Since 1998, Kathleen Callaghan taught ESOL to immigrant adolescent students in Baltimore, Maryland. She teaches students mostly in grades nine through eleven, but works with all the students in the ESOL program at her school. The students she works with range in age from 13 to 20, and come from approximately 30 different countries and represent at least 15 different languages. Kathleen has been at Digital Harbor High School since 2002, and has helped to build the ESOL program at that school from 5 to 70 students. She has delivered ESOL instruction in a variety of modes including traditional ESL instruction, inclusion/pull-out, sheltered content instruction, and co-teaching in the content areas. She is the lead organizer for the school’s annual International Fair, and also partners with community organizations that advocate for immigrants’ rights. Through her participation in the TGC program, Kathleen connected and involved her students with global educational issues to bring renewed purpose, motivation, meaning and achievement to her students’ educational endeavors.

Kathleen Callaghan crafted a Global Education Guide in order to share her learning experience with her professional community in order to broaden students’ worlds through global education. Kathleen believes students need to be able to access and apply information to real-world problems, and work effectively in diverse groups to communicate ideas and solutions. Global education’s emphasis on real-world problem solving increases students’ interest and engagement in global citizenship, and develops their leadership skills. In her Guide, she provides an ELL unit plan on the Power of Persuasion. Students study social movements and social change through a global-historical lens. Students are encouraged to view themselves as social actors capable of affecting change. Throughout the unit, students identify local problems in their community and analyze how they are connected to global issues. With this information, they develop a plan of action to address the social problem. Kathleen traveled to Ghana on her International Field Experience and has collected many resources that can be found her travel blog.