Kevin McGrath

Essence of the lesson (purpose and goals): Through face-to-face conversations with others in a remote location, students learn about variations of the meaning of “home” and gain new perspectives.  Participants are prepared for the conversations with guiding questions and reflect following the experience. The conversations are between a group of 3-5 participants locally and 3-5 participants remotely.  This lesson can be a focused on one 20-minute conversation or deepened by a series of conversations over time. It’s intentionally open-ended to be adapted depending on location, age and ability.

Materials needed: Videoconferencing equipment and connectivity, ideally through a Shared_Studios Portal, but could also work through Skype or Facetime. Pre-activity and post-activity questions for all students.

Preparation:   Shared_Studios, the organization behind the Portals, provides curators who are deeply engaged in their local communities, proficient in English and a local language, and are able to serve as community liaisons.  Shared_Studios curators help make the connection, provide background info, and prepare educators for the Portal visit. They provide and facilitate access to locations around the world. If the experience is made in a different platform (eg Facetime or Skype), it’s essential that the experience is carefully vetted and arranged beforehand.

Grades: 7th -12th grades; could be adapted for younger and older audiences.

Subjects: English, ELL, social studies, visual and performing arts, world languages, humanities, civics, government

Time: 60 minutes

Space requirements: Enclosed, immersive space for conversation.  Portals are built on this principle. If a Portal is not available, a small space free of distraction large enough for 3-5 participants is essential (see variations).

Step-by-step instruction:

Step 1 (20 minutes) Pre-activity Students are first asked to depict what home looks like for them.  This can be done through drawing, writing, or through a think-pair-share.

Students are then briefed with background info on the country or region where the other participants are, either through a shared article or video clip. What is the political/economic situation?   Especially for sites that are experiencing conflict, it’s important to give background context. Also, share their specific location on a map.

Step 2 (5 minutes) Guiding questions: Conversations are the most engaging and memorable when they happen naturally.  But many students will benefit from some questions to ask, especially when they are meeting others for the first time.   The following can be reviewed with them prior to the Portal visit, and given to them on cards or as a list. These are ‘ice-breaker’ questions meant to spark the conversation.

• How did you start your day today?
• What would make a good day for you?
• Who is in your family?
• Where is home for you?
• How did you get from home to where you are now?

Students should expect and be prepared to answer similar questions, among others, from the remote participants.

Step 3 (15 minutes) Portal visit – Students enter the Portal with guiding questions and are left uninterrupted.

Step 4 (20 minutes) Back in the classroom – It’s most effective to have students write or draw immediately after their visit.   Some prompts they could use:

• After the conversation today, I am feeling…
• What surprised me most about talking to ____ today is…
• If I had two more minutes, I would have asked…
• Some questions I still have afterward are…
• Write a letter to one of the people you met.
• Sketch/describe what you imagine home looks like for one of the people you met.

Collaborations with other disciplines, other levels or ages:  The focus on “what is home?” is a thread in many subjects, from literature to social studies, to English Language Learners.  There are many possibilities for cross-curricular projects.

Related resources:

• Minh-ha, T. T. (2010). Elsewhere, Within Here: Immigration, Refugeeism and the Boundary Event. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Portals for K-12. Retrieved from Shared Studios website
• Purpose. Retrieved from Shared Studios website
• The Shape of Home (Lesson). Retrieved from Teaching Tolerance website

Suggested variations:

In addition to the variety of collaborative variations that could be made between the disciplines noted, there are several exciting international projects that could be integrated into the lesson(s). Narrative4 is a powerful story exchange format where students step into each other’s shoes.  With more time, over multiple Portal sessions, this would create an even greater empathetic experience for students. Another initiative is The Memory Project, which would extend this dialogue through exchanging portraits.  Again, this would likely require several sessions. Students might also create “video postcards” of themselves, describing their daily life, to later share with their international partners.

If the conversations are facilitated through Skype or Facetime, careful attention should be made to the space setup.  The interaction should be as distraction-free and as private as possible.  Most importantly, in the absence of curators, participants should be vetted, and expectations for the conversations must be set with remote partners (teachers, facilitators, guides) prior to the lesson.

Theory to practice:  Research shows there are marked differences in our ability to connect emotionally and empathetically between facetime and screen time. While the lesson relies on video conferencing technology, the goal is to focus on face-to-face communication with people who students would never have a chance to meet in real life.  Portals are designed to eliminate distraction and even awareness of technology.

Lesson by Kevin McGrath for the forthcoming Bridges and Borders Guidebook by Lynn Ditchfield, to be used in conjunction with the Cross-Cultural Perceptions vs. Reality Project funded by Mass Humanities.