Real Life: Partnerships and Learning

The ability to bring "real people" into the classroom is a gift.  This year SLA has been given just that gift in the form of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.  A conversation that started almost a year ago ... on my cell phone ... in an airport has yielded a beautiful opportunity that puts journalists directly in contact with students.  The conversations will direct the themes of our study this semester in Globalization and I could not be more excited about the prospects.  This week we welcomed in Steve Sapienza to talk about his work which largely focused on Peruvian Gold Mining. We will use his work to kick off the first unit of study on Global Goods, Local Costs.  The goal is for the students to eventually tell their own under-reported stories from their own communities and publish at the end of the semester.Between this partnership and the International Election project, I am hopeful that the blended learning model will be successful.   Thank you to everyone at the Pulitzer Center who make this possible for my students.  I am forever grateful.