Global Citizenship One Step at a Time: Starting with Your Classroom

Abstract

I am doing a content analysis of the book, “If Kids Ran the World,” by Diane and Leo Dillon published in 2014, and creating a learning activity accompanying the book. My research questions around this topic are: 1). Why is creating a community important? 2) What does it mean to be a citizen? 3. Why does being a citizen matter? As a future elementary education teacher, I strive to emphasize developing a healthy class community, which should instill the ideals of citizenship and inclusivity in students. Multiple theories will be used to analyze the book, such as elements from Piaget’s theory of Constructivism, the Critical Multicultural Education theory, and the Situated Learning Theory. The story chosen is appropriate for grades K to 3. It shows how children can have critical thoughts and ideas about homelessness, hunger, schooling, social-emotional awareness, inclusivity, money, the environment, religion, social hierarchy, and more. Along with the content analysis of the book, I will also provide an activity to incorporate into the class community lesson. This activity would partially take place before reading and then finish after reading. It will begin with students individually noting how they would positively change the class, the community, and the world. After this discussion, the whole class would physically create a project of their community with new incorporations of their ideas. The students and teacher would work together to explain the reason for the changes. The overall goal of this activity would be to get students thinking about what is important to them, to hear what is important to others, and to see how change can be effectively made through collaboration. This activity promotes a healthy class environment because everyone\u27s ideas are heard and acknowledged, creating a new community together. This activity and book will help shift the students\u27 perspective to a more “global citizenship” way of thinking. And when trying to create change, you need to start small. With the book and activity, I believe students could understand their place and value in the world and amongst the global citizens by beginning to understand their own class community and local community