SARAH GLORIA HARKIN, Bangladesh
Sarah is a Social Innovation Coordinator K-12 at the International School Dhaka, TED Ed Innovative Educator, and Teach SDG Ambassador
I'm inspired by building equity between people and societies, showing that children from rich families can have a lot in common with those of lower socioeconomic status. I want to show that kids everywhere experience problems and can work together to come up with awesome solutions.
The benefits I've seen in becoming a global learner / global citizen is how you don't see the world through one perspective anymore. You just can't. You witness and experience so many different things in so many different places that it actually allows you to see commonalities in places where you don't expect to. I've done a lot of projects, but really it's been about helping students find their passions (and helping educators find their passions too!) with any work that is possible in the communities we live in. One of my favorites right now is with an organization called Friendship, and what they do is supply education to kids in rural villages by using the local riverways and boats to bring education to them. We're talking teachers, resources, and a whole host of other things. It's amazing. All of these little schools happening on boats everywhere. I've been able to get our students involved with them.
For digital tools, I like anything that can be used to express stories and ideas. Canva has become popular for many as it is really easy to start to use.
I do work with other projects, and one of them is the Abinta Kabir Foundation, which was set up after a daughter was killed during an attack at a cafe in Bangladesh in 2016. The foundation now has a school. My students have done projects related to painting the school, building toys, teaching lessons.
My students also are social innovators, specifically Clean Energy For All. This is another project that has been done where Grade 7 students work in Science and English to develop a campaign that promotes a particular form of clean, renewable energy. With local experts guiding them on how to make a pitch, students then had to make their own small businesses seeking funding for their project ideas.
Below you will find a video that will show the many ways students can collaborate to make the world a better place.
