
Inspire Inform Involve	News from TIGed September/October 2012
Sign Up Your Class For An International Student Video Conference! Global Encounters is a TIGed program offered in collaboration with The Centre for Global Education that brings together students from around the world through live video conferences. Classes explore global issues and the potential of youth to shape a better tomorrow. This Fall, we have a packed schedule of events that feature expert guest speakers on critical global issues. Our conferences this season include events related to mental health, girls' rights, Global Dignity Day, the Middle East in transition, environmental issues, and HIV/AIDS. Don't miss these great opportunities to show your students how they can have a voice in important issues that affect youth worldwide. Register your class today! International Days September 8 - International Literacy Day Literacy is a fundamental human right, and International Literacy Day is celebrated to raise awareness about issues surrounding this important issue. On this day, have your class explore TIG's Education Global Issues page to learn more about different types of literacies, and have students write a blog post responding to what they learn. September 15 - International Day of Democracy In 2007, the UN declared September 15th International Day of Democracy. Use this day to explore definitions of democracy and good governance with your students through the use of our Orange Revolution thematic classroom that uses the case study of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005. September 16 - International Day of Preservation of the Ozone Layer On this day in 1987, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed. This day is devoted to increasing awereness about the ozone layer and its depletion, and environmental issues like climate change. Explore TIGed's environmental classroom resources for activities to do with your class on this day. September 21 - International Day of Peace International Day of Peace is a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples. This day is also promotes a day of ceasefire in combat zones for humanitarian aid access. Make the most of TIGed's resources on peace and conflict for lesson plans to do with your class, and learn about what other schools are doing to mark the day through TIGed's friends at Peace One Day. October 2 - World Habitat Day World Habitat Day is observed to promote awareness about issues surrounding shelter for all living things. Many people and animals around the world are without adequate homes. This year's theme is "Many Homes, One Community". Have your class explore Habitat for Humanity's website to learn about ways to participate in your local area. October 5 - World Teachers' Day Happy World Teachers' Day to all the wonderful TIGed teachers out there! The theme for this important day this year is "Take a Stand for Teachers." Talk to your class today about the many issues that you and your colleagues are facing every day around the world. You can even search the TIGed community for a teacher from a different country to come speak to your class about what school is like where they live. October 10 - World Mental Health Day World Mental Health Day is a day dedicated to promoting education and advocacy for mental health around the world. Take advantage of the TIGed mental health thematic classroom, where you and your students will find two fun and educational games and a range of free online tools, resources, and learning activities about mental health! October 16 - World Food Day World Food Day is celebrated to commemorate the founding of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and to promote reflection on global food issues. This year's theme is "Agricultural Cooperatives – the Key to Feeding the World." Use the resources from TIGed's GRUB thematic classroom to strike up a conversation among your students about the food we eat, where it comes from, and how our food choices affect our health. October 17 - International Day of Eradication of Poverty This day is observed to increase people's awareness about poverty around the world, and to bring people together, including country leaders and governments representatives, to make the fight against poverty a central part of national policies. Take a look at TIGed's popular Ayiti role playing game and thematic classroom, through which your students can explore how poverty affects individuals, families and communities in developing countries. October 24 - United Nations Day The United Nations General Assembly was created on October 24th, 1947. On the anniversary of this event, United Nations Day is celebrated to highlight the work of the United Nations and its network of specialized agencies. Have your students learn more about the history of United Nations by exploring their official website. The youth page will teach them how they can have their voices heard in local, national and international policy processes.	Announcements TIGed Support Guide 2.0 Launches! TIGed is proud to announce the launch of the TIGed Support Guide version 2.0! This guide is designed to help you along your journey to empowering students to understand and act on the world's greatest challenges with TIGed. Included in the guide are step by step instructions for getting started in our online community, setting up your collaborative virtual classroom, finding resources on our site, and much more. Special thanks to Tania Rashid, TIGed Program Assistant, and Edgar González Rodríguez, Graphic Designer, for all their hard work on this guide. Help Us Raise Funds for PD Scholarships! TIGed is part of GlobalGiving's September Open Challenge - raising funds to offer scholarships to 50 deserving educators from emerging countries. We need your help! Our e-courses were designed for educators around the world to gain the knowledge, experience, and confidence they need to drive future-forward education. The problem is that many passionate and talented teachers who are interested in developing professionally through the e-courses are not able to afford tuition, and we're only able to waive the fees for a limited number of participants. Donations allow us to expand access to those educators unable to participate because of financial constraints. If we can raise ,000 by the end of September (we're almost half way there!) GlobalGiving will continue to support us by hosting us on their site permanantly! Can you contribute to help? New DeforestACTION Student Planning Guides! To help your students along their DeforestACTION journey, we're excited to announce new student fundraising and project planning guides! These guides will take students on a step-by-step path to developing and executing successful school and community-based campaigns. Special thank-you to DeforestACTION Project Assistant, Amanda Cembal, for all of her hard work on the development of these guides! Opportunities Take an e-course with TIGed! What better way to kick off a new school year than with one of our three professional development e-courses? Each e-course is 5 weeks long, and is facilitated online by an experienced global educator. This cycle of "Project-based Learning for Global Citizenship" with Jennifer Klein has already started, but you can still join "Education for Environmental Stewardship" with Deanna Del Vecchio; and "Empowering Student Voice in Education" with Mandeep Atwal. There will be two cohorts of each course this Fall. For details about the course schedule, and to reserve your spot today, visit our PD webpage! Ride to Learn This year Kristina Stoney and Nic Arney are riding their bikes around the world, and they'd love for you to join the ride! To participate, register here with the code "WBC/RideToLearn!" Kristina and Nic are, like you, on a learning adventure! They're curious about the stories behind everyday things. They're currently visiting communities of farmers, manufacturers, and designers around the world to find out more about where and how our T-shirts, shoes, and bikes are made. But they need your help--both with asking questions and finding solutions. Introduce yourself via our discussion board, meet other youth who are changing the world, and collaborate on projects with them. Let's ride together! TIGed in the Media TIGed Announced as a WISE Awards Finalist! TIGed is thrilled to announce that we have been honoured as a finalist for the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards! Check out this article published by the Gulf Times of Doha, Qatar that features the twenty-five finalists of the WISE Awards. What a great group of organizations! TakingITGlobal Featured in Bold Magazine Check out this fantastic article that features an interview with TakingITGlobal Co-founder, Jennifer Corriero. Learn about the beginnings of our social network for social good, how we've developed over the years, our goals and dreams, and even our innovative office space! Recent and Upcoming Events Global Education Conference November 12-17, Online TIGed is a proud partner of the Global Education Conference, a collaborative, inclusive, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity. Last year’s week-long conference featured 340 general sessions and 18 keynote addresses from all over the world with over 10,000 participant logins. The deadline for proposals is October 15th, so you still have time to submit a presentation! Join the network to submit a proposal and to learn more about this wonderful event. ECOO October 24 - 26, Richmond Hill, ON, Canada TIGed is excited to participate in the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario conference again this year by presenting a workshop on TIGed's international student video conferencing program, Global Encounters, as well as by co-presenting on Time Project with London-based principal, Joe Sheik. We hope to see you there! ABEL August 21 - 22, Toronto, ON, Canada The TIGed Team had a great experience again at the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning Summer Institute event this year! Thanks to everyone who dropped by our table to chat about TakingITGlobal, and to those who attended our workshop! TIGed/Flat Classroom Open House and Free Fall Webinars We are pleased to announce that this season's free webinar series is set to kick off with an exciting new addition to our offerings, an educator open house, jointly hosted by TIGed and our friends at Flat Classroom! Join this webinar to learn strategies for creating and maintaining collaborative projects with other educators and classes from around the world using TIGed's tools and resources. This webinar will kick off on Tuesday September 25th at 7pm EDT. Register today! Be sure to check out the complete Fall schedule and mark your calendars for these fabulous free events! 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers - Youth Forum August 27 - 30, Port Louis, Mauritius TakingITGlobal was a proud participant of the 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) Youth Forum! It was an exciting 4-days facilitating workshops with Commonwealth student leaders on values, visions and student voice in education, and presenting on TakingITGlobal's work in student voice through examples like DeforestACTION. The forum culminated in the development of the Commonwealth Student Association, which will enable student leaders from across the Commonwealth inform thinking and have a voice in key education decisions. We look forward to the next CCEM Youth Forum! Reminders Tell us your story! Have you been inspired by TIGed, and want to inspire others? Educator stories are a great way to share your teaching experiences with TIGed’s global community. Let us know how you have you helped your students build a better world by submitting your educator story. Discuss issues that matter to you and the steps you and your classroom have taken to become involved. Share your vision: what kind of future do you hope to create through education? We can't wait to hear what you have to say! Wrap Up If you like what you've read don't keep it all to yourself! Please share this email with colleagues and friends in education, or direct them to our blog. We'd love to hear from you! If you have questions or feedback, or would like more information about TIGed, please contact us: education@takingitglobal.org. View back-issues of our newsletter at tiged.org, and sign up to be a TIGeducator! Follow us on Twitter @TIGed.
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