ABSTRACT
A central theme of global education is the exploration of interconnectedness, specifi cally, the dynamic relationship between local and global issues. A local-global approach can help challenge our oft en ethnocentric tendency to view global issues as remote and assess them only from our own perspective. (For more on ethnocentrism, see Subedi, chapter 36). When issues are remote, teachers and students can avoid the diffi cult questions of complicity in the existing power relations that shape inequity at home and abroad. Exploring the local community as a microcosm of the world can bring fresh perspectives to seemingly remote global issues. Inspired by the program, New York and the World, from the American Forum for Global Education (1998) and by earlier appeals for a strong focus on local and global connections, I designed the Baltimore and the World Project. I ask our preservice teachers to select a global issue and prepare resources for a one-week unit of instruction on the issue and its connection to Baltimore. Th is not only gives them the opportunity to learn more about the local-global connections, but also prompts them to think in these terms as they prepare for their own teaching.
