Easton History Teacher to Hone Skills in Ukraine

Submitted to Easton Patch:

Steve Kelley, a History Teacher at and Easton resident, has been awarded a fellowship to travel to Ukraine during the last two weeks in April.

“Teachers for Global Classrooms” (TGC) is a fully-funded professional development grant program offered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and administered by IREX, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit.

This year, IREX selected 68 teachers – 2 from Massachusetts - out of 400 United States applicants to receive a 2 week international exchange to Morocco, Ukraine, Ghana, Brazil, India and Indonesia. The multi-phased program begins with an eight week online professional development graduate-level course which introduced globalized learning theory and the opportunity to develop practical skills in lesson planning, international project collaboration and community engagement. Participants also attend two 2-day workshops at the Washington, D.C. Global Education Symposia, where they synthesize and refine program skills with a national network of fellow participants.

During his 2 weeks in Ukraine, Mr. Kelley will travel and collaborate professionally with 10 other U.S. teachers, attend seminars on the history, culture and education in Ukraine, participate in discussions on best teaching practices and related educational issues, observe or team-teach in international classrooms, discuss local educational issues with students, teachers, and administrators from Ukraine and visit cultural sites.

Mr. Kelley will spend 3 days in Kiev for an orientation and meet with the local embassy. On the 4th day he will travel along with a fellow U.S. teacher from Miami to the Boiko Private School in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, where he will spend the next 6 days.  While there he will be hosted by an English teacher at the school. The last day brings teachers back together for a debriefing and sharing of experiences. In October, all participants will meet back in Washington, D.C. to continue to dialog on global education.

“The TGC program has truly opened my eyes to the opportunities that exist to ‘globalize’ one’s classroom. These range from how we use technology to encouraging students to ask questions that yield different perspectives on the things happening in their world today. I hope that sharing my experience of traveling to Ukraine will inspire them to see the world as an interconnected place,” noted Mr. Kelley.

He is also building a toolkit for use at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School, containing resources for teachers to incorporate global competencies, technology and projects within the classroom as well as connections with classrooms in other countries. Through his unique professional development experience with the TGC, Mr. Kelley’s students and colleagues will continue to prepare SRVTHS students succeed in an increasingly global world.