1. The World is Flat and 21st Century
Classrooms at Rugby Middle School
Source: Google Images
A Professional Development Session
for Rugby Middle School
Developed by Katherine A. Jones
ITC 5220-375
March 30, 2012

2. Supplies Needed by Participants
• Laptop
• Colored pencils (provided)
• Tablet paper (provided)
• The ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators
for Students (provided)
• The ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators
for Teachers (provided)
• RMS School Improvement Plan (provided)

3. Is your classroom 21st Century-Ready?
Performance
Performance Indicators for
Indicators for Teachers
Students
Click below
Click below
Source: Google Images
Sources: NETS for Students [Adobe Reader document]. (2007). Retrieved March 28, 2012 from
www.krumisd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3
NETS for Teachers [Adobe Reader document]. (2007). Retrieved March 28, 2012 from
http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx

4. The World is Flat by
Thomas L. Friedman
• Won Pulitzer Prize three times for his work
in the New York Times
• Author of bestsellers: From Beirut to Jerusalem, The
Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding
Globalization, Longitudes and Attitudes:
Exploring the World After September 11
• Named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News &
World Report
Source: Google
Images

5. What are the main book topics?
1. How the
World Became 5. You and the Flat
Flat World
2. America and
the Flat World
6. Geopolitics and
3. Developing the Flat World
Countries and
the Flat World
4. Companies
and the Flat 7. Imagination
World
Source: Google Images

6. On November 28, 2007 Thomas Friedman gave the keynote
address at MIT for Unlocking Knowledge , Empowering Minds a
milestone celebration.
We will listen to the first 5 minutes of this speech. In this section of the video you
will found out what inspired Mr. Friedman to write The World is Flat in 2004.
Source: MIT Milestone Celebration/Keynote Address [Video]. (2008). Retrieved March 28, 2012
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE2ufqtzyk

7. Globalization Small Group Discussion
Policy
Medicine
Environment
Business
Technology
Globalization
Communication
Culture
Economics Education
Each table has a Globalization concept map. Select a recorder who will jot down
ideas shared in your small group discussion.

8. Why a flat world?

9. Source: Rugby Middle
School webpage
How does The World is Flat
relate to educational issues
at Rugby Middle School?

10. Educational Issue #1
Effective Teaching and Learning Environments Produce
Globally Competitive Students
Section One: How the World Became Flat
One: While I was Sleeping
Source:
Rugby
Two: The Ten Forces That Middle
Flattened the World School
webpage
Three: The Triple Convergence
Replica of the one-room log school on campus of
Four: The Great Sorting Out Rugby dating back to 1840.
The first Rugby school was built
in 1840. Friedman describes
the early 1800’s as globalization
2.0 when the world shrank for
size large to medium.

11. Activity for Issue #1: Globalization has
effects on our students
Round Table directions for
groups of two–four people:
At each table is a 24’ x 32’ piece of paper labeled Educational
Issue 1: Effects of Globalization. Place this sheet in the
center of your group’s table. Each person select a colored
pencil from the pencil holder at your table. Respond to each
question. When you hear the bell rotate the chart clockwise
and respond to the next question. At ending bell, group
members will have a group discussion and then each group
will share with staff. (Post all charts on wall.)

12. Round Table Card One
Source:
Google
Images
Response Topic One
The playing field is being leveled. Countries like India are now able to compete for
global knowledge work as never before-and America had better get ready for this.
(quote from Nandan Nilekani , p. 5) How can teachers at RMS prepare our
students for this competition? What does Nandan Nilekani’s statement say to you
about your curriculum and high order thinking skills?
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

13. Round Table Card Two
Response Topic Two
Chapter two explains the ten forces that flattened the world.
Flattener #4 is Harnessing the Power of Communities.
In this section Friedman points out that Apache collaborators did not set out to make free
software. They set out to solve a common problem-Web serving-and found that
collaborating for free in this open-source manner was the best way to assemble the best
brains for the job they needed done.
Use your laptop and go to Google Apps for Education.
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/collaboration.html
View description and list ideas for using with your curriculum this school year.
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

14. Round Table Card Three
Response Topic Three
The societies that we are now melding with have a very high ethic of education.
Here is a description of an Indian High School:
-hundred 12th graders crammed into a room that is well over 100 degrees
-students listen, rapt, although it is nearly 10:00 p.m.
-students rush to reply to instructors question
-students eager to finish before everyone else from a problem posed
-return home and complete several more hours of studying (pages 212-213
description of an academic-coaching class for 12th graders in Chennai, India)
• How can you inspire your students and their families
this year in your program of study?
• How can you help students and their families realize that there is a world full
of young people today who are competing for their future jobs ?
• How can RMS collaborate with families to involve technology support at
home for school projects?
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

15. Round Table Card Four
Response Topic Four
In the old world, where value was largely being created vertically, usually, within
a single company and from the top down, its was very easy to see who was on
the top and who was on the bottom. But, when the world starts to flatten out
and value increasingly gets horizontally, who is on top and who is on the bottom,
who is exploiter and who is exploited, gets very complicated….many players and
processes are going to have to come to grips with “horizontalization.” (pages
242-243)
• In what ways is the leadership at RMS vertical? Horizontal?
• Can RMS come to the “grips with horizontalization”?
• How can we become more “horizontal” in our professional learning
communities?
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

16. Education Issue #2
Effective Teaching and Learning Environments Produce
21st Century Professionals
Section Two: America and the Flat World
Five: America and Free
Trade
Six: The Untouchables
Seven: The Right Stuff What do the “Help
Eight: The Quiet Crisis Wanted” Ads look like
Nine: This is Not a Test in a flat world?

17. Read and Move Activity
On your table is a folder labeled FLAT WORLD JOB DESCRIPTORS. There is a paper for
each person to read. After reading all the descriptions, stand up and move under the
sign that you feel best suits your personality and strengths.
Great Collaborators and Orchestrators
(page 285)
Good horizontal interaction, comfortable working for a global company and translating
its services for the local market wherever that may be.
Great Synthesizers (page 287)
Creating value by combining disparate parts into an integrated whole, designed
around consumer needs and demands.
Great Explainers (page 288)
Selling “advice” such that the product becomes a secondary focus.
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

18. Great Leveragers (page 290)
Combining the best of what computers can do with the best of what people can
do and then constantly reintegrating the new best practices the humans are
innovating back into the system to make the whole – the machines and the
people – that much more productive.
Great Adaptors (page 293)
These are the “versatalists” - applying a depth of skill to a progressively
widening scope of situations and experiences, gaining new competencies,
building relationships, and assuming new roles.
Green People (page 297)
There will be lots of jobs involving the terms “sustainable” and “renewable”,
focusing on bio-derived or bio-inspired solutions to our looming energy and
environmental problems.

19. Passionate Personalizes (page 298)
The new middle jobs will require a personal touch, producing a revival in human
interactive skills, skills that have atrophied to some degree because of the
industrial age and the internet.
Great Localizers (page 303)
Small and medium-sized firms will need to learn how to take all the global
capabilities that are out there and tailor them to the needs of a local community.
Math Lovers (page 300)
More and more of what we design, what we write, what we buy is built on the foundation of
math. “Whether it is the search engine guys, or the Goldman Sachs guys, everything is boiling
down to who can make those complex computations to get the little edge, to be just two weeks
ahead of everyone else.” (quote from Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani)
There is a need for people who can execute the sorts of algorithms that drive search engines
and Wall Street derivative strategies, proficient in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

20. Rugby Middle School Upstairs Computer Lab
In your small groups review the technology goals in the RMS School Improvement Plan.
Are we preparing the students at RMS for employment in a flat world?
Write suggestions on the notecards and place in SIP Suggestion Box or email suggestions to
SIT chair. You will have further discussions in grade level meetings for researching best
practices to use with your subject matter.

21. Education Issue #3
Effective Teaching and Learning Environments Produce Leaders
who act responsible for greater interest of community
Section Three: Developing Countries and the
Flat World
Chapter Ten
Section Four: Companies and the Flat Word
Chapter Eleven
Section Five: You and the Flat World
Chapters 12-14
Section Six: Geopolitics and the Flat World
Chapters 15-16
Section Seven: Imagination
Chapter 17
Source: Google
Images

22. Examples of leaders in The
World Is Flat
Source: Google Images
Examples of leaders found in The World Is Flat
• Muhammad Yuns, a Bangladeshi and social entrepreneur-activist won Nobel
Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank, which granted small
loans, without collateral, to the very poorest members of his society. He helped
inspire a whole new banking industry-microfinance. (Read details to group from
pages 493-495.)
• Andrew Rasiej, founded MOUSE.org to bring more technology to New York city
schools and was Democratic candidate for New York City’s Office of Public
Advocate. “One elected official alone cannot solve the problems of eight million
people, but eight million people networked together can solve one city’s
problems. (Read details to group pages 503-505.)
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

23. Two more examples of leaders in
The World is Flat
Source: Google Images
Rob Watson, CEO of EcoTech International most respected environmentalists working
in China started own company : “I saw the need for new green frameworks for
business-where the clean path is the most profit…We need to realign these human
laws with natural law unless we want to be a dad biological experiment of the planet.”
(Read details to group pages 512 -514.)
Abraham George, Indian man born in Kerala who graduated from NYU started
software firm that specialized in international finance, sold it in 1998 to return back to
India and use his American-made fortune to try to change India from bottom-the
absolute botton up. (Read details to group pages 630-632.)
Source: Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador

24. Curriculum goals, Indicators, and
Leadership
Curriculum ISTE NETS and ISTE NETS and How can we
Goal Performance Performance incorporate all
Indicators for Indicators for three to
Students Teachers develop
effective
leaders?

26. Flat Classroom Projects
How can these projects help our students at RMS?
• Gives students experience of in-depth global
learning
• Allows for cross-curricular units of study
• Enriches cultural diversity
• Allows for collaborations and global awareness
• Participation in a social cultural environment

27. Flat classroom Resources
Here is your chance to embed a flat classroom experience into your
curriculum!
Use the RMS Flat Classroom Wiki for sharing ideas with each other.
Generate ideas from links: http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/
http://www.flatclassroombook.com/

28. Alternate Considerations to Globalization
With so much focus on globalization, we sometimes loose sight that a
community can meet many of their needs locally.
Examples:
• Henderson county is the largest grower of apples in NC. However, you
can purchase apples grown in China at our local Wal-Mart.
• Western NC has a significant number of trout farms. However, most
seafood in the frozen section of Ingles is produced and shipped from
Asia.
Shipping these products from China and Asia to NC greatly increases the
carbon footprint for bringing these products to market, thus possibly
contributing to global warming.

29. Local Awareness at RMS
RMS teachers are making students aware of the local produced products and local
businesses through units of study and projects:
• Fieldtrips to Mineral Museum
• Math in Our World: Local business representatives explain how they use math in their
career
• Apples in Education Unit (guest speaker a local apple farmer and research specialist)
Source for Image : http://www.cityofhendersonville.org/

30. Activities teachers can Use to Incorporate
Technology, Cultural Awareness, Global
Awareness, and Community Support

32. Works Cited
Flat Classroom Projects. [Website]. Retrieved April 1, 2012 from
http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/
Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World is Flat . New York, N.Y. Picador
Google Apps for Education [Google Document]. Retrieved March 28, 2012 from
http://www.google.com/educators/p_apps.html
Google Images
MIT Milestone Celebration/Keynote Address [Video]. (2008). Retrieved March 28, 2012
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE2ufqtzyk
NETS for Students [Adobe Reader document]. (2007). Retrieved March 28, 2012 from
www.krumisd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3
NETS for Teachers [Adobe Reader document]. (2007). Retrieved March 28, 2012 from
http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx
Rugby Middle School website. Retrieved March 28, 2012 from www.rug.henderson.k12.nc