Global connections can be covered in so many ways. Geography gives us a way of looking at import and exports between the U.S. and the rest of the world. History gives us a way of looking into foreign relations and foreign policy of the past and connect it to current events such as the Iranian nuclear deal and even how the terrorist attacks in France have affected people in the U.S. and in some ways added to the already present Islamaphobia problems in our country as well. I think it is good for us in the social studies to look into the pros and cons to different types of global connections of the past and compare them to the present. One of the most debated topics of our time is whether or not we should involve the U.S. in wars around the world. I think, again, just being willing to have hard conversations and open up the classroom to discussion is key.
Another way to look at global connections would be way in which the NCSS describes it as the increased tensions that come through global connections. For example, in Little Bee, a novel that I read for a Historical Novel Project in EDSE 729, Nigerian refugees are fleeing the country due to the rebels threatening to kill families and protect Nigeria from being exploited for their oil. Nigeria is actually the United States' fifth largest supplier of oil. Civil wars have broken out for over six decades in the Niger delta over the exploitation of Nigerian oil and tea. The effect that these global business connections have on the citizens of Nigeria are that they want to flee in the way that Little Bee does in this book. In the artifact below, I have posted my historical novel project and explained the way in which a social studies teacher would be able to use Little Bee in the classroom to teach about global connections. This book could really tie into almost every NCSS thematic strand but clearly the global connections due to the foreign trade of Nigerian oil which leads to the entire conflict illustrated by this novel is the key global connection.
Another way to look at global connections would be way in which the NCSS describes it as the increased tensions that come through global connections. For example, in Little Bee, a novel that I read for a Historical Novel Project in EDSE 729, Nigerian refugees are fleeing the country due to the rebels threatening to kill families and protect Nigeria from being exploited for their oil. Nigeria is actually the United States' fifth largest supplier of oil. Civil wars have broken out for over six decades in the Niger delta over the exploitation of Nigerian oil and tea. The effect that these global business connections have on the citizens of Nigeria are that they want to flee in the way that Little Bee does in this book. In the artifact below, I have posted my historical novel project and explained the way in which a social studies teacher would be able to use Little Bee in the classroom to teach about global connections. This book could really tie into almost every NCSS thematic strand but clearly the global connections due to the foreign trade of Nigerian oil which leads to the entire conflict illustrated by this novel is the key global connection.