historic content (Howlett, 2007; Kelin, 2005; Mattioloi & Drake, 1999). 
 
The benefits of using drama in the social studies have major implications for global 
education.  These benefits include perceiving a sense of connection, approaching a 
situation from multiple points of view, thinking critically, and examining issues, ideas, 
values, and perspectives from a safe position (Chilcoat & Ligon, 1998; Kelin, 1997; 
Morris, 2003; Obenchain & Morris, 2001).  Morris (2003) concluded that, through plays, 
students studied questions raised in the past and applied them to current social 
problems.  Students thought critically about interconnections between well known 
people and important issues.  Obenchain and Morris (2001) also spoke about 
connectedness; they found that the use of melodramas had students addressing 
multiple perspectives, examining values, and making historical connections across time 
and space.  Chilcoat and Ligon (1998) found that through drama students explored the 
meaning of self-determination and activism, and that the lessons were a forum for 
discussion of real problems and a means for social action.  Kelin (1997) had upper 
elementary students use dramatic role play and improvisation to explore the American 
decision to use the Bikini Atoll for nuclear testing.  Through the use of drama, students 
practiced skills of community, participation, cooperation, collaboration, problem solving, 
and decision making (Gay & Hanley, 1999).   
 
Women Who Have Won the Peace Prize 
 
Women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize were chosen as the basis for the drama 
curriculum.  They were likely subjects to represent the concept that one individual could 
make a difference in the world.  Alfred Nobel was an inventor in the 19th century, best 
known for the invention of dynamite.  A friend, Bertha von Suttner, encouraged Nobel to 
give financial support to the peace societies of the 1890s, and he promised the 
baroness that he would “do something great” for the movement (Abrams, 1994, p. 83).  
In establishing his prizes, he specified that the peace prize was to be given “to the 
person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for 



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the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of 
peace congresses” (Abrams, 1994, p. 83). 
 
The first Peace Prize was presented in 1903, and since then has been awarded to 79 
men and fifteen women (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/).  The 
selection committees, made up of past prize winners and international world leaders, 
have made awards to six distinct types of recipients:  international organizations; 
successful national officials working in an international context while pursuing legal 
solutions to conflict; peace activists working in an international context, some with, but 
many without governmental approval; individuals nonviolently seeking justice, freedom, 
security, or rights as a preliminary to peace; leaders who have used or sanctioned the 
use of force but who have agreed to a peace settlement; and altruists who render 
exemplary service to others.  There has been at least one Nobel woman in each 
category except the first, that of an international organization (see Table 1).   
 
Table 1. 
Women Who Won the Nobel Peace Prize 

Name Year Country Criteria Topic 

Bertha von 
Suttner 

1905 Austrian Empire Peace activist Anti-war writer 

Jane Addams 1931 United States Peace activist Hull House 

Emily Green 
Balch 

1946 United States Peace activist Pacifist against the 
World Wars 

Betty Williams 
Mairead 
Corrigan 

1976 Northern Ireland Peace activist End Civil War 

Mother Teresa 1979 Macedonia/India Exemplary care Aid poor 

Alva Myrdal 1982 Sweden National official Nuclear Disarmament 

Aung San Suu 
Kyi 

1991 Burma/Myanmar Non-violent 
justice 

Against military 
dictatorship 

Rigoberta 
Menchu Tum 

1992 Guatemala Renounces force Indigenous Rights 

Jody Williams 1997 United States Peace activist Ban Land Mines 

Shirin Ebadi 2003 Iran Non-violent 
justice 

Legal Rights for 
Oppressed 

Wangari Muta 
Maathai 

2004 Kenya Non-violent 
justice 

Environment/Reforesta
tion 

Tawakkol 
Karman 

2011 Yemen Non-violent 
justice 

Freedom of Press 

Ellen Johnson 
Sirleaf 

2011 Liberia National official End Civil 
War/Economic  

Leymah 
Gbowee 

2011 Liberia Non-violent 
justice 

End Civil War 

   
In selecting four Nobel women for readers’ theater script development, care was taken 
to have representation from different Peace Prize criteria, as well as geographic variety.  

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/


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With this in mind, Rigoberta Menchu, Alva Myrdal, Shirin Ebadi, and Wangari Maathai 
were selected for further GCE curriculum development. 
 

The Nobel Women Workshop Design 
 

The purpose of the workshop was to educate the participants about GCE, and to 
demonstrate how drama pedagogy could be used in their classrooms to encourage 
global citizenship with their students.  The underlying components of the workshop were 
threefold:  The elements of GCE as described in the Oxfam (2006) framework, the use 
of drama pedagogy, both for teacher and student pedagogy, and women who have won 
the Nobel Peace Prize as role models for global citizenship. 
 
The research on teacher training for global education of Merryfield  (1995, 1998), 
Haakenson et al. (1999), Avery (2004), and Appleyard and McLean (2011) was utilized 
in designing the teacher training activities in the Nobel Women Workshop.  Table 2 lists 
in the first column the recommendations for global pedagogy that are displayed 
graphically in Figure 1.  The second column of Table 2 relates how those strategies 
were incorporated into the Nobel Women Workshop activities.  The workshop activities 
are described in detail in the next section.  
 
 
Table 2   
Workshop Design   
 

Teacher Training Instructional 
Practices/Researcher 

Workshop Activity 

Instruction in GE and GCE 
(Appleyard & McLean, 2011; 
Avery, 2004; Haakenson et 
al. 1999; Kirkwood, 2001) 

 Defining GE/GCE 

 Categorizing Oxfam GCE components 

 Discussion 

 Written Reflections 

Cross-cultural experiences 
(Appleyard & McLean, 2011; 
Merryfield, 1995) 

 Nobel Phone Call from Nobel Woman 
background 

 Video of Hummingbird 

 Readers’ Theater of Wangari Maathai 

Cooperative learning 
(Appleyard & McLean, 2011; 
Merryfield, 1995) 

 Definition building of GCE 

 Categorizing Oxfam GCE characteristics 

 Paired Phone Calls 

 Discussions 

 Readers’ Theater practice and production.  

Interdisciplinary thematic 
instruction 

(Merryfield, 1995) 

 Readers’ Theater is LA/SS 

 Activities of Wangari Maathai are Science and 
Social Studies 

Problem-solving  
(Kirkwood, 2001; Merryfield, 
1995) 

 Categorizing Oxfam GCE characteristics 

 Discussion of RT incorporation and Oxfam 
application 



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Experiential learning  
(Appleyard & McLean, 2011; 
Merryfield, 1995) 

 Nobel Phone Calls 

 Hummingbird and Nobel Women Readers’ 
Theater 

Reflection of practice 
(Appleyard & McLean, 2011) 

 Journal reflections each day 

 Discussion of RT application, day 2 

 Final discussion of Oxfam chart. 

Controversial Issues 
(Merryfield, 1995) 

 Nobel Women Readers’ Theaters: 

 Rigoberta Menchu:  Indigenous Rights 

 Alva Myrdal:  Scientific Ethics, Nuclear Weapons 
Disarmament 

 Wangari Maathai:  Environmental Protection, 
Dynamics of Power 

 Shirin Ebadi:  Rape, Blood Money, Legal 
Protection Against Injustice 

 
The GCE Workshop Lesson Plan 

 
The workshop was divided into three broad strands.  The goal of the first strand was to 
develop a common understanding about what GCE is, based upon the Oxfam (2006) 
framework.  This was accomplished by defining GE and GCE, categorizing the Oxfam 
components of GCE, and relating a personal story based on one of the components.  
The second goal was to have the participants become familiar with women who had 
won the Nobel Peace Prize, which was accomplished through the activity of the Nobel 
Phone Call.  The third goal was to use drama pedagogy to explore these topics.  A 
video of one of the Nobel Women, Wangari Maathai, was used for an example readers’ 
theater script.  Finally, four readers’ theater scripts, each about a different Nobel 
Women, were performed in the workshop by the participants.  The lesson plan for the 
workshop is available in Appendix A.  

 
The Nobel Women Workshop 

Workshop Logistics 
The workshop was given to a graduate level education course titled “Drama and 
Storytelling in the Classroom” on two successive Thursday evenings in September, 
2012.  On the first evening, all nine students enrolled in the class were present.  On the 
second evening, six of the students attended.  

 
Participants 
 
The participants’ ages varied widely.  Three were over 40, two were between 30 and 40, 
and four were between 20 and 25.   They were a diverse group in terms of their 
teaching experience, degree program, and subject matter and grade level.  Two 
students were working on doctorate degrees, and seven were working towards their 
master’s degrees.  One participant was trained in K-12 studies, two were secondary 
school, three upper elementary, and three lower elementary.  When asked their primary 
content area, one declared history his specialty, one stated art, one math, one special 
education, and the remaining five wrote general or elementary education.  Two of the 



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participants were Asian; the other four were Caucasian.  Six of the nine declared that 
they had lived or traveled overseas, and four stated they spoke a language other than 
English.   

   
Workshop Activities 
  

Defining GCE.  The goal of the first strand was to develop a common 
understanding of GCE.  The first activity in the workshop was for participants to define 
global education and global citizenship education.  They were asked, individually, to 
write down words and phrases that came to mind.  The one word that was written on 
each paper was “culture”.  In most cases, that was the only descriptor.  The participants 
further crafted their definition through discussion with a partner.  Finally, the whole 
group came together to contribute pieces to the whole definition. 

 
 Categorizing the Oxfam components.  Next, partners were given an envelope 
with strips of paper, each containing one of the subthemes from the knowledge, skills, 
and attitudes of GCE.  In addition, “global citizenship education,” “knowledge,” “skills,” 
and “phrases” were written on strips.  Each pair was asked to sort and classify the 
concepts, and was given a hierarchical outline to place the terms in.  For example, the 
pairs were intended to classify all of the knowledge components together: diversity; 
peace and conflict; social justice and equity; sustainable development; and globalization 
and interdependence. They were not, actually, expected to be able to accomplish this 
classification without assistance; the activity was intended to spark discussion about the 
meaning of the terms and phrases.  After the pairs were provided with the information 
that “knowledge, skills, and attitudes” were the three main headings, they were able to 
complete the activity successfully. 
 

Personal narratives.  The third activity was the first that involved a dramatic 
activity.  Each participant was asked to relate one of the sixteen GCE concepts to his or 
her own life, and tell a “Personal Narrative Story” that related the experience.   In every 
case, participants were able to describe how the Oxfam tenants had been important at 
some time in their lives.  For example, one Pakistani woman talked about diversity.  She 
had been raised in a wealthy household in her home country, and felt that she had been 
fully aware of the American culture of Elvis and movies, and vinyl records.  Another 
participant, Mr. C, also discussed value and respect for diversity.  He talked about his 
experience in the military, and how his unit had been comprised of various ethnic and 
regional groups.  They did not mix socially together. Mr. C related, “One day, a Korean 
guy named Kim talked 30 or 40 of us in the unit into coming to his place for a little R and 
R (rest and relaxation).  After that, the racial lines were down, and we really became a 
team.” 

 
Another participant, Ms. K, related her personal story to peace and conflict. She 
described an incident that occurred during the two months she spent in Mexico living in 
an orphanage.   “One night there was machine gun fire… The next day, half a mile 
away, the hotel wall was found covered with bullet holes from drug cartel infighting.”  
Another participant, Ms. V, focused on sense of identity and social justice.  She told a 



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story about her family emigrating from North Vietnam.  After they moved to America, 
they were very poor.  According to Ms. V, they did not have a television or books.  
When she was 10, the family revisited Hanoi, Vietnam.  “Then I realized what poor 
really was!  They had no beds, no blankets…. After that, we never complained to our 
parents anymore!”  
  
Ms. G. related her experience to cooperation and conflict resolution as well as peace 
and conflict.  Her narrative concerned visiting East Berlin, before the fall of the Berlin 
Wall, and what it meant to her to go from prosperity to a militarized zone of poverty.  Ms. 
T. discussed being a Marine posted in Japan, on the Oxfam topic of peace and conflict 
and ability to challenge injustice.  She described how welcoming the country had been 
to the American troops, until three soldiers raped a little Japanese girl.  After that 
episode, the relationship cooled between the military and the host country.   

 
According to the participants in later interviews, the stories were powerful.  Not only did 
they come to know each other deeply for the first time, but many realized that they did, 
in fact, know about global citizenship.  It had been important in their lives, and would be 
important to their students.  One avenue for future research would be to replicate this 
activity with a participant group that had less experience overseas.   
 
 Nobel Phone Calls.  Participants were again paired up, and each group was 
given a biography of one of woman who had won the Nobel Peace Prize; Wangari 
Maathai, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, or Alva Myrdal.  They were asked to 
embark on another dramatic activity.  This time, they were asked to synthesize the 
information in the biography and create a skit where the Nobel Prize winner was 
receiving a phone call, informing her that she had won the prize.  This activity was 
designed to educate the participants about the lives and accomplishments of the Nobel 
Women within a limited time frame.  Each pair analyzed the essential life details of one 
Nobel Woman, and presented that information to the rest of the class in a dramatic way. 
 
 Maathai and The Hummingbird.  The next step in the workshop was to 
describe to the participants the drama pedagogy called readers’ theater.  The members 
of the class learned that readers’ theater is an activity where students enact a play 
script with as much emotion as possible, but without having to memorize parts, prepare 
sets or props, or even prepare costumes.  Students do, however, practice the script and 
the repetition involved in the preparation has been shown to help in the comprehension 
of complex ideas (Allington, 1983; Dowhower, 1987). An example was developed using 
a video of a Nobel Woman, Wangari Maathai.  A two minute video was shown with Dr. 
Maathai narrating a fable, I Will be a Hummingbird, which is available on YouTube 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-btl654R_pY).  The message of the fable from Japan 
is that, while all the other animals of the jungle stood and watched in despair, the little 
hummingbird tried to do its best to put out the forest fire. 
 
A readers’ theater script of I Will be a Hummingbird, written by the workshop leader, 
was acted out by the participants.  An explanation for how to convert a variety of media 
and print sources into readers’ theater scripts followed.  In addition, topics like age level, 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-btl654R_pY


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reading ability, and dramatic interpretation were discussed. The script of the readers’ 
theater can be found in Appendix B. 
 
 Nobel Women readers’ theater scripts.  The final drama activity of the 
workshop was the distribution and class presentation of four more readers’ theater 
scripts.  Each pair selected a Nobel Woman script to “teach” the class.  Interestingly, in 
each case, the partners chose the same woman that they had selected for the Nobel 
phone call.  Each script was acted out, and the use of the theme for various grade 
levels was discussed. 
 

Results and Discussion 
 

The question of most import for the teacher training was what impact the workshop 
might have on the participants’ belief that they could make a difference, for better, in the 
world.  Three types of data addressed this issue:  two questions on a pre- and post-
survey, written reflections by the participants after each workshop, and interviews that 
followed the workshop.    
 
Survey Data   

 
Two questions were posed in the surveys that asked participants if they felt individuals 
in general and students in particular could make a difference in global issues.  In 
response to the belief that individuals can make a difference, 78% of the participants 
strongly agreed and 22% agreed before the workshop.  After the workshop, 83% 
strongly agreed, and 17% agreed with the statement. These results reflect a high 
degree of optimism and self-efficacy in the participants. However, none of the 
participants strongly agreed that their students perceived they could make a difference.  
In fact, pre- and post- survey responses were 44% and 56% neutral or in disagreement.  
That is a perception worth pursuing in future research. 
 
Interview and Reflection Data   
 
Each participant, through interviews and workshop reflections, provided data in 
response to the questions about making a difference.  There were two main types of 
responses.  One strand addressed whether students would feel empowered by the 
curriculum.  The second strand described the feeling of empowerment by the 
participants themselves.  Written reflection and interview data from one participant, Mr. 
C, is used to illustrate these two points.     
 

Students’ beliefs.  As a high school administrator and former history teacher, 
Mr. C commented that the belief that one can make a difference was one of the most 
important of the Oxfam components.  He reflected that students need to feel concern for 
others, and also feel that they have the power to address complex problems. 

 
The most important aspects of global citizenship education to address with 
students are interdependence and the belief that people can make a difference.  



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In my teaching experience, I have found students, like most people, are quite 
self-centered and unconcerned about the welfare of the people around them.  
And sadly, the students I have encountered who do feel concerned for their 
fellow man tend to believe that the problems they face are too large and complex 
to be fixed… It (the curriculum) gives a focus to the study of the people of the 
world, brings the problems faced by people around the planet to light, and shows 
that individual people can make a difference.  

 
Encouraging in students the belief that they can make a difference in the world, for the 
better, was the most important desired outcomes of the NWRT curriculum. 
  
 Teachers’ beliefs.  The second strand in the data indicated that many of the 
participants were inspired, themselves, by the Nobel Women workshop.  When asked 
what he had learned about GCE during the workshop, Mr. C cited increased optimism 
and inspiration.  He spoke about aging, and how he had come to focus on those close 
to him, rather than the wider world.  
  

And it may be a cynical nature, but you know, I think as time wears on, and you 
get a little bit older… as I got a little bit older…  I came to the point where, you 
know, I'm just one person.  What can I do?  I'm just gonna go on.  I'm going make 
myself comfortable and happy, and those who are immediately around me… I'm 
going try to take care of them.   But from reading the biographies of the Nobel 
women, and some of them extremely young-- it makes me feel extremely old-- 
and what they were able to accomplish and the courage that they had… not only 
was I exposed to different cultures, something outside of what I thought of, 
something that I saw in documentaries …  or taught in the classroom,  I was 
exposed to that. But I was also kind of inspired by the fact that these individual 
people-- who were not working towards a prize, they weren't working towards a 
prize-- they were working in anonymity mostly, simply for the fact that they 
wanted to make their lives, and the lives of others, and of the world if they could, 
a better place.   And I think that optimism is something that is the key to actually 
improving our situation, as defined by everyone around us. 

 
The stories of the Nobel Women had impressed upon him the power of the individual, 
the anonymous, to make the world a better place.  At a later point in the interview, Mr. C 
talked about a sense of helplessness to combat complex problems. 
 

Interviewer:  So are you saying that through those stories you did feel more 
empowered? 
Mr. C:  Oh yes, definitely.   I would say definitely.  I think there was also… As I 
think back, it was maybe more of a feeling of helplessness and maybe a sense of 
just not knowing what to do… For a specific reason-- I think of a specific problem, 
a global problem like the rainforest being cut in Brazil.   And it's easy to say …. 
“Man, that's gotta stop!”  But when you really narrow your focus, when you really 
zero in just a little bit more… there are some people who are making their 
livelihoods who are not wealthy fat cats (people of money and power).  There are 



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poor people who are making–who are feeding their families-- by cutting down the 
rainforests…. So there's a helplessness in that.  You say, “Man, we gotta stop 
these fat cats from cutting the forest…”  And then you might hear in the 
background this little tiny voice that says, “Hey, I got to eat, too.”  So what do you 
do?  The problem seems so big sometimes….There's a helplessness there.  But 
when you read the stories, and especially when you go in depth with the stories 
like we did in the workshop, I did feel inspiration.   And I felt a little motivation, 
too, maybe even by comparison…  I had little bit of jealousy that these people 
were able to do something here. 

 
Some of the global problems are very complex.  As Mr. C said, it is not just the “fat cats” 
who profit from cutting down the rain forest.  Even so, through the stories of the Nobel 
Women, this participant felt motivated and inspired to make a difference himself. 
 
The lives of Nobel Prize winning women were incorporated into readers’ theater scripts 
with the purpose of providing a GCE curriculum for teachers.  The primary outcome of 
the workshop was to promote the Oxfam attitude, the belief that the individual can make 
a difference.  It appears from the data just discussed that there was some success in 
this arena. 
 

Conclusion 
 

If one accepts the premise that global citizenship education is important, then it follows 
that the training of teachers in GCE must also be important.  The purpose of Nobel 
Women:  Readers’ Theater for Global Citizenship Education was to create a workshop 
that combined a framework of GCE, a powerful pedagogy of drama, and the curricular 
topic of Nobel Women to encourage teacher understanding of GCE, as well as a 
curriculum to use with students.  This workshop lesson plan and curriculum package 
has good potential for teaching about Global Citizenship Education at all levels.  The 
next logical step for future research is to investigate the application of Nobel Women 
readers’ theater scripts in elementary and secondary classrooms in the hope that 
students, too, will feel empowered to make a difference. 
 
 

References 
 

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Appleyard, N., & McLean, L. R. (2011).  Expecting the exceptional: Pre-service 
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Oxfam (2006).  Key elements of global citizenship.  Retrieved from 
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citizenship. 

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24-26. 

Robbins, M., Francis, L. J., & Elliott, E. (2003).  Attitudes toward education for global 
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About the Author 

 
Dorothy Blanks is a doctoral candidate (ABD) at the University of Tennessee in 
Teacher Training: Social Studies.  Her experience living and teaching in Eastern Europe 
and Asia for two decades has resulted in a commitment to global education. 
 
  

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/global-citizenship/key-elements-of-global-citizenship
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/global-citizenship/key-elements-of-global-citizenship


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Appendix A 
Workshop Lesson Plan 

 
Goal:  The goal of the workshop is to promote greater knowledge and positive attitudes 
about teaching global citizenship.  
 
Objectives: 

 Students will be able to define GE and GCE by writing a class definition of the 
terms. 

  Students will be able to identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of GCE by 
completing a graphic organizer with 80 percent accuracy. 

  Students will explore the use of drama pedagogy to teach GCE by participating 
in a readers’ theater about a woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. 

 Students will evaluate the effectiveness of the NWRT curriculum by responding 
to journal prompts eliciting their feedback. 

 
Classroom Activities and Procedures: 
 
DAY 1  (3 HOURS) 
 

1. Definition:  As individuals, students will be asked to write a definition of global 
education and global citizenship.  Volunteers will offer ideas as the whole 
class builds a definition.  A definition will then be handed out and compared 
with the class description.   (Purpose:  To understand the meaning of GE and 
GCE) 

 
2. Matching:  Pairs of students will be handed an envelope with 19 strips of 

paper which each contain one of the items from the Oxfam GCE topics on 
knowledge, attitudes, and skills.  Students will be asked to organize these 
phrases in any way that is logical to them, and then create a graphic 
organizer that highlights the relationships between the words and phrases.  
Afterwards, students will explain their GO to the class.  The Oxfam chart will 
be handed out and compared with student results.  (Purpose:  Understand the 
components of GCE) 

 
3. Personal Narrative Storytelling:  Each participant will be asked to tell a 

personal narrative story that relates to one of the 16 categories of GCE.  The 
workshop leader will first model this technique by telling the story “Hauli Go 
Home” which is related to the ideas of diversity/peace and conflict, and 
respect for people and things.  (Purpose:  To relate the themes to their own 
lives, reflecting upon and personalizing the experience, as well as developing 
a sense of community and trust within the workshop participants.) 

 
4. Workshop participants will be paired up, and each set of partners will be given 

a brief biography of a Nobel Woman.  They will be required to draft and 
perform a short telephone call between the Nobel Committee and the Nobel 



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Woman that conveys as much information as possible about that particular 
Nobel Peace Prize.  (Purpose:  To gain biographical knowledge of the Nobel 
Women) 

 
5. Reflection:  What do you know now that you didn’t know when you came in 

the room?  Is there anything you can take forward with you into the classroom 
or your life?  (Purpose:  Reflect and analyze experience) 

 
DAY 2  (3 HOURS) 
 

1. Readers’ Theater:  Definition (hand out) (Purpose:  What is Readers’ 
Theater?) 

 
2. Readers’ Theater:  Example.  Show the two minute video clip of Wangari 

Maathai telling the Hummingbird folktale.  Have student volunteers perform 
the Hummingbird readers’ theater.  (Purpose:  Model Readers’ Theater 
Development) 

 
3. Discussion:  How might you incorporate readers’ theater into your level and 

subject?  (Purpose:  Help students analyze the usefulness of the pedagogy) 
 

4. Nobel Women RT:  Jigsaw groups are given scripts of their Nobel Women.  
Time is given to practice and prepare. 

 
5. Groups perform readers’ theater for the class.  (Purpose:  Experience RT and 

GCE) 
 
6. Reflection:  Imagine student reaction to the topic of GCE, the pedagogy of 

readers’ theater, and the lives of Nobel women.  Discuss the implications for 
your teaching.  (Purpose:  Reflect and analyze uses of NWRT in the 
classroom) 

 
7.  Return to the Oxfam chart.  Individually, then in pairs, then as a whole group, 

think about what methods you might use with your students and your topics in 
order to actively engage students in being world citizens.  (Purpose:  Review 
components of GCE and link to own class design) 

 
Assessment:  
 
Formative: 
 Participation in discussions, matching/categprozomg, and drama activities. 
 
Summative: 

 Reflection journals 
 Post Survey 

 



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Modification: 
 Modification to instruction will be made on an individual basis. 
 
Materials: 
 Pre and Post Surveys 
 Paper and pencils 
 Chart Paper/markers/white board 
 Envelopes with Oxfam strips 
 Oxfam categories handout 
 Nobel Women biographies 
 Nobel Women guiding questions 
 Reflection Questions:  Day 1 and Day 2 
 Readers Theater Handout:  Definition 
 You-Tube:  Wangari Maathai Hummingbird video 
 Hummingbird Readers Theater 
 Nobel Women RT Scripts 
 
  



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Appendix B 

I Will be a Hummingbird Script 
 

Narrator:  Once, all the whole forests of Africa were on fire.  It was a huge blaze!  The 
animals ran to the edge of the flames and looked on in despair.  The most powerful 
creatures of the jungle stood together in quiet discussion.  The lion, the tiger, the 
leopard, the elephant and the rhinoceros were joined by many others including the 
giraffe and zebra.  They looked on in despair as the trees of Africa burned.  

Leopard:  Hey guys!  We got a big problem here!  Big! Big problem! 

Elephant:  We’ve got an emergency, that’s for sure!  Our home is on fire. 

Zebra:  My food is on fire! 

Tiger:  The rivers and streams are all evaporating!  What am I supposed to drink?   

Lion:  My shade trees are burning.  How am I supposed to stay cool in the heat?  
Where am I supposed to take my nice afternoon nap?  But I’m helpless against a fire 
that big! 

Leopard:  Maybe so, but I don’t see how.  Hey, Tiger, you go do it right now! 

Tiger:  Roar!  I may be the fiercest of all creatures, but there is nothing I can do against 
this blaze!  How about you, King?  Any ideas? 

Lion:  Who me?  I may be the King, but I’ve got a very precious mane of hair that is 
likely to go up in smoke if I get to close!  I’m powerless! 

Narrator:  The animals noticed a blur moving between the river and the burning trees.   
The little hummingbird thought, “I’m going to do something.  I’m going to do the best that 
I can.” The big animals snickered, then turned back to ponder the fire. 

Tiger:  Mr. Rhino?  Your skin is thick and hard to burn…  How about it? 

Rhino:  Oh, come on, Tiger, you know that my eyesight isn’t worth a darn.  What about 
the giraffe? 

Giraffe:  Ever heard of “Stop, Drop, and Roll?”  You’re supposed to stay down low in a 
fire!  My head is up in the treetops, where the fire is hottest and the smoke is the worst.  
I’m helpless in a situation like this one! 

Narrator:  While the most powerful beasts of the forest argued, one little creature was 
at work.  In fact, this bird flew so fast that its wings were a blur.  The hummingbird, one 
of the tiniest creatures in Africa, flew to the Limpopo River and took one tiny drop of 
water in its beak.  Then it flew to the fire and deposited the drop on one spark.  Back 
and back went the hummer, returning to the fire each time with one tiny drop.  Finally, 
the larger creatures seemed to take notice. 



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Elephant:  Hey, hummer!  Buddy!  Whatcha doin’?  Are you nuts?  Are you insane? 

Tiger:  You are way too little!  What can you do? 

Rhino:  Yeah, birdie!  Give it up!  You’re wasting your breath! 

Narrator:  The hummingbird didn’t waste its breath responding, even though she was 
very tempted to point out that the elephant had a nice big trunk, and the rhino had a 
huge mouth that might be a big help in carrying water.  The lion was king of the jungle.  
If he were to help, others would join in.  Never mind, thought the hummingbird.  I can 
only choose my own actions.  

Lion:  What a crazy bird! 

Elephant:  Yeah!  What a dodo! 

Tiger:  She sure is working hard.  What a wasted effort! 

Narrator:  It took the hummingbird a long, long time.  She made thousands of journeys 
from the river to the forest and back.  One tiny area of the fire, on the eastern edge, 
began to wane.   The elephant went to investigate. 

Elephant:  Hey, guys!  Look here!  I think that hummer might just have the right idea. 

Narrator:  The elephant went to the river, filled his nose full of water, and sneezed it all 
over the south side of the flames.  It didn’t make much difference, but perhaps… 

Elephant:  Come on, guys!  If a little bugger like the hummer can make a difference on 
the fire, imagine what we can all do! 

Narrator:  The powerful creatures of the forest joined together.  They decided that they 
would rather be hummingbirds, after all. 


