For our first activity, we were asked to draw lines connecting places that we come from; where we have been; places we have heard about; places we are curious about; places we eat things from; and places we own things from. This mapping of personal details helped us to begin to visualize how far our interests reach, and how our interests intersect with those of others in the group. Many people in the group had in common places that they are curious about, or places that they have been, which was interesting for everyone to share.
To jog our memories of everyone's names, we played a game that involved a curtain and an element of surprise. One person from each team sat in a hot seat on either side of a raised curtain. At the drop of the curtain, those sitting in the seats needed to say each other's names as quickly as possible. Whoever said the correct name first won, and brought the other person over to their team.
In another visual mapping activity, everyone in the group brainstormed words related to world issues. We came up with the words "Trees, Fossil Fuels, the Internet, Capacity, War, Poverty, Exploitation, Communication, Food, Boundaries," and more. We were all assigned one of these words, and we stood in a circle. One person, "Trees," started the task of connecting their issue with another person's issue by passing a string to that person and articulating why they made the connection. Continuing this task, individuals attempted to connect their issue with other issues until everyone in the circle was connected, in a web of related issues.
This activity made it visually clear how issues all over the world are connected, and also how issues affect each other across the globe, even if the effects aren't visible. If someone in the circle tugged on their string, the person/issue at the end of the string would be stressed or made more tense. Or, if one person/issue gave their string slack, the lack of balance affected those directly connected by the string, and sometimes other further away, as well. This exercise made us more aware of the ways issues in our communities might be affecting issues all over the world--realizing everything is connected.
Thinking about the local and global impacts of issues in our lives, we moved on to an activity where we were asked to think of an issue relevant to us, and relate it to our communities and our world. In the first circle called "Me," we wrote down our personal concern on sticky notes that were shaped like speech bubbles, and placed them in the innermost ring of the circle. Thinking of the issue's place in the three realms--"Me, My Community, and My World"--we wrote the concern in relevant terms to those areas on the same speech bubble notes. Then, we wrote an idealistic vision or solution to the issues on heart-shaped sticky notes, and put them in the outer rings of each circle. Lastly, on arrow-shaped notes, we wrote what we thought would be logical steps from the concern to the vision, and placed them in the central ring of each circle.
We were asked to read what everyone had written, and reflect on the ways our personal concern starts in our realm and ripples outward to our community and world. Beyond this, we reflected on the differences in action necessary to achieve the proposed visions for the different realms. We discussed how the initial concern develops in different ways, and become more difficult to manage as it reaches the world stage.
The point of this activity was to help us realize that the issues affecting our lives don't just stay in the realm of "Me." If an issue exists for one person that can mean it exists for others--throughout a community--and possibly throughout the world. Some issues that started in the "Me" realm included things like, "Managing my health, Sleep, Lack of Time, Family, etc" manifested to areas of "My Community" and "My World." The issues became more complex, like, "Having health and nutrition education in the community, putting emphasis on family time in communities, supporting family centers in the world, providing sleep education to young people all over the world", etc... Most members of the group had the same initial concerns in common.
Discussing the term "Globalisation," we created a word association chart to flow into our next activity. Globalisation is a unifying term for the brainstorming we did in the "Me, My Community, and My World," activity.
Reflecting on values and how people's values are different all over the world--as determined by their immediate circumstances--we were confronted with this chart of terms. The group was asked to read the provided definition of all of the terms, and then choose 5 terms that we thought would help make an ideal global citizen (green chalk), and 5 terms that would detract from forming an ideal global citizen (red chalk). For us, a global citizen did not embody values like "Preserving my public image, Accepting my portion in life, Obedience, Detachment, and Authority." Some traits we agreed would make an ideal global citizen were, "Social Justice, Sense of Belonging, Equality, Unity with Nature, Creativity" and others.
The chart of terms we worked from is based off this piece of research, which places specific values locally in categories related to life factors (needing citation). Under the category of Tradition, values like humility, devoutness, detachment, respect for tradition, and others all make up the value of Tradition.
The values are further explained in this chart of research demonstrating how values can be relative to neighboring values. The chart shows if someone predominantly holds the value of Security, they are likely to also value power and conservation, as they are nearby values.
After understanding working with the chart of values and being able to see how values can be called, and relate to each other, we attempted to define the ideal traits of a global citizen's Head, Heart, and Hand. For example, one group felt "awareness of world issues, sharing education and knowledge, being non-antrhopocentric, and future thinking" were important elements of a global citizen's Head, or Understanding. When thinking about the Heart, the other group thought "proactive ness, positivity, and respectfulness" were important Attitude traits. Also, they thought "sustainability, equality, responsibility, ethics, empathy, innovative ness, and critical analysis" were important Values. Lastly, one group mainly said "creating versus consuming" would be an important trait of a global citizen's Hand.
Mapping out the ideal traits of a global citizens and understanding where each trait can be enacted, via the Head, Heart, or Hand, proved influential in the group's understanding of the lifestyle of a global citizen.
For a fun and personalized studio activity, the group was presented with images of themselves. The group used images of themselves and other craft materials to create poster-like portraits that conveyed their values and hopes, as everyday global citizens.
The results of the task were moving and inspiring. Each portrait reflected its maker, and expressed beautiful messages of what its maker hopes for in the world.
In a later activity, the group participated in a Walking Debate. Below are the topics presented, and accompanying notes of reflection. Throughout the debate, group members shared their reasonings for their positions in the room (one side of the room for Agree, Disagree, and Maybe in the middle). This Walking Debate was particularly helpful to hear group member's ways of thinking about certain topics.
At the end of the second day, the group listened to a talk by Cliona Maher from CIT's International Students Department. Cliona presented on the inspiring efforts of Development Education and Creativity and Change happening at La Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, Mexico. Cliona worked at this university for twelve years, and shared with us examples of exceptional projects by students from her time at the university.
To date, students of the university have been developing personal projects that involve Development Education and Creativity and Change for people of all ages in their communities, which use areas of theatre, art, and music. In one case, a student from the university developed a now largely popular public theatre program that engages the youth of Veracruz in theatrical plays, which they base around educational and socially relevant themes. Cliona's presentation on the strongly influential measures of global citizenship currently happening was reassuring and inspiring.
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