The Global Scholars Media Community (GSMC) is an IRIS NRC initiative designed to support K-12 student engagement with international themes through books and films. Open to up to 30 high school educators in Wisconsin, GSMC provides participants with two internationally themed books and two films, along with accompanying educational resources. Teachers receive 20 books total and have the flexibility to use these resources in student clubs, classrooms, or informal discussions. Participants will be invited to attend a virtual event during International Education Week (November 18-22, 2024), attend 1-2 virtual meetings, complete a year-end survey, and contribute to a shared online resource hub to exchange best practices. GSMC’s mission is to support K-12 student engagement with international and transregional topics through themed texts and films.
Apply now for the 2024-2025 cohort!
Review the application below and submit it by Friday, November 8, 2024.
Program details
What you will receive
In return for your commitment to participate in the program, IRIS NRC will provide:
- A set of 10 books of each of the two selected Internationally themed book titles (20 books total) for you to keep
- Electronic materials for books and films including discussion questions, recorded resources, and other instructional suggestions
- An electronic document where you can share successes, recommendations and other discovered resources with the group
Participant Obligations
As a participant receiving materials, we ask the following from you:
- Utilize the materials with your students in a club meeting or classroom setting. You have the freedom to choose what might be best for your scholars (monthly meetings, semester meetings, informal conversations, integration into a course curriculum, etc.).
- Attend 1-2 online meetings with the other educators in the community during the 2024-2025 academic year, to discuss the program and share successes or challenges.
- Complete a survey at the end of the academic year to give feedback, offer testimonials, and make suggestions for next year’s themes.
- Contribute to an online shared document within the group before or after each student meeting to share best practices.
"The Global Scholars Media Community program far exceeded my expectations. The selected books and films were phenomenal choices; they were highly engaging for my 11th and 12th graders, while at the same time appropriately challenging and diverse in their themes.
Thank you, IRIS NRC, for providing our Global Scholars with such an invaluable learning opportunity! I am excited to participate in this program again!"
Danielle Chaussee, NBCT Spanish Teacher / Global Scholars Program Coordinator
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2021 - 2022 Participating Schools
| Pulaski High School
Milwaukee Public Schools |
Oshkosh West High School
Oshkosh Area School District |
| Pathways High School
UWM Charter School |
Oconomowoc High School
Oconomowoc Area School District |
| Kettle Moraine Global
Kettle Moraine School District |
South Division High School
Milwaukee Public Schools |
| Osceola High School
Osceola School District |
Audubon High School
Milwaukee Public Schools |
| Greenfield High School
School District of Greenfield |
Slinger High School
School District of Slinger |
| Port Washington High School
Port Washington/Saukville |
Logan High School
La Crosse School District |
| Lake Mills High School
Lake Mills Area School District |
De Forest Area High School
De Forest Area School District |
| Menomonie High School
Menomonie Area School District |
Nicolet High School
Nicolet High School District |
| Rock University High School
School District of Janesville |
Medford Area Senior High
Medford Area Public School District |
| Wausau West High School
Wausau School District |
James Madison Memorial
Madison Metropolitan School District |
| Wauwatosa East High School
Wauwatosa School District |
Amery High School
School District of Amery |
| Riverside University High School
Milwaukee |
Milton High School
School District of Milton |
| Cuba City High School
Cuba City Schools |
Onalaska High School
School District of Onalaska |
2021- 2022 Books
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Description
An #ownvoices contemporary YA set in Argentina, about a rising soccer star who must put everything on the line—even her blooming love story—to follow her dreams.
In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a double life.
At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father.
On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila gets the chance to see just how far those talents can take her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic scholarship to a North American university.
But the path ahead isn’t easy. As her life becomes more complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets and make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.
Online Resources
Kit from the author which includes discussion questions, supporting materials and song lists
An engaging hour long talk from the author, Yamile Saied Mendez, where she reads a selection of the first chapter of the book and then answers questions from the audience moderated by the Utah Humanities Festival.
Participant Resources
Furia Antonella Papolla video
Antonella Pappolla is a graduate student in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research examines the dilemmas that have emerged from the democratization of higher education in Argentina. In this recording she shares about Rosario, Argentina and the themes from the book.
Interview PowerPoint
A copy of the slides from Antonella’s interview
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Description
A National Book Award Finalist, this remarkable graphic novel is about growing up in a refugee camp, as told by a former Somali refugee to the Newbery Honor-winning creator of Roller Girl.
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future . . . but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.
Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting, and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings. It’s an intimate, important, unforgettable look at the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to New York Times Bestselling author/artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.
Online Resources
This is the website of Omar Mohamed’s non-profit organization. He works to deliver school supplies and other resources to kids living and attending school in Dadaab.
A Conversation with Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson
A presentation filmed for the virtual book launch. (48 minutes)
Teaching about refugees- materials from UNHCR
On this UNHCR Teaching About Refugees page you can find free-of-charge and adaptable UNHCR teaching materials on refugees, asylum, migration and statelessness and a section dedicated to professional development and guidance for primary and secondary school teachers on including refugee children in their classes.
Participant Resources
Who is a Refugee Video Discussion Questions
Video Clip from Safiya Jama Book Club Presentation (December 2020)
PowerPoint from Safiya Jama
Spring 2021 Books
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Description
An #ownvoices contemporary YA set in Argentina, about a rising soccer star who must put everything on the line—even her blooming love story—to follow her dreams.
In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a double life.
At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father.
On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila gets the chance to see just how far those talents can take her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic scholarship to a North American university.
But the path ahead isn’t easy. As her life becomes more complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets and make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.
Online Resources
Kit from the author which includes discussion questions, supporting materials and song lists
An engaging hour long talk from the author, Yamile Saied Mendez, where she reads a selection of the first chapter of the book and then answers questions from the audience moderated by the Utah Humanities Festival.
Participant Resources
Furia Antonella Papolla video
Antonella Pappolla is a graduate student in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research examines the dilemmas that have emerged from the democratization of higher education in Argentina. In this recording she shares about Rosario, Argentina and the themes from the book.
Interview PowerPoint
A copy of the slides from Antonella’s interview
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Description
Heaven is a thirty-year-old slum hidden between brand-new, high-rise apartment buildings and technology incubators in contemporary Bangalore. In this tight-knit community, five girls on the cusp of womanhood-a politically driven graffiti artist; a transgender Christian convert; a blind girl who loves to dance; and the queer daughter of a hijabi union leader-forge an unbreakable bond.
When the local government threatens to demolish their tin shacks in order to build a shopping mall, the girls and their mothers refuse to be erased. Together they wage war on the bulldozers sent to bury their homes, and, ultimately, on the city that wishes that families like them would remain hidden forever.
Elegant, poetic, and vibrant, A People’s History of Heaven takes a clear-eyed look at adversity and geography and dazzles in its depiction of love and female friendship.
Online Resources
- Lesson plans
- About the Author
- Interviews
Article: Writing Women Back Into Existence
Participant Resources
People’s History of Heaven Mathu Subramanian video
Interview with the author by the faculty director of IRIS
People’s History of Heaven Slides
Supportive materials for talking about the themes of the book