Teaching for EcoJustice and Community Reflection
The Exhibition process was powerful! Looking back, a couple days after the event, I am so grateful that I attended. The panel of educators was my favorite part. I will be student teaching in the Ann Arbor Public School District next semester. I will be at Angell Elementary and even though it wasn’t mentioned, I know that the district has a core set of values. Listening to Neha Shah from King Elementary I got even more excited about my upcoming endeavor with the Ann Arbor Public School District.
One of the big themes of the night was collaboration. The advice given by the educators in the panel was laced with themes of collaboration. Teaching is often viewed as a single responsibility: my class and my students. Each teacher has their own personal touches to make teaching their own. I can see how it would be easy to forget to utilize everyone in the building. This is one of the lessons I learned while I was in Korea. You will never catch anyone saying my or I. Instead, what can we do to help our students in our community? Furthermore, I think this is a theme of EcoJustice education and what we’ve talked about all semester. EcoJustice education is about developing relationships with the goal of openly sharing your strengths with the school and community. Through this process educators are instilling a set of values for those relationships and the world around us. Adults need to practice what they preach! And all of the educators at the exhibition were doing just that.
One of the stories that stuck with me was given by Stephanie Boling from Honey Creek Community School. She told the story of how on a nature walk her students asked that the path be cleared, so that all the students could use it. More than that, they wanted the path to be more comfortable for all students. What struck me most about the story wasn’t what the students had done. The educational philosophy in both of the Elementary schools is deeply rooted in EcoJustice education. What surprised me is how Stephanie described the situation. She told us that she never tells her Kindergarteners how to think. She tries to lead them on investigations about EcoJustice issues, but strives for the child to find issues themselves. Stephanie is fostering some amazing critical thinking and problem solving skills! Furthermore, this type of learning will stick with the students because it their ideas that are being taken seriously.
When students investigate their interests they will be more involved in the process. Across the curriculum, the educators talked about how they are able to integrate each subject area. I think this gives the students opportunities to be successful with the issue. The students, no matter their subject area strengths will be able to make a difference. Another idea that stuck with me is the idea that these school-wide projects are carried on from year to year. Students are able to see the success of the last class and modify the process to meet their own needs. I think it is powerful when students are given a voice! Shah talked about how she learns with her students each year. Her teaching style fosters a sense of responsibility, authority, community and independence all with an element of fun!
Teaching is hard. These educators made it look easy. They have made great strides in their field and are people to look up to. What I noticed the most was their passion. I don’t think anyone can be a great teacher without passion! During the presentations, I think we all had this passion when we talked about our units.
I listened and talked with two different groups during the first half of the presentations. I talked with Chad about his presentation first. He had decided to do his unit on Repurposing: Adding Life to Items. Chad showed us a couple different children’s books and talked about how he would integrate the unit across the curriculum. He talked about the big concept of community. I had a hard time envisioning his lessons, but could tell he had passion! The lessons seemed to teacher-based and so I wasn’t sure how the students would gain his same passion. I would worry that if I tried out these lessons the children wouldn’t feel like they had a voice.
The other group I talked with was the Power Rangers. I was surprised by this group. They talked about a community garden and made a lot of connections with the panel. The group talked about needs vs. wants. I believe they called the unit Power Rangers because the lessons were broken up into groups. I think the organization was well thought out. It was a bit of an information overload!
The second half of the presentations I was trying to find a place to set-up my books. Emily was still in a deep discussion, so I set-up my materials right behind her. I ended up sitting with Hannah and Jacklyn. When no one showed up, I started talking! I told both the girls that my project was a work in progress. I was looking for ideas, so if they had any to chime in. After a couple minutes, a student from Johnny’s class and her mother joined us. What really struck me was that they were from Wayne County, where my unit was based on! The advice and encouragement I got was so powerful! The mother talked about how the Ash Borer has affected her life and mindset. She looked over my materials and the list of trees available from the county with prices. She said she works for the city and didn’t know of the service. I could tell that my topic mattered to this community. We talked about activism and instilling a sense of responsibility into children at an early age.
This flowed right into Hannah and Jacklyn’s topic of needs vs. wants. She tied in what I was talking about. We need trees, but why. What is a “want” and the type of investigation the children can go on. She also talked about responsibility and how that looks different in an early childhood classroom. The comparing and contrasting that results from us both sharing our presentations fostered a deeper discussion. We were able to make connections between the two units and how you can teach big concepts in different ways. This led into a conversation about what is powerful social studies. If the children are involved and active in the conversation and if they are contributing to learning more, it’s powerful. Johnny’s student that joined us is going into Special Education. She shared with us her concerns about including all the students. We talked about how each of our units had a goal of bringing together the community at large and to develop a sense of classroom community.
In the future, I think it may be helpful to combine presentations like our group stumbled into. Comparing and contrasting highlighted the strengths of EcoJustice education and what it means to teach powerful Social Studies. I think when everyone was given an opportunity to leave and listen to other lectures during the second half it cleared out too fast. There weren’t a lot of people left to engage which is why we combined. Even though Hannah, Jacklyn and I presented our projects in a shorter duration than the rest of the class, we talked the whole time! And had a really meaningful conversation!
The exhibition overall gave me insight to finish my project. After the discussion with my peers and the educators I realized I wanted the children to do most of the investigating. I wanted to foster critical thinking skills, independence and responsibility. I wanted to show how the teacher can be a role model and bring in other adult role models from the community. I wanted to continue to develop a unit that a community would care about and be proud of.
One of the big themes of the night was collaboration. The advice given by the educators in the panel was laced with themes of collaboration. Teaching is often viewed as a single responsibility: my class and my students. Each teacher has their own personal touches to make teaching their own. I can see how it would be easy to forget to utilize everyone in the building. This is one of the lessons I learned while I was in Korea. You will never catch anyone saying my or I. Instead, what can we do to help our students in our community? Furthermore, I think this is a theme of EcoJustice education and what we’ve talked about all semester. EcoJustice education is about developing relationships with the goal of openly sharing your strengths with the school and community. Through this process educators are instilling a set of values for those relationships and the world around us. Adults need to practice what they preach! And all of the educators at the exhibition were doing just that.
One of the stories that stuck with me was given by Stephanie Boling from Honey Creek Community School. She told the story of how on a nature walk her students asked that the path be cleared, so that all the students could use it. More than that, they wanted the path to be more comfortable for all students. What struck me most about the story wasn’t what the students had done. The educational philosophy in both of the Elementary schools is deeply rooted in EcoJustice education. What surprised me is how Stephanie described the situation. She told us that she never tells her Kindergarteners how to think. She tries to lead them on investigations about EcoJustice issues, but strives for the child to find issues themselves. Stephanie is fostering some amazing critical thinking and problem solving skills! Furthermore, this type of learning will stick with the students because it their ideas that are being taken seriously.
When students investigate their interests they will be more involved in the process. Across the curriculum, the educators talked about how they are able to integrate each subject area. I think this gives the students opportunities to be successful with the issue. The students, no matter their subject area strengths will be able to make a difference. Another idea that stuck with me is the idea that these school-wide projects are carried on from year to year. Students are able to see the success of the last class and modify the process to meet their own needs. I think it is powerful when students are given a voice! Shah talked about how she learns with her students each year. Her teaching style fosters a sense of responsibility, authority, community and independence all with an element of fun!
Teaching is hard. These educators made it look easy. They have made great strides in their field and are people to look up to. What I noticed the most was their passion. I don’t think anyone can be a great teacher without passion! During the presentations, I think we all had this passion when we talked about our units.
I listened and talked with two different groups during the first half of the presentations. I talked with Chad about his presentation first. He had decided to do his unit on Repurposing: Adding Life to Items. Chad showed us a couple different children’s books and talked about how he would integrate the unit across the curriculum. He talked about the big concept of community. I had a hard time envisioning his lessons, but could tell he had passion! The lessons seemed to teacher-based and so I wasn’t sure how the students would gain his same passion. I would worry that if I tried out these lessons the children wouldn’t feel like they had a voice.
The other group I talked with was the Power Rangers. I was surprised by this group. They talked about a community garden and made a lot of connections with the panel. The group talked about needs vs. wants. I believe they called the unit Power Rangers because the lessons were broken up into groups. I think the organization was well thought out. It was a bit of an information overload!
The second half of the presentations I was trying to find a place to set-up my books. Emily was still in a deep discussion, so I set-up my materials right behind her. I ended up sitting with Hannah and Jacklyn. When no one showed up, I started talking! I told both the girls that my project was a work in progress. I was looking for ideas, so if they had any to chime in. After a couple minutes, a student from Johnny’s class and her mother joined us. What really struck me was that they were from Wayne County, where my unit was based on! The advice and encouragement I got was so powerful! The mother talked about how the Ash Borer has affected her life and mindset. She looked over my materials and the list of trees available from the county with prices. She said she works for the city and didn’t know of the service. I could tell that my topic mattered to this community. We talked about activism and instilling a sense of responsibility into children at an early age.
This flowed right into Hannah and Jacklyn’s topic of needs vs. wants. She tied in what I was talking about. We need trees, but why. What is a “want” and the type of investigation the children can go on. She also talked about responsibility and how that looks different in an early childhood classroom. The comparing and contrasting that results from us both sharing our presentations fostered a deeper discussion. We were able to make connections between the two units and how you can teach big concepts in different ways. This led into a conversation about what is powerful social studies. If the children are involved and active in the conversation and if they are contributing to learning more, it’s powerful. Johnny’s student that joined us is going into Special Education. She shared with us her concerns about including all the students. We talked about how each of our units had a goal of bringing together the community at large and to develop a sense of classroom community.
In the future, I think it may be helpful to combine presentations like our group stumbled into. Comparing and contrasting highlighted the strengths of EcoJustice education and what it means to teach powerful Social Studies. I think when everyone was given an opportunity to leave and listen to other lectures during the second half it cleared out too fast. There weren’t a lot of people left to engage which is why we combined. Even though Hannah, Jacklyn and I presented our projects in a shorter duration than the rest of the class, we talked the whole time! And had a really meaningful conversation!
The exhibition overall gave me insight to finish my project. After the discussion with my peers and the educators I realized I wanted the children to do most of the investigating. I wanted to foster critical thinking skills, independence and responsibility. I wanted to show how the teacher can be a role model and bring in other adult role models from the community. I wanted to continue to develop a unit that a community would care about and be proud of.