Standing Up to Injustice

“The NVIV (Next Vista Inspiring Video) series of posts are written by Rushton Hurley and designed to provide students and teachers with fascinating discussion prompts.”

In Standing Up to Injustice, Rushton features: 

“Maida Bilal led a group of women from her village in a 503-day blockade of heavy equipment that resulted in the cancellation of permits for two proposed dams on the Kruščica River in December 2018.”

Rushton gives the following prompts to accompany this video:

“Do you know someone who stood up to more powerful people because she or he felt it was the right thing to do? Describe what happened, and what that person did.

Seeing a story like this, one good move is to learn more about the people who made the video. What can you learn about the Goldman Environmental Prize?”

I am impressed by these brave women! 503 days is a long time to continue a protest and it would take a lot of energy to keep people interested in continuing a protest this long. I know how hard it must be to stand up against big business so this took a lot of courage. How could you keep people engaged in a long protest like this? Too often, people lose interest and give up. 

Please check out the video and think of other prompts you might come up with. Please share.

Improve the World

My friend, Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning has a great project for students to get involved in called Improve the World.

“Next Vista for Learning invites students around the world to share ideas that can help others.”

The student needs to make a video for 90 seconds or less. On his page about the project, Rushton gives in great detail how to go about sharing your idea to improve the world.

“The video can be you explaining something to the camera, or a screencast with slides as visuals, or narrated artwork. The style and editing are not what is important; what is important is that you have and convey a compelling idea.”

The student would choose one of the following categories for the video:

1. Promoting peace
2. Fighting disease
3. Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
4. Saving mothers and children
5. Supporting education
6. Growing local economies
7. Protecting the environment

He encourages students to show others before submitting and get lots of feedback. Once it is refined, the student would upload the video to YouTube or something similar. Rushton also gives some recommendations for settings when doing this.

There is no deadline because this is not a contest. It is a project to help others improve our world. They will take the best ones in each category listed and share them with service organizations around the world who may decide to do that project.

What a great project that would incorporate all subject areas! It could be a month-long project or even a year-long project depending on the research and follow-up you would decide to do. This could be a class project or even a school project depending on how many teachers would want to get involved. It also would be great to make learning relevant to our students concerning the issues in their community and world.

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

Changes

"The NVIV (Next Vista Inspiring Video) series of posts are written by Rushton Hurley and designed to provide students and teachers with fascinating discussion prompts.”

In Major Change, he features a video of a glacier melting. I was lucky enough many years ago to take a trip to Alaska. We took a 10-hour boat tour in Kenai Fjords and were able to see glaciers up close and personal. We even saw a glacier calving (chunks of ice break off the glacier) which is amazing to see in person.

He gives the following prompts to accompany this video:

“Watching this happen, how many things do you see that generate questions for you? Are there places near where major changes have happened in the environment?

Are there little changes in your area or even in your community that make you wonder if something big might happen in the near future?”

Many times in my student’s lives, they face so many unknowns. Some of them don’t know where they may live next month. Some of them aren’t sure their parents will be there when they get home. They face a lot of changes that I was lucky enough not to have faced as a child.

Watching this video can help open up discussions as a class on what changes a person might face in their lives. Sometimes have a general discussion helps students talk about a personal issue without identifying themselves. Some students may have helpful strategies that they use to cope with these major changes.

Of course, this video can also generate discussions on climate change, glacial melting, flora, and fauna in the tundra, and life in places with glaciers, Students may feel inspired to do research on topics that relate to these and share their information with the class.

Please check out the video and think of other prompts you might come up with. Please share.

Create an Environment

In Leadership from Seth Godin's Blog by Seth Godin shares,

“You can’t make people change. But you can create an environment where they choose to.”

I keep reminding myself that I can't control other people I can only control myself. 

I can't make my students study and I can't make them do their work. I can't make my students behave in the way that I want them to behave. I could tell them reasons why they should study and why they should do that work I can't make them do this. I didn't tell them why they should behave in a certain way, but I can't make them.

If I see that someone needs to change, I can suggest ways in which they can do things that will help them make this change. but if they don't want to make the change there is nothing I can do to make it happen.

 but I can change the environment in which there in that might help them make the change it easier. It might make them have the right choices to help them make these changes.

 My husband and I are trying to eat healthier and, in that way,  we hope it might help us lose weight. We don't want to be on a diet because we haven't had a lot of success with the diet. But instead, we decided to change our environment. we stock a refrigerator with ready-made salads which makes it easier for us to make the right choice when looking for something to eat. we don't have the excuse of saying it is too much trouble, but we don't have the right ingredients to make a salad. The changing environment we have made it easier to make the right choices free eating healthier foods.

In that same way, I can make the environment better for students to choose to study and did it work. This might help them make better choices and become more successful in the future. when students have choices, they tend to be less resistant to change. Students have very little things that they feel they are in control of somebody giving them more choices will help them feel in control. When students feel in control, I hope they will make better choices.

Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash

Dealing with People Who Squeeze the Life Out of Me

In 7 Ways to Keep Others from Squeezing the Life Out of You from Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Victoria A Davis shares ways to know if someone is squeezing the life out of you. This is a great post to get me thinking about my relationships with others and how I deal with them. It also makes me stop and think about how I come across to others.

I know people who squeeze the life out of me and have done it to me but it wasn’t fun or productive. Then I feel like I’ve dug a hole that I can’t get out of but I really can if I stop and think about it. I just hope that I’m not one of the vampires that she mentions.

Then I thought, once I identify the ones that are doing this, what steps can I take to avoid these feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

Here are some options I have:

If they are family, I need to remember that I can’t change the way they act but I can change my own behavior. I can’t choose my family so I need to accept them for what they are. I need to think about my own actions and what they do to cause me to act this way. Then when they push my buttons, I need to behave differently. I also don’t need to subject myself to having to be around these people unless absolutely necessary. I have tried this recently and it really works for me!

If they are friends that I really want to keep, then I need to talk about this with them. I need to explain how their actions make me feel and how I need to do something differently. This might mean being around them less or it might mean that we need to interact differently but maybe together we can solve the problem.

If they are more like acquaintances rather than friends, then I need to distance myself from them. Sometimes I find their drama entertaining and better than TV but then I realize this drama tends to bring me down. It is better to limit my contact with these people.

If they are coworkers who I have to deal with on a daily basis, I need to try to be more positive around them. Hopefully I can influence them into being more positive people. I might even share that for a new yearly goal, I’m going to work on being more positive and would appreciate their help and support.

For those coworkers that I really can’t get along with, I try to deal with them mostly through email and not in person. This really helps when personality conflicts stand in the way of progress.

Build new friendships with more positive people. I’m not talking about those that think everything is wonderful all of the time (which is impossible!) but the ones who are more positive than negative in their outlook on life. Positive feelings are catching!

What other suggestions do you have? Please share.

Image: 'A tight squeeze Project 365(2) Day 357'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34673186@N03/5389756390
Found on flickrcc.net

River Treasures

Another program we attended in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was called Oconoluftee River Treasures led by Ranger Amber. (We also were on the night hike that night with Rangers Amber and April but it was too dark for me to take any photos.) You can view my pictures on Flickr HERE.

As we walked along the river, Ranger Amber talked about the treasures we find here. At one point she even pulled out animal furs for everyone to touch which was a big hit, especially with the children. She also talked about the birds that we might hear. At one stop, we discussed the ways that water was used and how important it was to the families that lived in the area. Sometimes we take water for granted and it is programs like this that remind us how valuable this resource is.

This would be a great activity to do with students in the classroom to help them appreciate the environment around them. I would take my class on a nature walk and have them look for treasures around them. Every few minutes, I would stop and let them make a list of the treasures that they find using their senses. I might even take photos of ones that are really exciting to the students for future use such as a writing prompt or a science research prompt. We might even do this nature walk once a month to see if there are different treasures that could be found at different times or seasons. This list of treasures could be displayed in the classroom.

What other activity would you suggest to help students learn to appreciate their environment? Please share.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

With Fresh Eyes

A few months ago in The Power of Newness from Sioux's Page, Sioux asks,

“What new things/people/pets have caused you to look at things with new eyes?”

A couple of times a year my husband and I volunteer in the state park as Master Naturalists. We take second graders on a nature hike. I’m supposed to stop along the way and talk about the life cycles of trees, frogs, birds, butterflies, and plants to cover state science standards.

Many times I ask how many students have been to the state park and very few hands are raised. Some of them have never been on a nature hike before and some have never been in a forest. It amazes me how disconnected our students are from nature.

Our hike lasts about 90 minutes and along the way we may see a lot of different wildlife. Each hike is different. Sometimes we see tadpoles, salamanders, ducks, turtles, snakes, kingfishers and other birds, and butterflies. We also find many different wildflowers.

The best thing about leading these hikes are seeing all of these things through these children’s eyes. I never get bored from seeing these things every year because it is magical when I see it from the children’s point of view. Everything is fresh and new. Every time they look in wonder at all of these things, their amazement is thrilling to watch.

It is at this time that I talk about taking care of the things in nature and taking care of the world around them. It is this time that I feel I can have the best impact on them and hopefully give them a lasting memory. I hope that as they grow older, this will stay in their minds and help them be mindful stewards of the earth.

What has caused you to look at things with fresh eyes? Please share.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Frog Watch Training

This weekend I went for Frog Watch Training and it was an awesome experience. It was held at the Greenville Zoo and given by Lynn Watkins and Barbara Foster. If you ever get a chance to take this training and become a volunteer, I think it is going to be well worth the effort. Click HERE to see the pictures from our training.

Now I’m sure you are asking, what in the world is Frog Watch, so I’m going to fill your head full of fun stuff I learned.

According to the web site, “FrogWatch USA is AZA’s flagship citizen science program that allows individuals and families to learn about the wetlands in their communities and help conserve amphibians by reporting the calls of local frogs and toads…

Frogs and toads also play an important role, serving as both prey and predator, in wetland ecosystems and are considered indicators of environmental health. Many previously abundant frog and toad populations have experienced dramatic population declines both in the United States and around the world and it’s essential that scientists understand the scope, geographic scale, and cause of these declines.”

During class, we learned more about what citizen science is and how this data will be beneficial. Then we learned more about amphibians and the types that exist. We also learned the protocol for monitoring frogs and toads in wetlands in order to be able to submit data that is uniform for all observers. Then we learned to identify 16 frogs and toads that can be found in SC by what they look like and what they sound like. There are more than 16 but the trainers didn’t want to overwhelm us. By giving us a sample of the sounds and also relating it to sounds that we know, it was easier to connect the calls with the specific animal that we were identifying. Also, there is a 2 minute of silence before you start in order for the observer and the animals to settle down once you arrive. Then you monitor for 3 minutes and then record data such as date, time, weather, temperature, wind, frogs and toads you heard.

We were given a few handouts, a handy field guide, and a CD with some calls so that we could come home and practice. You can find the frogs and toads in your state by going to this page. This training along with the enthusiasm of the teachers made me want to learn more. I can’t wait to practice identifying frogs and toads by their calls but I can see now that this may take a lot of hard work. It is not recommended that you record the sounds at the site but instead document what you observe. It seems like this is like learning a new language and I should practice at least 10 minutes every day. Hopefully I will get better and better at identification in this way.

Once I feel comfortable identifying them using the CD, phone apps, and web sites, I would like to go to a local site and shadow someone who is doing actual monitoring and filling out the data sheets. When I begin filling out the data sheets, four of them need to be submitted to our local trainer to see if I am on track and monitoring it the way I should. I like the way I wasn’t pressured that I had to learn all of the calls, and fill out the data sheet perfectly the first time. Also, the time I want to be involved in monitoring is really up to me and I am not tied down to specific dates and times. This freedom makes me feel comfortable in easing into this whole process.

Frog Watchers of Greenville Zoo (FROGZ) even has its own facebook page.

So, I would recommend you find a Frog Watch chapter near you by clicking here. Not only will you be helping the environment, but it is a lot of fun too!

Original photo by Pat Hensley

State Park Volunteer Training

We had the training of volunteers for the spring session of the school program at Paris Mountain State Park last week. I was thrilled that there was such a big turn out! It was even exciting to see the region this training is offered twice a year and I have been to 3 of these sessions. I’m always thrilled that I learn something new at every session I attend. Click HERE to look at the pictures that I took. I find this such a rewarding program and really believe in what is being done here. It encourages students to be outdoors and to learn about their environment. I believe it teaches them an appreciation of their state parks and their surroundings. If you haven’t done so, I would suggest that you check with the state park system where you live to see if there is a program available for your students.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Bad Creek Hydroelectric Station

For more pictures, click HERE.

For our Upstate Master Naturalist Meeting, we met at the Bad Creek Hydroelectric Station in Oconee, SC. We met in the Foothills Trail parking area where we were introduced to the men who organized this program for us and would take us on our tour. We had to carpool because places where we would stop didn’t have a lot of parking area. Marcus Pitts (Duke Energy employee) led us on a tour of the facility.

First we traveled across the top of one of the dams (there are three of them) which is an earthen dam. It was an amazing sight to see. The station took 10 years to build starting in 1981 and finishing in 1991. The Bad Creek Reservoir is the upper reservoir and Lake Jocasee is the lower one. After that, we drove into the access tunnel which they used to bring in equipment and personnel. We were able to walk around in the Powerhouse (which was actually lower in elevation than Lake Jocasee). The huge room we stood in was 74 feet wide, 160 feet high, and 433 feet long. The generators weigh over 425 tons and there were cranes that lifted the generators when they needed to be worked on. We saw the smaller generator which actually reverses and brings water back into the upper reservoir. The 30 foot power tunnel allows over six million gallons of water per minute to pass through the turbine. This was truly amazing to see and how no one would actually know that all of this took place so far underground just by looking at the lakes and the land in between.

After leaving there, we went to the outdoor classroom which was a wonderful science lab available to teachers of all grades. Available was a shelter with tables for the class to sit for talks and lunch. There was also a food plot, butterfly garden, and trail with stations. There were plywood boards with rope on them so that the class could lift it up and see what kind of insects live under there. Teachers have the flexibility to use this outdoor classroom in any way they need to in order to meet their curriculum standards. If teachers are interested in something special, they can contact the education specialist there and talk to them about specific needs. I liked that teachers of any grade level could bring their class to this if they thought it could be used for hands on learning experiences. There is no program, guide, or instructor for this classroom so each teacher would be responsible for teaching their own lessons. Duke Energy is just making their facility available to the teacher and class. After going through an orientation, teachers may use this outdoor classroom the way they thing it would best enhance their lessons. All Duke Energy asks is that they reserve the site (so more than one class isn’t there at the same time) and check in when they arrive and leave.

I was surprised that this fantastic free opportunity is available but not many schools use this. I hope as some teachers read this they may be interested in using this facility. The only cost would be the bus and bus driver. If anyone is interested in using this facility, contact me and I will give you the contact info for the Outdoor Classroom.

I thought this was an awesome day (and great way to celebrate my birthday)! In fact, coming back home from Myrtle Beach to attend this meeting was part of my birthday present from my hubby. If any teacher lives close enough to bring their class to Bad Creek, I would highly recommend it!

Original Photos by Pat Hensley

S’Mores

As we have been doing a lot of camping lately with campfires, I have been reminded about times when I was growing up and toasting marshmallows with my family. We always made s’mores and they were so yummy. I’m sure most of you know what a s’more is but in case you don’t, here is the description. You toast your marshmallow over a campfire and then make a sandwich with it, chocolate squares and graham crackers. After you eat it, you want s’more!

Now, I’ve eaten toasted marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers. But when they are eaten separately, they have a totally different taste than when they are eaten together. It takes all three of these things together to really make your taste buds go into overdrive.

Then I began to think about how this relates to the classroom. What ingredients are needed for our students to want “s’more”? I think having all the right ingredients make a difference but what are they? I think an effective teacher, a willing student, and the right environment are necessary to get the right combination.

But what makes me an effective teacher? I need to be willing to learn throughout my career. This means learning new techniques and tools as well as learning the true and tried ways that have worked in the past. I need to use my time out of the classroom in a way that rejuvenates me and recharges my batteries. This might mean that on the weekends I do things that may seem selfish to others but necessary for my own piece of mind. It might mean that during the summers, I take classes that I want to take but never had the time. I might take classes that can help me in the classroom but they might also be classes that have nothing to do with the classroom. But when I’m in the classroom, I’m always looking at what is in the best interest of the student and not me. I feel that once I stop doing this, I am not an effective teacher.

How do I make a student willing to learn? I need to give the student opportunities to succeed. I know that if I’m always failing at something and don’t feel there is any hope, I will give up. I need to be the advocate, and sometimes cheerleader, for the student. When the student struggles and seems frustrated, I need to look for ways to help the student overcome the obstacles. I want my student to feel like he/she is never alone and knows that I’m going to be there to help when needed. I need to help the student forget about the failures of the past and be willing to start with a fresh new start. By being the proper role model, I can show the student how wonderful it is to learn and that this is a lifelong process that I am still involved in.

How can I control the environment? I might not be able to change the school policies but I can make my classroom inviting. There is McCall’s Hospice House nearby which cares for people in their end stage of life. I haven’t been there yet but plan to go there soon to visit a friend. My pastor mentioned that it is an extremely positive place with lots of windows, cheery staff, bright colors and positive attitudes all around. What a delightful place this sounds like. I want my classroom to be seen in the same way and not as a dark and rigid place of learning. I want to be “user friendly” that makes people glad to be there.

What do you think are the main ingredients for s’mores in education? Please share your thoughts.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'S'Mores!'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76454756@N00/2987530248 by: Kate Sumbler

Can We Change the World?

From The DEN Can Change the World in the DEN Blog Network, I learned about the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge which sounds like an awesome challenge for students. It doesn’t cost anything to enter and would be a real life application of what students are learning.

The purpose of this challenge is to:

• engage students in identifying and solving local environmental problems
• utilize their creativity
• involve their community
• recommend how others could use this solution in their communities

They challenge students to come up with solutions to environmental problems in their own backyard. They have three different sections: elementary, middle and high school levels but the high school level is “coming soon.” When you click on the level, they give information about resources, the challenge process, the prizes, and the trip. The winners can win $100K plus other prizes. Included are tips for how to get started as well as what the judges are looking for. In the challenge process page, there are teacher resources, student resources and even parent resources. The challenge process is also explained in six detailed steps that tell what is expected.

“The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge teams should consist of a teacher or other adult mentor and two, three or four students. The mentor can enter multiple teams into the Challenge, but each team should have its own unique solution and results, and may choose to work on different local environmental problems.”

You can read about the specific rules here: Official Contest Rules.

The deadline is March 15, 2010.

Please check this out and consider it.

5 Tips on How to Encourage Students to Live Green

(Today we have returning guest blogger, Donna Scott. Donna went to school and graduated from UH in Houston as an English major. Then she worked in a PR Firm in Houston but decided it wasn't for her and now freelances for an online education website. Thank you Donna for another great post!)

When I was a high school student, I had an environmental science teacher who was expectedly passionate about lessening our impact on the planet. I had learned about it all before in other classes: the graphs, the statistics, the figures, and the blurry videos of landfills and decimated forests. Yet, I still was not convinced that green living was something I should have been concerned about. But my environmental science teacher changed my views, and year after year, she inspired legions of impressionable young minds to be more environmentally friendly. Follow these 5 easy tips, and you can do the same.

1. Take baby steps. Stress that becoming an eco-friendly person does not mean drastically altering day-to-day life. Students, just like any other person, are resistant to change, so emphasizing that being green does not require a complete remodeling of their lives is comforting. Start by asking students to recycle, and install a recycling bin in the classroom. Lead by example and dispose of your own recyclables in the bins.

2. Talk about living green. Keep reminding your students about living green by talking about the latest in green technology and what you have done for the environment. Ask for others to tell their stories about what they have done.

3. Assign green side projects. Whether for extra credit or just because, assign green side projects, asking students to do one simple eco-friendly act over the weekend. This can be anything from recycling to riding a bike instead of driving.

4. Start a garden. If your school has an unused plot of land, ask if you can start a garden or wildflower sanctuary there. Bring the students to the garden at the beginning of the school year and then again at the end. They will see the progress of growth that a few months can bring, reminding them of the wonder of nature. My environmental science teacher had a wildflower and blackberry patch behind the football field of our school. We were invited to pick the blackberries at the end of the year, and we all marveled at how a seemingly weedy and useless plot of grass had produced all those flowers and berries in just a few months.

5. Have a class plant. Parents will appreciate that it is less maintenance than a class pet. Send the plant home with a different student every weekend. Tell them to photograph it sitting on a sunny windowsill in their home. Many students will find they enjoy having the plant and may get a plant of their own. Plants are an undeniable symbol of the earth, and those who appreciate plants will usually also protect the planet.

This post was contributed by Donna Scott, who writes about the BestCollegesOnline.com. She welcomes your feedback at DonnaScott9929@yahoo.com

Original image: 'Planet Earth (III)' http://www.flickr.com/photos/13172875@N08/2633772161 by: Aaron Escobar