AMS 2018 Annual Conference

"The Global Classroom"

Iconic traveler Rick Steves joins us to share his thoughts on how the creativity, conflict, friendship, faith, art, customs, and cuisine he has witnessed and enjoyed over a lifetime of globe-trotting have led him to adopt a broader, more compassionate, view of mankind, and a belief that travel can be a force for peace and understanding in the world. From pondering fascism in Mussolini-era buildings in Milan, the intersections of Christianity and Islam in Istanbul’s Hagia Sofia, and morality among matadors in Seville’s bullfighting rings, Rick Steves will show how our planet makes the perfect classroom, providing a venue to build lessons across a variety of curricular areas.

Whether you are making the grand tour inside your classroom, or hopping a flight, students in tow, to destinations abroad, Mr. Steves will deepen your appreciation of cultural studies. He’ll inspire you to guide your students to experience the world “through the back door,” by leaving ethnocentric viewpoints behind, becoming cultural chameleons, and treating travel as a political act. He’ll encourage you to use culture and place to tell the story of today’s people, and help us see that we’re much more alike than we may seem on first appearance. You’ll come away with renewed appreciation of cultural studies as a core element of the Montessori curriculum and an investment in your students’ abilities to create a better, more peaceful world.