Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She is traveling the world on a quest to collaborate and connect with educators and students in countries thousands of miles away.

On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Fort Herriman Middle School Assistant Principal Lisa Jackson to learn about Global Education Allies. It is a group of educators participating in international education travel, hoping to develop global awareness and foster innovative learning in classrooms. They even develop lifelong friendships in their travels with teachers and students from all over the world.

We're talking today with Lisa Jackson, an assistant principal in Jordan School District, about her experiences traveling around the world learning about schools in other countries. Lisa, thanks for taking the time.

Lisa Jackson:
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about how you got involved in this. What's the organization? How does all of this work?

Lisa Jackson:
So in 2016, my daughter was graduating from high school. She wanted to do something different for her senior trip. Another educator told me they had been to Africa with this group. So I checked into Global Education Allies, interviewed with them, and she and I went on a three-week adventure to Africa where we visited lots of schools, we did a lot of service, we raised money, and that just kind of started my love for seeing what school is like in other countries and around the world.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, so what is the stated purpose for this organization to exist? What is their mission?

Lisa Jackson:
Yeah, so they're bringing together educators from around the world to collaborate, to discuss cultural issues, to just have shared experiences so we can collaborate with each other and learn about each other's education system.

Anthony Godfrey:
So this is fascinating to me because we always hear about, well, in this country or that country they do something that really solves everything and makes everything work. Just any of the countries that you visited, tell me some of the things that have really stood out to you. Like, “Hey I wonder what would happen if we tried this?” or “There's no way we could ever do this, but it works here.” What are some of the things that have just been the most memorable as you've as you visited these countries?

Lisa Jackson:
I would say there's something really memorable about every single country. So one thing I want to just state though is my experiences in these different countries is probably not indicative of the entire country. It's the areas that I went to, the schools that I was taken to, for example in Africa, I was taken to the poorest villages. Only one school in that area did I go to that was anywhere near what we have here.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it is that's a really good distinction. It's important to say that the schools that you visited in these countries, not what are schools like throughout the country. I visited schools in China, visited schools in other in other states, visited schools in France, in various countries as well, not in the in-depth as you have, but every time I visit a school, I do have to remind mys