The last iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) conference held in the United States was 20 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee. Of all the places in the United States suitable for a conference, why is Winchester, Virginia, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, a perfect choice for the 2018 iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit, July 8-14, 2018?
The reasons are many! With a population of 27,000, guests will experience life in a small American city. However, Winchester is only 75 miles from our nation’s capital, one of the excursion options scheduled for midweek of the conference. Visitors will delight in exploring the historical museums, modern shopping areas, and tree lined Old Town shops and restaurants. Scenic vineyards, orchards, and national parks in the area offer tourists options for outdoor recreation. Shenandoah University, whose diverse student body represents 46 states and 67 countries, proudly showcases outstanding music, dance, and theater programs, and nearby hotels offer comfortable accommodations to house conference attendees.
Recognizing the importance of global education, Winchester Public Schools began to partner with iEARN three years ago. Through the Aspen Institute’s Stevens Initiative BRIDGE Program and the Handley Trust, funding provided for professional development and support of project-based learning focused on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. When iEARN approached administrators in Winchester Public Schools with the request to hold the conference at John Handley High School, the response was enthusiastic. JHHS, voted by Architectural Digest as the most beautiful high school in Virginia, will be the perfect setting for this international gathering.
If you have not yet registered for the conference, don’t miss the opportunity to join over 400 educators and students from 40 countries and do so before June 1! Imagine yourself listening to keynote speaker, Kaycee Freed Jennings, while sitting next to Yoko Takagi, who was threatened as a child refugee during World War II by gunfire and hunger. After seeing the Pulitizer Prize-winning photograph of the nine year old Napalm girl, Yoko decided to devote her life to promoting peace and began the Machinto–Hiroshima for Peace project. She has attended every iEARN conference since 1996 and is traveling from Japan to be with us.
Or perhaps during an interactive technology workshop on google hyperdocs provided by JHHS French teacher JoEllen Delamata, you might meet her iEARN partner Allen Witten, a social studies teacher at Sunburst Youth Academy in California. Engaging his students in several iEARN projects, Allen’s at-risk students are developing confidence through their friendships by writing letters and video conferencing with global peers. The passion they demonstrate for making the world a better place through projects related to the UN SDG’s inspires me.
Maybe you will meet many other ELL teachers like Maha Alawat from Israel as she participates in a round table discussion led by Helaine Marshall, a professor from New York. Helaine, after doing extensive research, has created a multicultural framework that provides immigrant students learning another language a safe and fertile environment. And Maha’s teaching not only results in English proficiency for her students, it also brings Arab and Jewish students together to learn and form friendships in a co-existence peace project.
You’ll not only learn, but you will have a fun and memorable time at Thursday evening’s Culture Night, where we will entertain each other with song, dance, video, or other creative choices depicting each country’s culture. And perhaps you’ll kick your heels up with the friends you’ve made at Friday night’s barbecue gala event.
Last year, I had the opportunity to attend #iEARN2017 in Marrakech, and the memories of an unforgettable week still linger. Don’t miss your chance to experience an international conference and meet dedicated, amazing teachers from so many countries.
The people of Winchester recognize the importance of education, appreciate diversity, and celebrate cultural heritage. The Top of Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Winchester and Frederick County Tourism Center, and Downtown Merchants Association leaders, representing hundreds of local businesses, have offered their support in promoting the conference. Conference volunteers, consisting of students, teachers, parents, and others in the community are helping with tasks in preparation for and during the conference.
I’m confident that those who call Winchester home will extend a warm welcome to those attending #iEARN2018. And, I hope those visiting Winchester for the first time will feel at home and will want to return!
Join us at the 2018 iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit
http://iearn2018.org
In 2018, iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) celebrates 30 years of connecting educators and students around the globe together in shaping a more peaceful, just and inclusive world through global citizenship education. Founded in 1988, iEARN begin with connecting a handful of classrooms in the U.S. and Russia through early video conferencing technology. Today, iEARN spans a network of 140 countries, with more than two million students and thousands of educators having participated in iEARN Global Projects.
To celebrate 30 years of global friendship, iEARN-USA will be hosting the 2018 iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit in Winchester, Virginia, July 8-14. Official programming details are available on the conference website at iearn2018.org. Registration will officially open in February 2018.
Visit the Conference Website
http://iearn2018.org
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The theme for this year’s conference is Global Collaboration for Sustainable Development. This conference will celebrate iEARN’s 30-year history of people and projects that have changed the world while also envisioning a future where educators and youth work together to build a more peaceful and sustainable world. The 2018 conference will bring together educators, students, and partners from across the globe to meet and discuss how they will continue to achieve SDGs through global, collaborative project work.
iEARN-USA aims to curate an innovative and engaging conference experience. Interested presenters are encouraged to submit session proposals for any of the following session formats:
Tech/Innovation Lab: The Tech Lab is a space to explore new technology tools to use in the classroom. Presenters will be stationed around the room and share their favorite tool (like Zoom, FlipGrid, Padlet). Attendees will walk around and ask them questions to get hands-on experience and learn how to use new technology tools.
Ignite Talk: Presenters get 5 minutes and must use 20 slides with each slide advancing automatically after 15 seconds, forcing speakers to quickly and succinctly deliver their message. Ignite talks can be about a project experience, an idea for a new project, exploration of a tool, or strategies for collaboration.
Interactive Workshop: Interactive workshops engage participants actively in learning new information or techniques. These workshops are hands-on and activity-based.
Roundtable: These sessions are set in an informal environment. The facilitator introduces a topic and then he/she facilitates a discussion. Attendees engage in discussion, collaborate, and learn from one another.
Poster: Create a display that shares your project, training, or global education work. Posters summarize information or findings in a creative, visual format and generate discussion among viewers.
Please sign up for our mailing list to receive conference announcements by email and follow iEARN-USA on social media for updates.
A faded red paper tulip from an iEARN conference sits in a vase in my bedroom. Ruty Hotzen (Daffodils and Tulips project) handed out the flowers to honor Arab students in East Jerusalem who planted tulips for an important commemorative occasion when Jewish students were restricted because of a religious holiday.
For more than 20 years, I have organized my vacations around iEARN’s gathering. When I signed up for my first conference, I expected to meet some interesting people in an intriguing place (Budapest) at an affordable price, including that (as an educator) it was a tax deduction. As hoped, I found nothing but positives and also, unexpectedly, discovered this was an incredible, unique opportunity to understand what was happening someplace.
If I’d been on a tour to Hungary, or if I’d traveled there on my own, how would I have met locals, let alone have conversations that could continue over several days? IEARN conferences are structured for that to happen. They are put on by volunteer teachers who recruit regional teachers and students to attend with the goal of getting to know teachers from elsewhere. The point is to talk together, present best practices, find partners for projects, sightsee together and get it.
Over the years, I’ve gained unique understandings of such places as Moscow; Osaka; BrasÃlia, San Juan, PR; Enschede, Netherlands and Cape Town, where I wept with the principal of a township high school when he learned that the new computers in his lab had been stolen, despite double fencing and multiple locks. In Budapest, the principal had told us how he carried home discs of students’ project work to relay to the iEARN network. When one of the Australian teachers returned home, she and her students raised money to ship refurbished computers to his school. At the following conference, we had rejoiced when Philemon Kotsokoan (country coordinator in South Africa) told us how the students lined up by the (old, slow) computers to send their reports. Now the brand-new computers were gone and we all grieved.
Not all stories are uplifting, but they are real.
And really, flying halfway around the world for a conference means you’re probably hoping for some adventures along with professional development. It’s not predictable what we’ll experience in Morocco, but here’s a glimpse from the past:
Being chased in the dark by medieval devils with pitchforks loaded with gigantic sparklers (and dancing under the sparks). That’s how the villagers in Callus, north of Barcelona, concluded our week with them.
Holding fresh mint under our noses at the stinky leather dying vats in the medina at Fez, Morocco when the temperature hit 120 F. (Laugh along in my short video: The Mall of Malls.)
Not just reading about SARS in Asia, but being dis-invited at the last minute from a Japanese resort town in the mountains. After all, we were a mob from about 70 countries. Incredibly, Yoko Takagi, iEARN-Japan coordinator, persuaded the Governor of Osaka to let us meet on a nearby island. Every morning, we used gift thermometers to self-report our temperatures.
Hopefully, you and I will meet in Marrakech, Morocco this July and intertwine our lives. I’ll be rooming with Violeta Tsoneva from Sofia, Bulgaria. She met my nephew when he attended the youth summit in Moscow, an Eastern European major in college. When he graduated, Violeta found him a job, an apartment and a potential girl friend. When new Bulgarian laws put a kibosh on that, iEARN-Macedonia friends, Mimoza and Jove Jankulovski, helped DJ locate there for a year. And guess who else helped him in Skopje?! iEARN-Argentina’s Adriana Vilela, who happened to be there working with Jove and Mimoza on a World Links for Development grant.
What is the impact of the iEARN conferences on my life? For more than 20 years, “virtual†is my reality.
Cathy Healy is an innovator, connector and team-builder in the field of global education. The former editor of the National Geographic Intranet, as well as former Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University, Cathy serves on the board of iEARN-USA and is Special Liaison for the Alliance of IEARN-USA and Partners of the Americas.
Katherine Korte, an iEARN educator from Pattonville High School, Maryland Heights, MO, shares her iEARN International Conference Top 10 List.
Two Americans, two Syrians, two Palestinians, one Iraqi and an Moroccan sit down to play a game of “Never have I ever.†No, this is not a start of a joke, but an actual example of a cross cultural experiences that has happened at an iEARN conference that changed the professional and personal direction of this educator. iEARN conferences are unique in their ability to bring passionate educators together to share best practices and build global communities of collaborative learning. I have had the pleasure of attending two iEARN conferences: Qatar (2013) and Argentina (2014). The following are my top 10 reasons to attend an iEARN conference:
10. Sustainable Thinking—iEARN conferences push you think in terms of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. iEARN project participants are encouraged to assess their involvement and commitment to ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all. The long term investment in our collective future requires us developed critical thinkers who take ownership of critical world issues. iEARN projects create an authentic learning environment for students to practice their global competencies and promote Sustainable Development Goals.
9. 21st Century Digital Technology—Education technology is always a focus at iEARN conferences. Especially in terms of effective tech use to develop global competencies in our students. Specifically, in building cross cultural communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills. You will walk away with applicable technology tools to embed into your global curriculum. These can include multi platform apps, video production, translation and global communication programs.
8. Keynote Speakers—iEARN brings in dynamic and inspirational keynote speakers. I’ll never forget hearing Peter Copen, iEARN’s founder, speak in Qatar 2013. He spoke of how a small directional shift can lead to new and exciting destination. That speech has remained close to my heart as I have made small, yearly changes to create a world class education environment for my students, in one degree shifts at a time.
7. Multiple Narratives—There is no danger of a single story at this conference. Presenters and conference participants bring a world of experience to share. Each story shared with one another adds a new lens for you to expand your global knowledge and perspective. Attending an iEARN conference challenges you to be reflective on the perspectives included in your classroom. As you engage in conversations and attend sessions, you are constantly evaluating your practices and thinking about new questions to explore with your students.
6. Travel Bug—International travel is one of the best teachers you will ever have. Traveling abroad teaches you to be comfortable with ambiguity and unfamiliar situations. The excitement of new places, people and experiences will leave you wanting more. Don’t be surprised if you start seeking out other global education opportunities that take you abroad and fill up your passport!
5. Cultural Excursions—A local iEARN team is responsible for organizing the conference and includes a day for cultural excursions. This can include activities such as shopping in local markets, visiting heritage sites, or exploring natural beauty. In Qatar, a group of us went dune bashing and felt the thrill of racing up and down sand dunes in a SUV. Our guide gave insights on the local geography and environment. In Argentina, we went whale watching and were up close to the movements of the Southern Right Whales. 4. Spontaneous Moments—iEARN conferences are filled with unexpected moments of joy and connections. Most conference participants stay at the same hotel and eat meals together. So at breakfast you might dine with an Australian, Argentine, and Russian. While at lunch visit with a Taiwanese, South African and Peruvian. All the while enjoying savory local cuisine and engaging in rich conversations that span a world of topics. You may stay up late discussing Egyptian politics or learn to dance a Jordanian Debka. You might find yourself listening to the most insanely talented teen beatboxer from Ukraine or end up in a local school talking to students about their aspirations. These unexpected moments are the true treasures of iEARN conferences and stay with you long past the conference closing.
3. Networking—Your social media is about to get a lot more interesting. Get ready to have news feeds from around the world as you network with your global professional peers. When you pose education questions on Twitter, be ready to have the world answer you back. Your new friends will keep you updated on global affairs and share with you their daily routines. Be sure to bring lots of business cards.
2. Fun—iEARN conferences are a great way to reconnect with the joy of learning. If you are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed, attending a conference will remind you of the shear fun of connecting students with their global peers. Typically, at iEARN conferences there is a youth summit and watching global teens interact, laugh and connect is a great reminder of fun and important work we do as teachers every day and the lasting impact we have on the future.
1. Humility—The creativity and devotion of the educators that participate in iEARN conferences will leave you humbled. The global education community is rich and deep in inspiring, innovative and passionate people. By the end of the conference, you will have acquired the tools and connections to create a new global approach to learning and a sense of satisfaction that with this many talented educators, global youth are in good hands.
Ready to attend the 2018 Conference in Winchester, Virginia, July 8-14? Visit http://iearn2018.org to learn more. Registration is open until June 1, 2018.
Congratulations to all the youth media makers from around the world whose media was part of the 2015 iEARN Adobe Youth Voices Media Festival, hosted at the 2015 iEARN International Conference and Youth Summit in Brasilia, Brazil on July 28th, and to all the youth artists whose work is part of the larger global iEARN Adobe Youth Voices media collection for the 2014-2015 program year.
Want to see the videos shown at the 2015 iEARN Adobe Youth Voices Media Festival?
Educators, youth, and partners from around the world gathered in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, June 29-July 5, 2014 to connect and share ideas for using technology to support creativity, innovation, and global learning in education.
Check out photos, videos and reports from the 20th iEARN Conference and Youth Summit, hosted by Fundación Evolución / iEARN-Argentina / TELAR in Puerto Madryn, Argentina!
Visit the 2014 iEARN conference website at http://iearn2014.org and find more news on the Fundación Evolución Page on Facebook
2014 iEARN Conference and Youth Summit Video
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All You Need is Love – A Collaborative Music Video by iEARN schools in Argentina.
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