|By Roland A. Foulkes (hpda22.dhcp.hpd.nova.edu - 18.104.22.168) on Tuesday, November 09, 2004 - 9:06 pm: Edit Post|
BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS, PRESS RELEASE
BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS HONOR PEACE CORP RESOLUTION
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCTOBER 18, 2004
Peace Corps Resolution
The United States Peace Corps, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society, has developed a free educational resource, Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding, to help U.S. educators teach cross-cultural awareness. In adopting a resolution of support, the Board honored the Peace Corps for its donation of this resource to Broward County Public Schools and noted the importance of cross-cultural understanding in today's ever- growing diverse population.
Watch the Video - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=8fa9e6n6.0.9luvg6n6.6bbjvsn6.4367&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.browardschools.com%2Fnettv%2F
Broward County Public Schools, 600 S.E. Third Ave, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
Highlights of the 09/21/04 Broward County, Florida Public School Board Meetings
"Schools and Staff in Action"
The United States Peace Corps, in collaboration with the National Geographic Society, has developed a free educational resource, Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding, to help U.S. educators teach cross-cultural awareness. In adopting a resolution of support, the Board honored the Peace Corps for its donation of this resource to Broward County Public Schools and noted the importance of cross-cultural understanding in today’s ever-growing diverse population. Copies of the Building Bridges program are being sent to all Broward County Human Relations Councils and middle and high school media centers for use by students and teachers.
PEACE CORPS PRESS RELEASE
Broward County Schools and Peace Corps Build Bridges Across Cultures
Contact Press Office
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 8, 2004 – Broward County Public Schools of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the nation’s sixth largest school district, is the first school district to adopt the Peace Corps’ Building Bridges educational materials to help build bridges across cultures and break down stereotypes in America. Nearly 250 schools in Broward County are incorporating the Building Bridges materials into their curriculum and classrooms for this academic year.
Not only is Broward County one of the nation’s largest school districts with students from over 159 countries, it is also one of the most diverse student bodies in the U.S. Due to the high level of cross-cultural interaction taking place, school district officials have been working with Peace Corps representatives over the past year to bring the Building Bridges program into their curriculum—making improved cross-cultural relating skills an even higher priority in today’s classroom.
One of several classroom guides from the Peace Corps’ Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools program, Building Bridges is a set of short, adaptable lesson plans focused on tackling issues such as resolving cross-cultural misunderstanding, generalizations, seeing both sides of an issue, and how to fully appreciate a different culture. Adapted from the Peace Corps’ publications, Building Bridges assists teachers of grades six through 12 to build cross-cultural awareness, respect, and communication in their classrooms.
With its cumulative experience and ongoing mission, the Peace Corps is uniquely positioned to offer lessons promoting cultural understanding.
“The Peace Corps’ third goal is to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans, and many of our award winning educational materials work toward this goal,” said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. “Today, more than 270,000 students in Florida will have a chance to bridge the gap between other cultures in their community, thanks to the teachers and administrators of Broward County.”
For more information about the Building Bridges Classroom Guide and the Peace Corps’ Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools Program, please visit http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/index.html.
Since 1961, more than 171,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-ye
Broward County Public School District, the first in the nation to adopt the Peace Corps Building Bridges Program
by Starla Vaughns Cherin
Originally posted 9/29/2004
Developing an appreciation for humanity and peace is a core ideal in the United States Peace Corps Building Bridges program. Championed by School Board Member Ben Williams, he and school administrators worked to have Broward's School District be the first in the U.S. to officially adopt the curriculum that promotes cross-cultural understanding among students in grades K-12.
The curriculum is based on the work of Peace Corps volunteers, who since 1961 have served in more than 130 countries offering skills in education, agriculture, small business and community development and well as in the environmental and health fields. The program began as a correspondence match program between Volunteers and students.
Since then programming resources for educators have expanded to award winning videos, teacher guides, classroom speakers and interactive curriculum resources. All free of charge. ''Once the books run out, you can download the materials from the web site,'' said Coverdell World Wise Schools Director,'' Eileen Mattingly.
With input from National Geographic Society's Education Foundation and World Wise Schools global learning program the Building Bridges classroom guide probes our ideas about ourselves as Americans and what we think of others and their cultures.
Promoting what is termed ''enduring understanding'' questions in the guide ask, ''Why doesn't everyone see things the way I do? The statement, ''Understanding someone from another culture can be difficult because people see the world, themselves and others in fundamentally different ways,'' underscores the basis of the program and what students will accomplish.
The Broward County Multi-Ethnic Advisory Board co-sponsored the program's introduction to social studies, media specialist, human resource and human relations council professionals. The workshops showed how to apply the resources and explained the outcomes. Roland Foulkes, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana and the chair of the Multi-Ethnic Advisory Board outlined how the curriculum helps to bridge the gap between information and behavioral changes.
''Anthropologists and social scientists have identified a continuum of human relationships. There are nine steps ranging from positive to negative. At the top we have friendliness, which leads to cooperation, respect and tolerance. In the middle there is a predilection, a midpoint range. This can move downward to prejudice, discrimination, scapegoating and hostility. We want to move past tolerance because that isn't enough,'' he said.
Dr. Jody Olsen, the Deputy Director of the U.S. Peace Corps was here from Washington, D.C. said this program is especially dear to her. ''Every American is sharing themselves with another human being. We learn what are in each other’s communities and bring it back. We listen and understand so that we can communicate and be heard. To appreciate the depth beyond what we see and to understand each other,'' said Olsen.
The program CyberVolunteer helps students increase literacy through reading and writing letters.
The CyberVolunteer connects teachers and students with Peace Corps Volunteers around the world. Members receive monthly e-mail from a featured volunteer and exchange letters, artwork, artifacts. They lead students on an exploration of the countries and cultures of the world.
For more information contact www.peacecorps.gov/wws.