Maumee Valley Country Day School

Maumee Valley has long had a commitment to international education. As part of the Global Education Program, we are asking our faculty to reaffirm, organize, and strengthen that commitment. Specifically, all teachers at MV have been asked to find ways to bring our yearly theme, "Understanding the Global Economy", into their courses. Some examples:

The Upper School English Department has committed to “globalizing” the literature they teach.
English I is adding non-western classical literature to its exploration of the ancient world.
English II will focus on "Coming of Age in a Changing World" with emphasis on the developing world.
AP English Literature will focus on “Journeys Abroad,” examining colonial and post-colonial encounters.
Gary Boehm, Head of School, is talking about global issues during his weekly visits to the Lower School's Town Meetings. The focus of these conversations, according to Mr. Boehm, is on the interconnectedness of the world "to help the children understand how they are a part of the global village." For example, students discovered that they or their parents or grandparents represent all of the inhabitable continents in the world. Based on Pietra Rivoli's book, The Travels of a T-Shirt In the Global Economy, students will do an exercise to explore the path of commercial goods as they make their way from around the world to the homes of the students.
The Upper School History Department has reworked many of their offerings.
9th grade - "The World Before 1800" is a survey of world cultures.
10^th grade - "World History After 1789" with a global focus and strong Model UN program.
11th grade - Advanced Placement American History conclude with The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Tom Cambisios' AP class is corresponding with a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania to help students learn what another corner of the world is like. Click here for more info.
Issue Day, a daylong symposium on global education, keeps the 11th graders engaged with the program.
12th grade - elective courses such as "Politics and Culture of the Modern Middle East" will be joined next year by "International Relations" and "Economics."
In reality, the GEP feels that every division can implement international studies into the classroom, whether that be tracing the path of everyday classroom items as they made their way to our school (Lower School) or exploring the economic costs of global climate change (AP Environmental Science).