I had the pleasure to chat with Lisa Petro and Genevieve Murphy, co-founders of a wonderful new web site that coordinates global collaboration for classrooms called “Know My World.” Know My World offers opportunities for cross-cultural exchange for schools around the world.
How did you start Know My World?
This is my favorite question to answer about Know My World. It really displays how my world and your world and his or her world is a shared experience…
In the spring of 2010 Genevieve and I were living in Aomori prefecture of Japan. We met there as teachers working for the same program. While there, we were involved with a grass roots organization called Everest of Apples, which aids in the promotion of quality education in developing countries. Genevieve and I had been working that year to complete funding for a school built in Nepal by E of A. We were set to visit Prajwal Lower Secondary School to witness its progress and create teacher training workshops for the staff.
When we arrived in Nepal, we found ourselves experiencing many new facets of life and culture. Our journey began in Kathmandu and continued in the southern region. The family who created and runs the school opened their homes to us. We walked the paths that the children of the village walked, we met their parents, and we lived in their world. Our friends and colleagues treated us as their family, and despite the harsh climate, we felt comforted by these amazing people.
Not long into our time there, the Nepali government began to renegotiate their government, and there was a nationwide strike. We were instructed to return to Kathmandu immediately, where we spent the remainder of our time in a guesthouse owned by a local family. We spent out evenings on the rooftop discussing our cultures, our lives, and the meaning of our existence. What we lacked in travel we made up for exponentially in friendship. The lessons we received from the hospitality and warmth of the Nepali people is something one cannot find in a text book.
In May of 2012, Genevieve and I returned from Nepal, we sat on a subway train in Tokyo, marveling at our experience. It became clear to us both that real learning, authentic learning, happened in relationships; relationships with ourselves, others and the world around us. We wanted to bring that experience to every individual, classroom and community. We scribbled the idea on a loose napkin and Know My World was born.
What are your goals?
Know My World is a global initiative for connectivity and transformation through education.
Genuine learning comes from the relationships we form with ourselves, others and the world around us. Our mission is to offer a multitude of platforms and projects for exchange and growth between various countries and cultures. Our goal is for these projects and exchanges to provide shared teaching and learning opportunities between participants. Effective learning happens when people are truly engaged with each other. Therefore, the pivotal focus of Know My World is to promote enriching opportunities within and beyond the standard curriculum and to transform the educative experience.
How do the exchanges work?
Cross-cultural exchange is at the heart of Know My World and all of our projects. Exchanges happen on many different levels through us, not limited by developmental, age or institutional barriers. Our exchanges can be a combination of teachers, professionals, students, community members, and groups.
We offer personalized and broad exchanges. Participants can request an exchange on our page by filling out our online form. Know My World works to matching you with another participant in the world based on your preferences. While Know My World acts as a personal liaison to assist you through the process, collaborating and building projects within the match is solely up to the participants. Our only requirement is that you share your work with us so we can share it with the world at large!
To participate in any of our projects, you can simply contact us at info@knowmyworld.org and let us know what your interest is!
Can you explain the “Story Sharing?”
The Story Sharing Project developed after a discussion we had about the amazing uniqueness of people and cultures around the globe and how we can all be teachers and learners simultaneously. Everyone’s life tells a story through their personal and cultural experiences and decisions. Everyone has a voice and everyone can make a difference.
By sharing our stories, we share a unique piece of ourselves and our culture with the world. The more connection, interaction, and awareness people have of each other, the more trust and community we can create around the world. The more that our stories are told and shared, the more global awareness and cultural understanding can be brought to society at large because together we compose the story of humanity.
What is the “Sharability Project?”
The Sharability Project goes one step further than Story Sharing. When participants send us a story share, it is in some respects one dimensional, because you may not immediately see a direct correlation into your own experience. The Sharability Project bridges that gap and is a deeper and more intense exercise because it highlights the human condition and uncover the commonalities that connect us all.
The project begins in small group work that utilizes literacy and writing as tools to explore a reflective prompt. The individual results are shared within the group, and the common themes discovered. Once the commonalities are unveiled, the group works together to create a fictitious story from the list. This story not only shows how our own personal stories are created, but exemplifies the power behind community. Lastly, the group is responsible for documenting the story creatively to display the powerful message they found within one another. The only requirement is that the document be up-loadable, so it can be shared with other groups in the world. Our goal with The Sharability Project is to implement it personally all over the world, and to expand the groups, so completed projects can be combined in the same way metamorphosing into newer and larger stories.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Know My World for us, is an incredible journey. The heart of the exchanges, stories and projects are so closely related to our life and experiences, but do not stop there. Each project we develop is rooted in every human being and accessible to all ages and curriculum. Our goal is for each project to integrate into any curriculum, culture and lifestyle.
These projects are a small piece of our overall curriculum, which will be available in the Fall of 2012. We encourage anyone interested in expanding their world to contact us and see how they can incorporate our projects!
Lisa Petro is the Executive Director and co-founder of Know My World. She has an M. P. S. in Humanistic and Multicultural Education and a B. S. in Art Education K-12 from the SUNY. Lisa’s fervor for global education fueled a motivation to expand her pedagogical skills. In May 2010 she was invited by the Nepal Education Support Trust to design and conduct teacher training workshops for private and government teachers in Nepal. Lisa has also presented and implemented projects for Know My World to the SUNY and the East Asia Regional Conference for Overseas Schools in Bangkok, Thailand. Lisa currently lives in New York and is a stand for creating connectivity and transformation through education.
Genevieve Murphy is the Program Development Director and co-founder of Know My World. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Education with a concentration in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Among her other international education credentials, she worked in collaboration with local NGOs, Protect the Earth Protect Yourself (PEPY) and This Life Cambodia (TLC) to promote quality education in Cambodia. She has presented projects developed through KMW at the East Asia Regional Conference for Overseas Schools (EARCOS) in Bangkok, Thailand as well as facilitated teacher training workshops in Nepal and Japan. Genevieve is currently teaching elementary students in Taichung, Taiwan.
What do you think? I love to hear from my readers:).