Green Jobs! green cars! green energy! green! green! green! Its everywhere and many schools are looking to add it into lesson plans and we’re even starting to see green schools. Helping the environment and teaching students about it is a great idea but how do we do it? What is the best way to talk about going green while not cutting into valuable academic lessons?

Fortunately, there are endless solutions to this problem and here are 5 ways to go green in the classroom.

1. 1. This idea is not an original but these kids are definitely on to something. The title of their project is “Change the World in 5 Minutes – Everyday at School” and not only did they come up with some great ideas, they made a video to go with it so other people (like me and you) can try it too. So, not only did they succeed in helping the world they helped other people do it too.
2. 2. The cool thing with going green is there are a lot of groups and companies that give out a lot of green to teach students about the environment. Also, having deadline and a contest structure can make the job of figuring out what to do easier and give your students more drive. Here is a contest going on now to get you started!
3. 3. Try incorporating “going green” into existing lessons. Many biology classes dissect worms. Try adding a composting lesson to show how the worms digestion can help the planet. Other ideas could be using green statistics to display math concepts or explaining how changes in history have impacted and changed the planet.
4. 4. If adding environmental ideas to lesson plans is not feasible try going the extra mile and sponsor an after school club, or even better, create an elective class. This entire school has a green theme and here are some lesson plans to get you started.
5. 5. Ok, so adding all that to your work load might not be easy. Maybe just let the students go the extra mile and teach themselves by using green projects for extra credit.

I remember in high school we took a class field trip to Kennywood, the local theme park, for physics class.   As students we all decided that this was wonderful and wasn’t entirely sure why our school was letting us have so much fun, but decided not question it.  The price for getting to do this? One worksheet based on the bigger rides in the park.  At the end of the day we turned the worksheet in and all feel asleep on the ride back.  The strange thing is after that, physics class was more interesting it was relevant and help create a curiosity that wasn’t there before. Well turns out that was the point to the school sponsoring Kennywood Day and any field trip; making lessons relevant and tangible. Below are some articles that go more in depth of the advantaged for field trips.

Field trips are a great, but the destinations vary greatly for different age groups.  Here are some ideas for younger children which can be difficult to come up with entertaining and interactive trips.  If those ideas don’t work in your area, some others could be to visit a tree nursery and afterward the class could plant a tree near the school.  Children museums are also an option as they are very interactive and set up for multiple age groups.  For older students the traditional museums, , historical landmarks, or the zoo are all good options.  Another idea is to try to think of specialized activities for either a particular class or group.  An example being, most students will not value a modern art exhibit but an A.P. art class would be the exception.
Have any great field trip stories as a teacher or a students, or ideas of where you’d like to go. Please comment and let me know or email me if you have a topic you want to hear more about!

References:

Making the Case for Field Trips

Importance of Field Trips in Schools

Thinking about a changing your career to teaching?  Here is some advice and resources to make the decision a little easier.

The first thing to really think over is why are you interested in teaching.  There are some great perks to teaching: being able to help children, getting summers off, and being one of the last professions with a pension plan isn’t half bad either.  While these are great perks teaching is also a very demanding career and very different from most others. So, before making the switch think about why you want to change and are those points valid?

While, only you can answer the first part of that question; the second half requires research.  Fortunately, there is a plethora of information out there to help you with your decision. Some basic info, there are about 3.5 million K-12 teachers with a average salary ranging between $47,100 – $51,180. The profession is expected to grow at about 13% (average) with more openings in rural and urban schools.  For more data check out The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another approach is to visit teacher chats Teachers.net and blogs: Teach for Us, Cool Cat, Teachers Count Blog, So You Want to Teach, Teacher Career Change 101,  and there are many more .  All with different view-points to help fill in any gaps you might have in your knowledge base.  Besides just virtual research try some good old fashioned footwork.  Contact your local school district and see if you can talk to any of the teachers there or think if there is a teacher you know who you would want to speak with you about your career. Though, the best way to really see if this is the career for you is to sign up to substitute teach, long term assignment are even a frequent possibility.

Once you decide to make the switch to becoming a teacher, it is now time for more research.  Mainly, finding out credentials are needed to teach in your state. A good resource to get you started on answering those questions is Certification Map. Many states will require credit hours which will dovetail with a  test.  With this in mind many people decided to go back to get their master’s degree as they can receive the necessary credit hours and the credentials needed .  Getting a masters can also be advantageous as most school will offer a high pay grade and possible bonuses for teachers with their Master’s.

Changing careers can make an improvement in any-one’s life, but getting there can take some work. If you are a second-career teacher please write and let us know about your experiences and what you think of the change.

Resources:
CertificationMap
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
Teacher Career Change 101
US News and World Report – Turn Education Into a New Job
US News and World Report – Hot Tips for a Graduate Degree in Education
CNN – Trading a Six-figure Salary to Become a Teacher

Jane Elliott; Brown Eyes and Blue Eyes

This Monday was Marting Luther King Jr.Day and many people wrote about the man himself and what he stood for. Many of the articles stating how far we have (or haven’t) come. As teachers it shows how hard it is to teach tolerance without also enforcing the idea that differences are bad. One teacher, many years ago, the day after after Marting Luther King Jr.’s assassination came up with a new way for children to understand tolerance.

Jane Elliott sat and talked with her students about discrimination, and like so many other teachers the lesson was remembered but not absorbed. So, on April 5, 1968 she came up with what she called an “experiment”. When her students filed in that day she asked them if they wanted to know what it would be to be like to be discriminated against. Like many children they didn’t understand so the children enthusiastically agreed, and she told them that “blue eyed people are better then brown eyed people.” She gave the blue eyed students special privileges, told them that they could not play with the brown eyed children, and even made the brown eyed children wear long collars. She also was more supportive of the blue eyed students while constantly belittling the other group. Quickly, Mrs. Elliot saw a change in her students. Children who were once close friends physically fought, brown eyed children become shy and anxious while blue eyed children became bossy and arrogant. The next day she reversed the roles. The change in the students’ behavior was drastic. As, the brown eyed children took on the persona of the blue-eyed children from the previous day and vice-a-verse. Though, this time the privileged students did not act as cruel.  Later, when asked why they remembered what it was like and did not want to act that way.

Mrs. Elliot's Class in 1968

Mrs. Elliott continued to teach her lesson for many more years. In later years she added simple quizzes before, during, and after the experiment. The day a group was discriminated against their test scores dropped and they took much longer to complete class exercises. While the opposite group’s score and reaction time went up. The truly interesting aspect was that both groups after the experiment had higher scores over all through out the rest of the year.

After Mrs. Elliot’s experiment the media caught wind about it and she was asked appear on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”. The general public expressed a negative opinion because how could she do such a cruel thing to “white children”. The backlash effected her family and bred some animosity from fellow teachers, but she had the support of the school administration and they allowed her paid leave for her to give presentations and workshops about her experiment. PBS even created a Frontline Special on her and her students, with footage of the experiment and follow up footage of the children several years later. By 1984 the demand for her presentation was so great she retired from teaching and became a full-time speaker. Today, she has given lectures all over the world including Saudi Arabia, The United Kingdom, and Australia while still working towards a more tolerant world.

Jane Elliott, Today

Resources for Helping to End Discrimination:

Do Something.org: A large volunteer site, with a section on fighting discrimination
Equality 101: A Blog for Teachers looking to education their students about ending prejudice
A Class Divided: Entire PBS Frontline special on Jane Elliot and her Experiment
Schools Populated with Minorities Are Among Nation’s Best High Schools: By US News and World Report

Mrs. Beeloff was my grammar and language arts teacher throughout seventh grade. She was an expert in her field, but this is not the reason she made such an impact. This woman was delightfully eccentric.

We listened to music, watched movies, listened to her ramblings about the ‘70’s and studied some very unusual poetry and literature that had other seventh grade students looking at their books like they were outdated toys.

I recall reading The Hobbit and getting my first exposure to Led Zeppelin one day when she played “Misty Mountain Hop”, drawing out all of the lyrical references to the book while simultaneously reliving her youth as an obvious hippie. At the time it was entertaining. Now, it is endearing and I look back on her quirkiness with respect.

Great teaching is more than having a firm grasp on your subject. It is about captivating and motivating your students. Keeping things interesting with some unusual personality does just that.

Thanks for being yourself, Mrs. Beeloff!

Without this accountability many children would not have any reason or way to improve every period. In much the same fashion, states are susceptible to similar scrutiny. The National Center for Educational Statistics keeps track of nationwide educational progress by analysis of many different data and statistics. Each year, they release the Nation’s Report Card, detailing performance of each states educational progress.

If the statistics show that a state has made little progress, they will have to face the music, just like you did when you were a kid. This past year’s report card shows level of change at both the 4^th grade and 8^th grade levels. It also includes both state and national levels of analysis.

The NCES tracks performance in art, civics, economics, mathematics, reading, science, U.S. history and writing. There are archives and long-term trend trackers as well.

For 2009, the top story from the report card was reading performance. Being the area of learning that has shown the most stagnant performance increase at theses grade levels, reading improvement was a key focus of the report. Though it improved at the 8^th grade level, the 4^th grade reading competency remained unchanged.

For information on your states performance or what policy makers intend to do to improve for the next report card day, visit the National Assessment for Education Progress’ Web site. The statistics are even broken down by demographic and language.