A Wealth of Curriculum Resources - from Mexico City to Your Own Back Yard

Schools are struggling to find ways to transform themselves into centers of 21st century learning.  They ask themselves how they can make school - education - more relevant for their students.  
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Last summer my husband and I intentionally chose to drive, rather than fly, from central Texas to northern Arizona to work with a middle school.  I wanted to take in the incredible scenery of the farms, plains, desert and the pine-forested, snow-capped mountains.  It was an incredible experience, and the result was a plethora of possibilities and ideas for projects - just based upon our experiences on that drive.  From environmental studies to science fiction and history, the ideas were fantastic. You may read about those in From Science Fiction to Science Fact and in STEM/STEAM Curriculum Ideas are All Around Us.  
While I consider myself an explorer and lifelong learner, fully committed to education that is relevant, rigorous and real word, and I always look for creative and exciting possibilities for project-based learning, I too, had an incredible experience recently in a visit to Mexico City.

What the media show us about Mexico certainly had not conveyed to me the astounding wealth of resources in Mexico City and the United Mexican States. For one thing, it seemed to me that the people were very much more polite than the people here in the USA.  Sorry about that, Americans!  The media paint a picture of Mexico as being backward, dangerous, barren and poverty-stricken.  While they certainly do have plenty of poverty, there is more to Mexico than squalor and uneducated heathens. 

In my first two days in Mexico several experiences jolted me into a new understanding of the immense possibilities there for educators - not only in Mexico, but worldwide.  First was a trip to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, followed by lunch in a spectacular underground restaurant in a cave.  

​The Teotihuacan pyramids are considered to be the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas.  After touring the pyramids we stopped to dine in this magnificent cave formed by a volcano - La Gruta Teotihuacan restaurant.

​The next day we attended the fine arts performance of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico - no less impressive to me than any Broadway production in New York City.    (The first segment is just under 10 minutes in length, however there are multiple and varied dances.)

​Experiencing this stunning interpretation of the history and culture of Mexico, I was reminded of another incredible performance at a school in Rajkot, Gujarat, India - the Navratri Festival.  It occurred to me that students in various locations around the globe, who live in a variety of cultures, could collaborate on a global project.  Using their own cultural celebrations and festivals, and the history of their country, they could develop critical global competencies - through the arts!  Through this project they could explore everything from art and architecture to religion, government, economics, agriculture, literature, food, environmental issues and more.

​Back to Mexico, the ballet was followed by a tour of stunning architecture in downtown Mexico City. History came alive!  For example, below is the Palacio de Bellas Artes where the performance of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico takes place regularly.  It also houses many creations of Mexico's most famous artists such as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo.

For me this was like discovering a massive lost treasure!  We also visited the famous Palacio de Correos de Mexico - a post office!  Here it is below:
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​When I came home I began assimilating all these discoveries, and I wrote about the wealth of resources teachers have at their fingertips, especially if they are in Mexico, but even if they aren't.  See this link for many more curriculum possibilities for teachers worldwide - with a starting point in Mexico!  Topics include:

• Performing Arts
• Architecture 
• History
• Speleology
• Literature, Theater and Music
• Environmental Studies such as:  air pollution, waste management, water supplies, urban planning, the plights of the Monarch Butterfly and the Sea Turtle, the Gulf of Mexico, deforestation, cacao production . . . and many connections under each topic.  These are ALL global topics for global classrooms!

​Mexico City experiences some of the worst air pollution in the world.  In 1992 the United Nations named Mexico City "the most polluted city on the planet." At the time pollution was thought to cause 1,000 deaths and 35,000 hospitalizations per year.  It was improved over time, but in 2015 the government regulations were loosened, and the air pollution has steadily increased since then. (1)

Once again, as with the drive to Arizona and the wealth of possibilities revealed, there is NO EXCUSE for making students waste their time memorizing textbooks, drilling through worksheet after worksheet, when they could become knowledgeable (globally) and develop high level multiple literacies and skills for the 21st century as they enjoy exploration and participation in meaningful project-based, interdisciplinary learning!

See STEAM/STEM Curriculum Ideas are All Around Us and Science Fiction to Science Fact - Curriculum Ideas Are All Around Us.

I invite you to take a look at the possibilities in the two posts linked above (from the Texas to Arizona trip), then take a look at this beginner's list of possibilities inspired by Mexico, and THEN start looking around your own back yard - literally - from your home to your community - local, state and national.  Then start brainstorming, and you will discover many fantastic ways to make the curriculum, school, come to life for you and your students.

Think about it - if you actually began with the standards, would you have thought about the possibilities for relevant, rigorous and real-world, not to mentioninteresting and exciting, curriculum that could be derived from these resources?

Visit www.21stCenturySchools.com to learn how you can take your curriculum, your classroom, school or district into the 21st century.  Learn how to design and deliver project-based learning that does not begin with the standards!  PBL21 - the next step in the evolution of project-based learning takes you beyond the standards. (And your students' test scores will be higher, too!)
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1.  Air pollution in Mexico City, a Wikipedia article.

For many more ideas for creating 21st century, project-based curriculum and classrooms please visit here.