Journal #9-Teaching Green (NETS-T III, V)

Waters, J.K. (2011, April). Teaching Green. THE Journal, 38(4), 13-14.

This article is all about "Teaching Green", which basically means being green about learning about how to be green. Got it? Ever see one of those messages within a signature in an e-mail saying, "Think green, think before your print"? It helps. That's at work, and I'm an adult, so what it on the internet to help children grasp the understanding of "thinking green"? Teaching green, that's how.

Classroom Earth, A Walk in the Woods, EEK, The Ecological Footprint Quiz, Power Up, and the US EPA Teaching Center are just two of many on-line resources that help teachers teach kids how to "be green".

While Classroom Earth sounds interesting and helpful with it's "How to Teach about the Environment" page, what sounds like more fun to me (even as an adult), is A Walk in the Woods. A Walk in the Woods provides a nature experience for children who navigate through this page who may not have the option to actually walk through the woods. I'm talking about those children who live in busy cities who only experience foliage and agriculture through the Gardening Section at Home Deopt. The site can be listened to in both English and Spanish and can be made personal by providing a sort of "scrapbook" of what they encountered during their trip. So cool!

I've heard of The Ecological Footprints Quiz, but never took it. This article prompted me to do so. My Personal Footprint. Now, I'm not that proud of my footprint, but I'm doing better than most in our area. This is a great tool for teachers to use inside the classroom, to get children to realize that they do make a difference when they recycle, eat organically, turn off the electricity when they leave a room, etc. The biggest thing our children, and really our country, needs is for them to be present and aware of how they can effect the world.

Last, but not least, PowerUp is a game that shows children what the furture could be like if pollution overtakes the world. My only concern about this game is exactly that, it's a game. While a child may go to The Ecological Footprints Quiz and then PowerUp immediately after, the effect of the Quiz was just overpowered by how much fun PowerUp is and could be. This isn't a game, this is our world, and while we may be able to enjoy it now, our future generations may actually end up "playing". Dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmm!

:)

Questions:
1. What is one way a teacher of yours promoted "Being Green"?
I remember being in 4th grade, I believe, and my teaching talking to us about "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse" and asking us to recycle throughout the year. It's crazy how things become a habit and I wasn't even conscious of the fact that I was recycling that whole year in 4th grade. Children adapt.

2. Do teachers really need to use technology to teach about the eco-system?
Need? No. Should? Yes. Before you know it, children are going to surpass our understanding of technology. If we don't keep up, the children are going to become bored. It's not necessary to use technology, in a sense, but then again it is.