A Global Peace Poem

Project Summary
This project took place among thirty-eight classrooms around the globe. The project was coordinated by Debbie Ogg Vought, a teacher at Mt. Gravatt High School in Brisbane, Australia, who was involved in telecommunications at the United Nations Pavilion at World Expo '88 in Brisbane. The message of the United Nations was that the future of the world is everyone's responsibility, not just that of governments, leaders, or superpowers. Towards the progress of creating a better world, the UN Pavilion in cooperation with students from Mt. Gravatt High proposed the global peace poem for the children of the world.

Project Procedure
With a combination of computer links and more conventional modes of communication, a global poem started at a remote school in Tasmania and from there moved around the planet ultimately reaching Alaska. As each school added its two lines, the poem was passed on for other contributions. As the pieces of the poem came into the UN Pavilion, they were projected on a telecommunications display. The completed poem was read at the UN Pavilion on October 23, 1988 and the participating schools received copies of the poem in its entirety. Both Lincoln and Jefferson Junior High, in Oceanside, CA, participated in this historic poem.

Suggested Grade Level and Audience
K through adult

Estimated Time Required
4-8 weeks

Student Learning Objectives

• To describe feelings about global peace
• To engage in a cooperative, international peace exchange project
• To practice writing, editing and revising poetry

• To practice word processing and telecommunications for data exchange

• To communicate thoughts, feelings, attitudes with others

Writing Prompt

Engineered by Debbie Ogg Vought
Mt. Gravatt High School, Brisbane, Australia

Description

Using a variety of telecommunications networks, distant classrooms from countries around the globe are assigned lines of a global peace poem. Each site writes its contribution without prior knowledge of what comes before or after their part. All pieces of the poem are collected, compiled, printed and distributed to all participants.

Sequence of the Poem

Part I: Lines 1-24

Theme: "Our Dreams of a Better World"

Part II: Lines 25-58

Theme: "The Reality of the World We Live"

Part III: Lines 59-80

Theme: "The Future We Want to Create"