March 30, 2016
This Friday, April 1, educators will gather at Virginia Wesleyan for the first annual Symposium on International Education. With a theme of “Think Globally, Teach Locally,” the symposium will highlight challenges facing students and educators worldwide.
Serving as the symposium’s keynote speaker is Fred Mednick, founder of Teachers Without Borders. Mednick founded Teachers without Borders in 2000 in order to connect teacher leaders to information and each other, worldwide, so that they may improve the quality of life in their communities. Today, the organization’s members represent 184 countries. Mednick is also an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, he has advised the leadership of The Organization of American States, and he leads academics for the International Institute for Education for Development. Watch his TED Talk, "Rebuilding Education From Below the Ground and Up."
Also presenting is Beverly Ann Chin, Ph.D., Chair of the English Department at the University of Montana. She is a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a highly respected leader in literacy standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. She served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an organization dedicated to certification of accomplished teachers. She was the senior project consultant for the 2011 Writing Framework of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—the Nation's Report Card. Chin enjoys working with students and educators and presenting at conferences throughout the world. She has worked with schools and universities in Japan, Thailand, China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Ukraine, Germany, England, France, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, Guam, and Czech Republic.
A screening of Girl Rising, a global campaign for girls' education, will also take place as part of the symposium on Monday, April 4 with a discussion led by Mednick. The documentary It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World, about "gendercide" in India and China, will be shown on Tuesday, April 5 with a discussion led by Chin. Both screenings are free and open to the public and begin at 6 p.m. in Blocker Auditorium.
Special thanks to Batten Associate Professor of Education Hilve Firek for bringing this powerful event to our campus along with the Education Department, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the Center for Innovative Teaching and Engaged Learning.
