Giving Compass' Take:

• Jason Agins at Getting Smart argues that there is no better way to help students become informed, worldly citizens than to first start by helping them understand the unique cultures represented within their own classroom or school. He gives 3 tips on how to do so. 

• How can funders work support integration and diversity in schools? 

Here's how to lead conversations about race in early childhood education. 


As a K-12 social studies teacher for a U.S.-based online private school, I communicate daily with students from around the world, from the U.S. to France to Brazil to Saudi Arabia.

However, establishing a common bond among the students and helping them to learn each other’s cultures is a challenge I face on a daily basis (and it’s an important one, given our globalizing world). Fortunately, I’ve discovered that most of my students are fascinated to learn about other parts of the world and I’ve discovered some effective ways to teach them how people live, communicate and think in vastly different parts of the world.

While my perspective comes from working as a virtual private school teacher, the following tips can be adapted and used by teachers in brick and mortar or other types of classroom environments.

  • In an effort to allow my students an opportunity to tell the story of their culture in their own words, I launched our school’s “The iNaCA Traveler Podcast.” Each month, I interview one of our students, and their classmates can listen to the interview to learn about everything from food, music, movies, culture or even things that the student does for fun in their country.
  • As a virtual school, we leverage the internet to offer clubs and activities for our students regardless of their location.For example, students from the United States can socialize with students from Australia by sharing their artwork and providing feedback to their peers.
  • When I’m not teaching history, I’m traveling the world during school vacations. I translate my fascination for other cultures and geographies into the classroom, where I encourage open dialogue among students around the world.

Read the full article about uniting students by Jason Agins at Getting Smart.