My own learning cycle would not have progressed as it has if I kept inside a vacuum, unwilling to change as a reflection of the students I’ve met, the teachers I’ve worked with or the professional development I’ve taken part in. Likewise, life cycles, of any animal, do not occur without influence from outside forces.
I set out to collect the best available lesson plans for teachers on the topic of plastics and sustainable choices. What I found was too much of the same: reduce, reuse, recycle with an all too heavy emphasis on recycle. But recycling is: not available in all localities, not applicable to all items, including all types of plastics, and is an underfunded, underutilized tool. It can’t be what we continue to teach our youth.
Books are a terrific way to reinforce the nature education you are providing in your classroom or as a gateway into the world of nature. Books can introduce new concepts while reading to the whole group or allows a curious child time to visit with a book on their own; either way, having a bookshelf stocked with stories and illustrations about our natural world is essential to any nature based classroom.
The 2020-21 school year promises to be unique and less certain than years past. Will we be teaching virtually, in person with social distancing measures, or some hybrid of the two? It may seem like tackling something new in your classroom next year is too much however, I really do think that NOW is the time to begin a waste-less classroom management plan. While the pandemic and social justice issues are huge concerns right now, climate change and environmental degradation are problems getting lost in the shuffle, but are no less significant.
"…you do have control over your own waste habits and a summer at home is a terrific time to start planning and practicing your own waste-less lifestyle so when school does open in the fall, you have already re-imagined your low-er waste classroom, have put structures into place and through classroom management, you will positively influence the waste habits of your students certainly while at school and arguably outside of school also. What power you hold!”
“The world is not given by our fathers but borrowed from our children.” This thought provides the inspiration for this blog, The Borrowed Classroom. This first post will explain the metaphor and the intention of future posts.
“….a practical guide for teachers who love their students and who are optimistic about the future and about our natural world. This profession demands optimism; personal and professional changes toward a more sustainable life does too.”
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