My students listening to the comments left by Mr. C on our voice thread.

In our conversations about globalization, we have talked at great length about how communities (especially small ones) are effected by globalization. Today in class a very valid question was brought up….but it was not by one of my students. A good friend and former colleague, Mr. C of Noel, Missouri, decided to chime in with a response to our discussion about Maori Culture and globalization. He argued that despite the need to maintain a cultural identity, it is still important to allow new cultures to be formed…this is how we adapt and progress (paraphrase). His question to my students: “It is just as important for new cultures to form….what do we choose to keep and what do we choose to lose?”

This spurred a great conversation in class, students were asked to list things in their community that they feel is important to keep….in other words, if they were forced to change their lifestyle, what are the aspects in their culture that they are willing to fight for to keep. As I stated before, this provided for a great conversation and really helped students realize what the identity of their community actually is. Once again, I would like to thank Mr. C for chiming in and contributing to our class discussions. By providing his 2 cents, he really helped elevate our conversation to a higher level of thinking.

Mr. McClung