Dr. Eakins:

Welcome advocates to another episode of the Leading Equity Podcast. A podcast that focuses on supporting educators with the tools and resources necessary to ensure equity at their schools. Today's special guest is Erin Austin. So without further ado, Erin, thank you so much for joining us today.

Erin Austin:

Thank you, Dr. Eakins. I'm really excited to be here. I listen to your podcast while running, and get a lot out of it as a teacher.

Dr. Eakins:

Pleasure is mine. I'm glad you're on and I'm thankful that you reached out and I think this topic is really important, especially with everything that we have going on on a global scale with different countries feuding. And so we'll chat about that as well. But I want to have you share with our audience a little bit yourself and what you currently do.

Erin Austin:

Yeah. As Dr. Eakins said, my name is Erin Austin, and I'm a national board certified teacher, currently living in Colorado, Northern Colorado. I'm in my 20th year of teaching, which kind of boggles my mind. When I first started teaching, kids knew who Kurt Cobain was. Kids knew who Tupac was. And now, no, not so much. So I'm in my 20th year. I'm dual certified K12 French and K12 art. I taught for, I think, 12 years in suburban Minneapolis before moving to Colorado. And I'm also an author. Routledge published my book last year, The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your World Language Curriculum Online. And so I do a lot of work teaching other teachers how to kind of leverage a side hustle, selling your resources. And I also do a lot of work speaking about global education. That's something I got involved in 2017, 2018 when I was an NEA Foundation Global Education Fellow.

Dr. Eakins:

Nice. Thank you. And I'm curious, so the book that you have, the side hustles, because I started off as a side hustle, and I'm just curious, just a quick overview of some of the tools that folks could find out. Because I know, first thought that came to my mind was Teacher Pay Teachers, but I know that's only one aspect. Maybe what are some other areas that folks can find in your book?

Erin Austin:

So the book is tailored to selling resources that you create online. So I actually do that through Teachers Pay Teachers, but there are other platforms for that. So the book is about opening, filling and growing a successful online curriculum store. So that's tailored to TpT, but then what I did was I was creating resources and selling on TpT. That evolved into teaching a course in my district that was put on by our state and local union, and I taught other teachers how to open, fill and grow a curriculum store. Then that went into, I was a guest on the Side Hustle School podcast trying to let other teachers know, hey, there're options. And then that led to writing a book about it and speaking about it. So I think a lot of times for teachers, we have to think of, I mean, we all have side hustles as teachers. So many of us do. So we got to think about how can we take one side hustle and leverage it into multiple, which is pretty fun.

Dr. Eakins:

I can imagine so. It's a lot of work, but I think at the end of the day it's letting you do what you love to do and be able to be compensated for that, and I think that that's fair. So okay, that was a side conversation. But I do want folks to know about your book and so we'll put some links in the show notes as well so that people can get their hands on it. But at least I appreciate you providing a little overview as far as what the content entails.

Erin Austin:

Sure.

Dr. Eakins:

So let's get into it because we want to talk about global education and the global experience. And I want you to kind of start off by maybe defining, what does global education look like to you, maybe in your capacity or just kind of the researches that you've come across?

Erin Austin:

Yeah. So that's a great place to start. I think what's important for people to know is that the work of global education is super exciting field in education. And I personally really think it's where education should be going and hopefully it is. Global education is currently in the United States, really spearheaded by three main entities. The Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Asia Society and World Savvy. So for Americans, those are our three main sources of information. And it's all about creating students who are global ready. So in this field we kind of use global ready and globally competent, a little bit interchangeably. My preference is global ready.

               But we recognize that global ready students can do four things. Number one, they know how to investigate the world. Number two, they know how to recognize different perspectives and also give value to different perspectives. Number three, a globally ready student can communicate ideas, and I'm a world language teacher. So for me, it's communicating ideas in multiple languages. And number four, a global ready student can take action. And that means taking action outside of your classroom. So it's being active in your city or town, being active in your state, being active in your country and being active internationally. So action is outside of the school. Taking your content and bringing it out.

               And then kind of the lens that brings all those four things together is the idea of the sustainable development goals. So those goals were put out by the UN and they are really the glue that you look at global education through. So for example, what I'm in the process of doing is changing all of my units to center around one sustainable development goal. And then thinking, okay, what's the content I use to teach and how does it fit into the sustainable development goal of zero hunger? So maybe that's the unit where I'm doing a lot more work with vocabulary surrounding food, and the sustainable development goals are really something that's appropriate to absolutely any content area.

               And then the last piece I would say that really brings everything together is a sentence I heard when I first started getting into global education and it is this, global education is not learning about the world. It is learning with and from the world. And that's what hit hard for me.

Dr. Eakins:

Yes, yes. So okay. So I tried to write them down, the four that you gave, but I know I missed the first one. Remind me, what was the first one again?

Erin Austin:

Investigate the world.

Dr. Eakins:

Investigate the world. Okay. So I got, investigate the world, recognize different perspectives, communicate ideas and then take actions. Does that sound right?

Erin Austin:

Absolutely. Yep.

Dr. Eakins:

Okay. So let's talk about that. I mean, we have seen a lot of global conflicts between countries, for example, Palestine and Israel. Currently we're seeing Russia and Ukraine. And I'll be honest, as much as I try to figure out what exactly is happening, as an adult, between Russia and the Ukraine, I'm still a little fuzzy in some areas as far as the history and how we got to where we're at now.

               So when we're thinking about what that looks like in a classroom and educating our students, and I love how you said it's not learning about the world, but just learning with the world, what would be maybe some approaches, especially for teachers that are trying to address some of this Ukraine and Russia conflict? What would be maybe some suggestion that you might have or just kind of engaging them and helping them understand that process of being global ready?

Erin Austin:

Absolutely. It's important I think when you look at global education and giving students global experiences to really consider how can we do this in ways that are equitable? So you want to look at experiences that are free and low cost and try to find a ton of them. There's always going to be high cost ones available that are bigger, like bringing kids abroad, not like you want to bring kids to the Ukraine now, no. Or Russia. I bet we couldn't even get in right now because of airspace issues, but getting kids to make contact with people anywhere is so valuable.

               So one thing that we could do, like with the example of Ukraine and Russia, is working, maybe this is something cross-curricular with history teachers and English teachers, and working on how do we take a stance on something? How do we find an opinion that we believe and that affects us as kids and write to our representatives about it? Write to our local representatives, because being civically minded starts right where we're at. It starts in the home having these discussions with our families. Let's give families maybe conversation prompts for dinner, about Ukraine, about Russia, about the conflict. Let's get students writing to elected officials in their city, in their state, in their country.

               Or maybe for me, I'm a French teacher, so what would that look like to find out what Canada's response is, our neighbor to the north, and have my students write in two languages, I don't know, maybe alternate every other paragraph, letters to Justin Trudeau. Why not? You never know where that's going to go. So that's getting kids involved locally, nationally, globally.

               We also got to think preemptively. So prior to this event happening, how do we make our students understand we are all interconnected? It's meeting people from other parts of the world. Let's bring people from other parts of the world into the classroom. Let's set up hosting. Have a host student. Maybe not for a semester or a year, but there are a lot of companies, for example, Language & Friendship does it. WorldStrides maybe, works to bring students from other countries into the U.S. and gives them host families. That's heck of a lot cheaper than sending our students abroad, but it's a way to bring another country into our home. And working with our family and eating with our family and having fun with our family. It's doing things like that.

               It's elementary teachers using Empatico. Empatico is this really cool website where elementary teachers can be matched with an elementary classroom anywhere else in the world. And the elementary classrooms work together on a project. So I'm a high school teacher, I can't use Empatico, but I have colleagues who've used it. And students in, say Nigeria, are working with students in Reading, Pennsylvania on a math project. Or maybe students in Estonia are working with students in Florida on something involving science and water quality in their town. And so just imagine what that would be like if kids had met kids through Empatico in Ukraine last year and then all of a sudden what's happening now happens. And the kids in that class were like, man, what's going on with my friends?

Dr. Eakins:

Yeah. It makes it more personal, right? When you've connected with someone in Ukraine versus watching it on TV. I think sometimes that's part of the whole global process where a lot of us in America, for example, we tend to kind of know about what's going on with our own country and what's kind of going on with our politics and all that. But being able to learn about various countries to help reduce any stereotypes that come in. I mean, I've had so many different conversations with teachers who say, we have first, I forgot the term that a colleague of mine utilizes for immigrants, but it was basically new Americans, I think is what [crosstalk 00:13:13]-

Erin Austin:

Newcomers is a common one too.

Dr. Eakins:

Newcomers. Right. Right. And so just what happens when you hear, oh, this student is a refugee or this person escaped conflict in their country and now they're in our country. And maybe language, they're trying to learn English and they're trying to adjust, I guess, to this new environment that they're in. And unfortunately, a lot of their peers or classmates start to create these prejudices, whether if it's implicit or even explicit. And so I think if we have these ways of connecting with students or other people around the same age in various countries, I think that can help reduce a lot of that prejudiceness, especially now when you have a lot more refugees that are coming into our country seeking refuge. I mean, what are your thoughts on that?

Erin Austin:

Absolutely. I think what's key is having these experiences start at a young age and having them be plentiful. Imagine if from the time you're a kindergartener, you are meeting people in different parts of the world all the time, every year. And with social media now, like I have high school students who will be like, oh yeah, I follow so and so who's from Senegal on Instagram. And they write in both French and English and I learn new words. Great. That's awesome, as long as it's okay for you to have social media with your parents. But when kids have all these experiences and meet people from all over, people stop becoming, the quote-unquote, other. They become friend.

               And that's pretty cool to have, like for me as a high school teacher, I bring students abroad. I set up hosting programs. I try to have all sorts of different contacts with people throughout the world. And when my students are like, oh yeah, my friend in Switzerland, my friend in wherever. That's awesome, because when I was in high school that wasn't happening. Dating myself, I was kind of pre-internet.

Dr. Eakins:

Yeah. I'm about the 56k era. That was my timeframe. So okay. So let me ask you this question then because I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense to me. It makes sense to me, but then I think about some folks that might be like, well, man, I already have a lot going on, or that's great for elementary teachers. What kind of middle school, high school type of resources might I find? So what do you use as far at your level and maybe middle schoolers could use to connect with various countries?

Erin Austin:

I have kind of what I call a global connection plan, and I created kind of a matrix. So on the horizontal I have activities that students lead and then activities that students more take in. And then on the vertical axis, I have low cost and higher cost. And I'm always trying to find ways to make the things that are higher cost go down to no cost. So I think it's important for teachers to come into this work thinking, well, not, is this possible? But how. Because there is always a way to get these experiences for kids and to make it equitable.

               So I'll give you a couple of examples. Something that students lead, but that is low cost, is hosting. Hosting a student from another country in their home for anywhere from one week to three weeks in the summer. That's what I work with. And I primarily work with Language & Friendship to set that up. I also do a newcomer panel. So the newcomers in our school, maybe they are refugees, maybe they are becoming American citizens, or maybe they're a study abroad student from Italy. We have a panel in which the world language students get to interview the newcomers or international students and ask questions, and then the newcomers get to practice their English. And that's just a way to make the kids that are already in our building become friends. Because they don't always have a lot of classes together. When newcomers are in a lot of classes, they are focused on learning English. So really low cost and students lead those.

               Other activities that are low cost that students take in, I am reformatting all of my units to work around the themes of the sustainable development goals. And I'm lucky. I'm in a district that gives me a lot of autonomy and that basically says, as long as you are teaching the content and the students are meeting the standards, we don't care how you deliver it. So if I want to use the sustainable development goals as the central theme of my unit, that's no problem.

               I also really am into taking students abroad, which is on the surface high cost, but most companies that do international trips, they offer one free spot per X number of paying travelers. So let's say it's six, that's a common one. So what I try to do is get 18 students signed up. The first six students sign up, you get a free spot. So that's going to be me as the leader. Another six students sign up, I have another leader. Another six students sign up, you earn a free spot.

               So several years ago I did this and I used that free spot to bring my little sister abroad. I'm heavily involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and my little sister was a high schooler at the time, perfectly bilingual in English and Spanish. She was Mexican American and she was learning French. And I talked to her mom beforehand and I was like, "Hey, I can bring her on my trip to Paris and Barcelona for free. What do you think mom?" And she's like, "Oh yes," and it ended up being a Christmas present. And it was great. I don't need a third leader. I just don't. So why not use that free spot to give a kid a full scholarship?

Dr. Eakins:

So does that mean that the majority of the kids, 90% of the kids are able to afford the rates of the study abroad or are there fundraising activities in between?

Erin Austin:

I personally do not arrange fundraising, but I put it out to the parents. I'm like, if a parent wants to arrange it, I will support it, I will promote it, but I'm not going to do that because it's already a lot of work. So really they're paid for in lots of different ways. And I have a whole list that I give families when we sign up for the trip. Like here are ways that different families have made this trip work. You do what's right for you.

Dr. Eakins:

Okay. And now you say it is a third option that you have, I believe.

Erin Austin:

Well, the last kind of quadrant are activities that students lead, but that may cost more. So there are two organizations that I really like promoting to students and families. One of them is Global Volunteers. When I was in college I really wanted to join the Peace Corps. And then I started thinking, oh no, I've got some loans, I've got to make some money. And so I put the Peace Corps idea aside. But Global Volunteers does essentially what the Peace Corps does during one, two or three week trips. It is non-government affiliated, non-religiously affiliated and you go into other countries around the world and help with projects. And what I love is that it is not Americans coming in with our ideas, our plan, our goals, no. We send workers and we say, okay, what do you need us to do? How can we support your community and your goals? So I did two different Global Volunteers programs, one in Brazil and one in Ecuador. And like one of my projects was teaching English to little kids. Great, I can do that.

               Global Leaders is another one. Global Leaders is meant for kids. Global Volunteers could be teenagers through adults. Global Leaders is based in Fort Collins, Colorado and they bring teenagers to a couple of different spots in Central America and do the same thing. It's providing workers for a project that is happening in a local community. And Global Leaders really is great with saying, hey, if you are a kid who's interested, we will help you make this happen no matter what your financial situation is. And they have a lot of different creative ways they can help support, and I love that.

Dr. Eakins:

Thank you so much for these resources. I think that's helpful. If folks want to get their hands on your matrix that you created, where can they find that?

Erin Austin:

I have a lot of QR codes that take people to all sorts of different resources that I think are great and that help distribute global experiences equitably. So that would be good, Also, I'm not sure if the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has a library of their webinars, but last week I did do a webinar, how to create a global connection plan. So you could find it there if it's libraried.

Dr. Eakins:

I mean, I always like to try to give resources. So yeah, whatever you can share with me, we'll add it to the show notes so that folks will have. Now you mentioned take action, and that's the piece I kind of want to touch on. And you talked about writing letters to your local Congress folks, lawmakers and things like that. As an advocate and in developing advocacy on the student level, are there some other suggestions that you might have for taking action on a global scale?

Erin Austin:

Yeah. So I think of colleagues who have done Empatico and have done projects with their students on Empatico. And think about if you were a fifth grader say, and you are working with a fifth grade class in Southeast Asia, and you're working on getting data about water quality in your town and you send the data to each other and then work together about creating some sort of campaign to bring to local officials, school officials, state, or country officials. That's one way to take action. Another one, a couple of years ago, I worked with a man Dr. Joe Underwood, who is in the American Teachers Hall of Fame, which is pretty cool.

Dr. Eakins:

I didn't know there is a hall of fame.

Erin Austin:

Yeah. I didn't either until I met him. And then I was like, I got to look this up. And lo and behold, there's a Teachers Hall of Fame and he's in it. But Dr. Joe Underwood was a media teacher, video production teacher at Miami High for many years. And he was working with his students on the sustainable development goals. And I was working with my students and we were learning about Haiti, which is a French speaking country, and a significant problem in Haiti is water quality.

               And so my students did a lot of research about water quality in Haiti and created a script for an informational video about it. And my students recorded in French. We sent the recordings and the script and the information from our school in Colorado to Miami High and Dr. Underwood students created a video using all of our information. And then what we did was at the end of the video, there was a link to a fundraiser that we had set up with Pure Water for the World. So anybody who saw this video could donate to Pure Water for the World, which buys water filtration systems for homes in Haiti, which was fun.

Dr. Eakins:

That's awesome. That's great. And again, that's teaching your students about different countries. I like to, because I see sometimes when study abroad programs happen, sometimes they're kind of meant as a missionary project and I always try to ask those who are facilitating these programs, how do we make sure that students aren't coming over to whatever country with the notion that they're coming to save? Oh, well, I'm American and my country is better than your country mindset. Countries such as Haiti.

Erin Austin:

I am nodding in agreement. Yeah, absolutely. That's part of why I like to promote things like Global Volunteers because it is non-government affiliated so that when you go to these countries they know, this isn't the American government trying to infiltrate. It's non-religiously affiliated so that when you go to the other countries, there's the knowledge that, okay, people who are coming here are not coming to proselytize. And I think what's important is, for me, I'm a language teacher, language matters. I think we need to turn away from using the word help. I think there's a power structure there. We are the ones who can provide the help and you are the ones who need the help. Right? I think the word that really hits home for me is serve. How can we serve? When you talk about service, that gives people equal footing. That gives people an interconnection.

               So Dr. Fernando Reimers of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, when I heard him speak about global ed and working with other countries and learning, he said, there're three things that we need to talk about with kids. How are we similar? How are we different? And how are we interconnected? I think those first two are pretty simple, can be pretty surface level or deep, but the third piece, how are we interconnected? That goes deeper.

               And I like to add two more pieces to that. My fourth question to students would be, what does this country do well and how can we learn from them? How can we apply those concepts here? And then number five, where are this country's struggles? And might we or another country have a model that could work in service of this country's goals? And so I think when you're putting all those lenses together, it levels the playing field a lot.

Dr. Eakins:

Well, I definitely consider you as providing a voice in leading equity. Erin, I'd love for you to share one final word of advice that you can share with our listeners.

Erin Austin:

For any teachers who are listening, I think another big piece is that, I talked about those four quadrants, and one way to help students become globally ready, that is low cost for students, no cost really, is having a teacher who is globally ready. That's key. As teachers, we need to get out, and I will provide this in the information I send to Dr. Eakins. But there are tons of programs out there to get teachers abroad for free. Let's take advantage of it. Everybody should be applying to these programs and let's get out, and we can bring so much back to our classrooms. And when we understand more about the world, when we have friends who are all over the world, a family, that infiltrates our classroom in the best way possible. So teachers, let's get out there and do this work. And get some airline miles in the process.

Dr. Eakins:

Get some miles in the process. Erin, if there're some folks that want to connect with you, what's the best way to reach you online?

Erin Austin:

I'm on LinkedIn, Erin Hoffman Austin or on Twitter, which I'm pretty new to, but @Erin-EH-Austin.

Dr. Eakins:

There we go. All right, Erin, it has truly been a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time.

Erin Austin:

Thank you so much, Dr. Eakins. I appreciate it.

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