28 February 2014

At Primary Source, we’re always thrilled to spend the day with educators hungry for global content so when Brian Didier, Head of Global Studies and History at the Winsor School, reached out to us about holding a global professional development day for the Winsor faculty, we jumped at the opportunity. A longtime fan of our regional studies work, Brian noticed our expanding and broadening work on global studies and global competencies. “The great work Primary Source does on their summer institutes got me thinking,” said Brian, “maybe the summer institute format could be turned into a one-day professional opportunity.”

This was Winsor’s first professional day devoted to global competencies, and their goals were two-fold: to better understand why such competencies are required for students today, and how such competencies can be promoted in individual classrooms and beyond. The day was an engaging mix of keynote addresses and breakout workshops covering such diverse topics as global health and human rights, global literature, and global education in a STEM curriculum. “We now have a shared understanding of what global competencies are,” says Brian. “And we’ve started the long conversation about how such competencies can actually be promoted or developed through the curriculum.”

The faculty response was enthusiastic and immediate. “Thank you for leading us in some really meaningful and useful PD,” said one staff member. “That was one of the best professional days that I have attended,” said another. “The speakers were engaging and knowledgeable, and the content was rich and gave us so much to think about as we go forward with our own global studies program/initiatives.”

School districts regularly request our personalized consulting services because it’s an opportunity to bring global programming in-house that has real application in the classroom. Nothing pleases us more than to know that our work resonates with educators, and we look forward to reconnecting with Brian and hearing more about the impact the work is having at Winsor.