Mr. Dziura presents at national conference

Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Center for Entrepreneurial & Global Studies teacher Michael Dziura, who has an extensive traveling and media studies background, gave a stirring presentation to a national audience at the Global Educators Conference, which was hosted by the Global Educators Benchmark Group in Miami April 23-25.

Mr. Dziura’s topic - Obama, ISIS and the “Globalist Ebola Conspiracy”: Helping Students Navigate News Media Biases When Investigating Contentious Global Issues - researched how global education programs challenge students by tasking them with research and analysis of divisive current issues and events.

“Complicating things is the fact that most of this research is undertaken utilizing Internet-based, new media sources,” said CEGS Chair Wally Swanson, who serves as treasurer for the GEBG. “Given the deep pool of information available, Michael’s presentation shared best practices from the Academy regarding how we instill our students with the tools necessary to navigate opinion and bias to find relevant sources for their projects and written work.”

Mr. Dziura’s influence in the group has grown in recent years. Along with his recent presentation, and trip leadership, he worked with Mr. Swanson on an iBook and has also produced videos for GEBG.

“Michael’s discussion at the conference was very well received,” Mr. Swanson said. “His exposure at the conference and his exposure to different schools have taken off. He has helped put the Academy name out there as a leader in thoughtful understanding and analysis of global programming.”

WMA, trademarked The Global School®, is a founding member of GEBG. The group, which began with eight members, now serves 100 schools.

“In addition to sharing data and best practices from schools around the country, we also work collaboratively with fellow schools to take students abroad,” Mr. Swanson explained.

Mr. Dziura was part of a GEBG trip to Cambodia in 2013 with schools from around the country, and then led a large contingent of Academy students there during March break. Mr. Swanson and WMA students will be part of a joint trip to Namibia in June. The connection to the GEBG and the opportunities it has afforded the Academy’s students and faculty have helped highlight WMA’s programming and people, while also creating a platform for continual learning and improvement.

For more information on GEBG, go to www.gebg.org.