Community Engagement Lesson Plans
Lesson 1: Introduction to shoreline cleanup
Goal: To introduce students to the importance of clean environments and get them thinking about the concept of community cleanup events.
Big Ideas/curricular competencies: Human activities alter landscapes in a variety of ways. Identify and assess how human and environmental factors and events influence each other. (From human geography 12).
Materials Needed: projector, screen, computer, slideshow
Length: 80 minutes
Attendance Question (10 minutes): What is your favourite activity to do outside?
Hook: Slideshow (20 minutes)
Activity: Mantle of the Expert (30 minutes)
Divide students into groups of 6 and assign them each a role as environmental supervisors for a new community project. The goal is to make a plan to improve an already existing sustainability initiative they have seen in their community, or to come up with a new initiative that will fill a gap they have seen in their community. The budget for this is unlimited, imagine what you could do to improve sustainability in an ideal world where your plans get approved without limitations.
Groups:
- Sustainability in our schools: What initiatives have you seen around the school? What have you noticed is missing, and what could we do to improve it?
- Sustainability in public spaces: What initiatives do you see in our parks, sidewalks, courtyards, playgrounds, any outdoor public spaces? What can we introduce to improve it?
- Residential Sustainability: What do you do in your home that improves sustainability? What could we all do to improve it?
- Sustainability in businesses: What initiatives do you see in grocery, retail, any businesses? What can store owners do to improve?
- Consider how these changes would affect the way we live, what would we need to do differently?
- How would it positively impact the environment?
- Do you think your initiative is realistic?
- Have you seen an initiative like this anywhere?
Activity: Sharing Initiatives (15 minutes)
Pitch your ideas to the class, explaining what you would do and how it would change our community. Answer all the questions above to justify your proposal.
Closing: (5 minutes)
Briefly introduce the idea that there are many local initiatives working towards sustainability in our community. They have the same job that we had this class, only with a very limited budget and their ideas aren’t guaranteed to get approval. Many are grassroots and simply involve everyone pitching in a small amount to make a big difference. E.g. Surfrider foundation shoreline cleanups.
Lesson 2: Shoreline Cleanup Reflection
Goal: To give students an opportunity to reflect on their experiences from the cleanup, and for them to demonstrate an understanding as to why this cause and other service work is important.
Big Ideas/curricular competencies: Analyzing data from a variety of sources allows us to better understand our globally connected world, human activities alter landscapes in a variety of ways, and identify and assess how human and environmental factors and events influence each other (interactions and associations).
Materials Needed: activity sheet, pen/pencil, whiteboard, projector
Length: 80 minutes
Intro Question/ Hook (10 minutes): Across all the beaches that day, how much garbage do you think was collected?
-give students a couple minutes to discuss with classmates around them
-next as the question and see who is the closest
-reveal answer and show picture of all the collected garbage to give students a visual and a sense of pride
Activity: Student Interviews (30 minutes) - Part 1
Students will be give a sheet of paper with a set of question, and asked to interview their assigned partner using these questions. The questions (listed below) will guide students to reflect on the cleanup, environmental issues surrounding the cleanups initiatives, and reflection on students self in spite of cleanup. There will also be space for students to design their own questions to ask. Students will then ask each other these questions and writing down the responses. The goal is to allow students time to reflect on their experience, discover what they have learned, and find similarities and differences between the students shared experience.
- What was the item you found the most of?
- Was there any garbage you found that surprised you? If so explain.
- Were most items you found pieces you expected to find? Explain.
- Did you see any wildlife during the cleanup? If so where were they (beach, ocean, parking lot, etc)?
- Do you think this event was beneficial?
- What was something you learned from this experience?
- Would you consider doing this type of volunteer work again?
- Was this day what you expected?
- Do you have any suggestion as to where we could volunteer in the future?
- Student created question (at least one)
Activity: Student Interviews (25 minutes) - Part 2
In the same pairs, students will be asked to choose 3 questions from the interview to present to the class for their partner. Students can not choose questions number 1. Once each pair has decided which question/answers they will share, at random each student will be asked to present their findings. Once everyone has had their turn, students will be asked to write on the board their answer to question #1. The purpose here is to give students a chance to move around, and get a visual as to which item was the found the most. We will then look at all the answers, and discuss why these items were found, why students think garbage is left behind, and what a solution might be.
Closing: (15 minutes)
This part of class will be dedicated to talking more about the organization we volunteered for, questions/comments about the experience, answering why this kind of work is important, and who does it effect. We will also look at some images from that day, as well as the kind of work surfrider does. This portion will be mostly dedicated to reflection.
Day at the Museum
The museum field trip was a great experience as a future social studies teacher. On this visit, we were instructed to do a "museum hack," whereby we were to investigate the museum and it's contents, and decide things we thought were missing and/or lacking. It was interesting to me just how many things our group was able to come up with, ranging from accessibility to formats of presentation to content. Obviously as emerging social studies teachers, we may have been hyper critical of our surroundings, however, this activity was beneficial in illustrating how a simple museum hack could enhance learning of the core competencies.
BC Core Competencies:
- Communication
- Creative Thinking
- Critical Thinking
- Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
- Personal Awareness and Responsibility
- Social Responsibility
This activity addressed almost all of the competencies. Communication was facilitated through the group work format, whereby we decided as a group things we thought were lacking and so we had to negotiate our personal ideas in a group setting. Creative thinking and critical thinking were addressed through the nature of the activity, deciding what was important or missing, or what we would add or change. Positive personal and cultural identity may not have been addressed as obviously, however, engaging in BC history likely would highlight some personal ties and/or sense of place. Personal awareness & responsibility, and social responsibility, would likely be addressed in the content and/or accessibility issues of the museum exhibit.
Additionally, this museum visit addressed the following BC Teacher Standards:
- educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach
- educators engage in career-long learning
Our Community Engagement Project
Our Community Engagement Initiative: Surfrider Beach Clean Up
When: October 16th, 2017
Where: Clover Point Park, Victoria, BC
Who: Surfrider Foundation (Vancouver Island chapter)
What: The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.
Why: To participate in a community and environmentally conscious initiative and experience the Surfrider culture.
We participated in a beach clean up at Clover Point park, which was one of ten beaches being cleaned by volunteers on October 16th as organized by Surfrider. We scoured the shores looking for garbage, plastic, and other various materials scattered along the beach. While doing this activity, we had time to think about the implications of our waste and how we dispose of it, as well as appreciate the environment which we are immersed in. We were graced with an absolutely beautiful day and got to spend time outside while doing something good for the environment. We also spotted a baby seal sunbathing on a nearby rock! After the clean up, everyone met at Clover Point, where waste from all the different site’s had been brought for a grand tally. There were news teams, snacks, and information set up for Surfrider’s current “Ban the Bag” campaign. Overall, the experience provided us with a sense of accomplishment and volunteering our time felt meaningful and important. Organizations such as Surfrider are a great opportunity for students (or anyone) to volunteer in because their events are very relaxed, unintimidating, and flexible. They also host beach clean ups frequently, which foster environmental stewardship.
Mindfulness and Meditation Workshop
On October 5th, our EDCI 773 class spent the morning at the Interfaith Chapel on UVic campus. We met with Henry and Soshin for a workshop around mindfulness and meditation, as well as learned about the interfaith chapel community. I was very excited to be exploring these ideas and hopefully learning to apply them in the context of education and our teaching careers. Through out the experience, I was looking for ideas to connect what we were learning with our students. While I am completely enthralled with the idea of bringing mindfulness and meditative practices in to our classrooms, I became fascinated with the benefit of these practices for teachers.
The more I am learning about teaching and connecting with my own teacher identity, the more I am slightly overwhelmed with what it all entails. A career in education is obviously one of deep responsibility, care, and critical decision making. Though I have never underestimated this role, it is certainly easy as an aspiring and I'm sure new teacher (although, I'm sure it never really gets easier...) to get overwhelmed with all there is to consider. Lesson plans, assessment, the school community, classroom projects, extracurricular activities, building relationships, the list goes on. But something we haven't talked about in our courses thus far is the importance of taking care of yourself.
I have learned, probably the hard way, that you need to prioritize yourself; as the saying goes, "you can't pour from an empty cup." I think that this is often overlooked in our society of go go go and busyness, but I think it is so important for success at whatever you aspire to be. As we go down this path to become the teachers of the future, I think we must consider self care, in order to be our best selves for our students. And this is where my mind was at on this Thursday morning. How can these techniques of breathing and mindfulness help us as teachers, to recenter and restore ourselves for the busy lives we are sure to lead.
I think these exercises provided a lot of us some mental clarity on that morning. I don't know if anyone left the building feeling anything less than revitalized and relaxed. When you are in the present moment, it is so hard to be worried or stressed. We connect to our very being, our presence in a space, and we just be. While this is a valuable tool for students (such as ourselves, that morning) it is also a very valuable tool for teachers, or anyone for that matter.
Ted Ed Resource
I have found Ted Ed videos to be a really interesting and informative resource that I could easily see myself bringing into the classroom. In this video, for example, it takes a concept and explains it in a short, concise, and clear manner. Bringing video clips into the classroom is a great way to mix it up and keeps students engaged.
Public Lecture #1: City Talk Series: Urban Streetscape as a Political Cosmos
On September 14th, I attended a public lecture in the City Talk Series titled "Urban Streetscape as a Political Cosmos" by Reuben Rose-Redwood. The lecture was largely about how our urban environments are transformative and open to contestation, and was followed by a panel discussion featuring different academics in the city. The topic of renaming streets and places was a large focus of the panel, triggered by the recent renaming of the residential building, previously called Trutch, at the University of Victoria. The speakers discussed how our urban landscape and street naming is a form of colonization. Many street names in Victoria are named after colonizers, such as Cook, Douglas, and Vancouver. Thus, our urban streetscape is one of colonialism. One speaker on the panel highlighted that she felt our public school system has failed Indigenous peoples, as coming into university, although of Indigenous background, was unaware of many issues surrounding colonization and the continuation of colonialism in today's society. This obviously struck a chord with me, and I cannot say I disagree. Our public institutions are designed in a way that compartmentalizes colonialism as being a thing of the past. Of course, we can understand that this is false and colonialism is embedded into our very society. By changing street names and place names, we are shaping our political cosmos in ways that may not be as obvious as they seem.
This talk highlighted the importance of operating in a way that recognizes our sense of place, and bringing an awareness to the history of the place. One lesson that could be taken away from this experience is the importance of teaching colonialism as a concept that is alive and well, not a thing that happened in the past. We need to understand the politics of where we are today, and how we can have an impact on that political landscape.
Public Lecture #2: Zero Waste Living with Bea Johnson
On October 28th, I attended a public lecture with Bea Johnson on Zero Waste Living. In her talk, she shared her experiences transitioning and living in a zero waste household. She explained the ways in which herself, as well as her two teenaged sons, husband, and little chihuahua have maintained this lifestyle. The main takeaway points were the 5 R's, in this order of importance: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (compost). Her talk was very comprehensive and provided great insight into ways to strive for zero waste. She was also very humorous and engaging in her discussion.
During her discussion, I was brainstorming ways that this lifestyle could connect to my students. Of course, students are part of a household in which they may or may not have much say in the lifestyle the family leads. As Bea pointed out, she is the "head" of her household, and she was the one making decisions to to zero waste and took leadership in following them through. To the other members of the household, they were more passive in the process and were not as affected as Bea was, being the core change agent.
Largely due to this, my mind shifted to a larger scale and tried to view this zero waste lifestyle as a solution to a global problem. In Victoria, it is expected that our current landfill has a lifespan of 30 something years. The question, which applies globally, is what to do with our waste? This question is on par with other global issues such as climate change, water conservation, degradation of ecosystems, etc. These issues can often seem so large and complex that we as a society are paralyzed into doing nothing, as it seems our efforts will be futile. Something I really appreciated about Bea's approach is that it is solution based. There is a problem that seems so daunting, but her family is doing what they can do to lead to a positive outcome. These global issues are indeed complex and require multiple different facets of "solutions" to really truly address them. However, by doing nothing, you are contributing to the problem.
So what I gained from this as an educator is the importance of stressing solutions while looking at global problems and demonstrating that what one person does, indeed, makes a difference. Bea brought along with her the past years worth of trash her family has accumulated. It fit in a small mason jar. This visual was staggering and symbolizes that small efforts genuinely do make a difference.
The last thing I want to note about her presentation is that she stressed the importance of voting with your dollar. Every purchase you make is supporting the practices involved in creating the product or service you are purchasing. Small tips she included is buying local, organic, and second hand wherever possible. Additionally, she stressed the benefits of products that are compostable and/or recyclable (wood, metal, cardboard/paper, to name a few) over plastics. Buying in bulk was one concept she touched on many times.
The lifestyle she has may not be suitable for all, however, these small changes, and noticing the importance of your dollar in contributing to our economy, are vital takeaways that I think can benefit everyone.
Level Ground Trading
On September 28th, our EDCI 773 class went to Level Ground Trading HQ, a local company that specializes in fair trade practices and products. We spent the morning with Stacey, the owner/operator of the company. During our visit, we discussed many different aspects of his personal life, family farm, and business. The main takeaway point for me was the importance of connecting young people with their food and food systems.
Growing up as a farmer's daughter, I've always had a deep connection to food myself. However, the farming as discussed by Stacey- often small scale, organic, and eco-friendly, is not the farming I am familiar with. The divide in "farming" between the family/community farm and the commercial scale agribusiness has always struck me as fascinating. On one hand, I identify deeply with the concept of food as fuel, and medicine. However, I have also grown up with a perception of food that "organics don't feed the world." This dichotomy is especially interesting when I consider food accessibility. Of course, a middle-upper class family in Victoria, BC can afford to go to their local grocery stores and shop local/organic. However, some families or individuals cannot afford vegetables at all, let alone the local organic kind.
I think it is rather idealistic to praise organics and fair trade products in modern society due to the issue of accessibility. That being said, part of the solution here is instilling a connection to and relationship with food. This is best done when growing food yourself. Stacey gave really great insight into this, describing his mornings as with his feet in the dirt, working with nature to be mutually beneficial. This lifeskill of growing one's own food has so many personal and societal benefits. It improves food security in an unbeatable way. It connects one to the earth, to their environment, and to their food. Now, we talk about accessibility again. How does one acquire space to grow their own food?
Again, the accessibility issue comes up and the solution here is community gardens. Urban gardens. Rooftop gardens. We need our urban spaces to become communal and productive spaces of food production. The school is an amazing community for this, especially in places like Victoria where the growing season is so long and productive. Many local schools have hopped on board with this idea, and I think that it is going to be increasingly popular in the future since it addresses so many of the ideas that I've mentioned above. I think Level Ground Trading is also a great "field trip" experience for students of any age, since it instills the inspiration and appreciation for what growing food really is about.