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Embracing Our Commitment to Global Citizenship
The City of Chicago has 28 Sister Cities around the world. To honor this commitment to international relations and to uphold Parker's mission to educate for global citizenship, Parker's 6th graders helped develop a special new public feature to our school.
On the corner of Clark Street and Webster Avenue, there is a new piece of public art that celebrates Chicago's 28 Sister Cities. Guided by math teacher Robin Masters, history teacher Katie Haskins, and math-science teacher Adam Colestock, Parker's 6th graders helped install 28 signs on four poles along our Clark Street parkway. Each of these colorful signs includes the name of a Sister City, the number of miles that city is from Parker and an arrow indicating the direction one needs to travel to get there.
Sixth grade students played an integral role in making this initiative a reality. They applied what they were learning about these countries in history and used measurement skills acquired in math to help determine which way the signs on the poles should point.
In history class, students watched a brief introductory video about the Sister City program and discussed possible advantages of Chicago developing relationships with cities in other countries. Then they divided into groups and applied their knowledge of geography as they estimated the longitude and latitude of each city and created a large map plotting all 28 locations.
In math class, the 6th graders created a small model of the signposts to work through some of the practical challenges at a manageable scale before tackling the final product. They wrapped string across the surface of a globe and pulled it taut to determine the shortest path from Chicago to each Sister City. Next, they used protractors to measure the compass bearing along which one would leave Chicago if traveling directly to each city. Finally, they used these angle measurements to position the signs on their miniature model.
In the final step of the process, the 6th graders worked with the Maintenance Department on formal installation of the project. They used the angles they identified on a small scale in class to direct the alignment of the signs on the poles to properly orient them toward each Sister City.
Principal Dan Frank initiated this idea, and art teacher Chris Turner designed the signs. This project will offer pedestrians the opportunity to learn something about Chicago and our relationship to the world simply by walking past the school and reading the colorful signs.
Representatives from Chicago Sister Cities International will be invited to Parker soon to meet with our 6th graders. Parker has an official sister school in two of Chicago's Sister Cities: Casablanca, Morocco and Accra, Ghana.
Click here for photos.
Francis W. Parker School educates students to think and act with empathy, courage and clarity as responsible citizens and leaders in a diverse democratic society and global community.