Ei-iE

Education International
Education International

USA: Educators celebrate International Education Week

published 12 November 2012 updated 22 November 2012

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of EI’s U.S. affiliates, will actively participate in the third annual Global Education Conference (GEC), to take place entirely online during International Education Week, from 12-16 November.

AFT President Randi Weingarten will be delivering a live, interactive keynote address via Internet on 14 November.  She will present a teacher oriented recipe for high performing schools, describing how the American Federation of Teachers is addressing the challenges facing schools and communities through solution-driven unionism.

Click here to follow Weingarten’s presentation live on 14 November, 5:00p.m. GMT.

Webinar Platform

The Global Education Conference is a collaborative, inclusive, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity. Last year’s conference featured 340 general sessions and 18 keynote addresses from all over the world with over 10,000 participant logins. To attend this year's conference and to be kept informed of the latest conference news and updates, please ?join this network.

The conference sessions are being held in Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate), and can be accessed live from any personal computer. (All sessions will also be recorded and posted quickly after the conference.) All sessions are free to attend, and the links to the sessions will go live in the schedule when the conference starts.

For more information about the GEC, please click here

The National Education Association (NEA), the other EI’s national affiliate, will also celebrate American Education Week (AEW) that same week. This week presents all Americans with an opportunity to celebrate public education and honour individuals who are making a difference in ensuring that every child receives a quality education.

As a call to action for teachers and administrators to invite aspiring educators, community leaders, parents and friends into their classrooms as “shadow teachers” during American Education Week, the NEA Academy's partner Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University will award $25,000 in grants to pre K–12 schools that host Educator for a Day events on Thursday, Nov. 15.

For more information about NEA action on AEW, please click here

“We wish our colleagues, in the USA and globally, all the best in celebrating the International Education Week,” EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen said. “This week will provide education unions with another good opportunity for to remind governments of their crucial involvement in public education. Governments must finance it adequately and ensure that all children are taught by highly qualified and decently paid teachers.”

Share My Lesson

At the Global Education Conference AFT representatives will also be giving a demonstration session of Share My Lesson, a new digital platform for U.S. educators to collaborate and share teaching resources and innovative ideas. Share My Lesson already has more than 180,000 resources, and that collection will grow rapidly as more educators add to it. Any educator, from preschool to college, can register and start using the site immediately.

To learn more about Share My Lesson, please click here

Video on Share My Lesson: