Wachstumshormone

“Lessons for Teaching in the Environment and Community” is a regular series that explores how teachers can gain the confidence to go into the world outside of their classrooms for a substantial piece of their curricula.

Part 9: Digging Through the Brambles

by Jim Martin, CLEARING guest writer

vacantlot2At last writing, I’d decided to explore a place outside for the curricular content which was embedded in it. I planned to do a natural science inquiry, and decided to also look for social studies and creative writing curricula units there based on an area near a dog walk. The area is fenced off from the dog walk, and has entrances to several animal runs along its edge. At its outer edge, this undisturbed area ends at a sharp precipice on the edge of a working quarry. Now, my job is to turn this place into a lesson that will release and exploit the curricula embedded within it.

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jimphotocroppedThis is the ninth installment of “Teaching in the Environment,” a new, regular feature by CLEARING “master teacher” Jim Martin that explores how environmental educators can help classroom teachers get away from the pressure to teach to the standardized tests,  and how teachers can gain the confidence to go into the world outside of their classrooms for a substantial piece of their curricula. See the other installments here.