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Nov

23

Lessons for teaching in the environment and community

Filed Under Activities, Environmental Education, Environmental Literacy, Jim Martin, Place-based Education, Schoolyard Classroom 

“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 4: Inquiry

An Introduction to the World of Discovery….
by Jim Martin, CLEARING guest writer

“We carry with us the wonders we seek without us. There is all
Africa and her prodigies in us; we are that bold and adventurous
part of Nature, which he that studies widely learns in a compendium
what others labor at in a divided piece and endless volume.”

- Sir Thomas Browne
Religio Medici

We are, indeed, the wonders that we seek. To discover them, we must look deep within ourselves, to that part which can reach out to the world and comprehend it. Then release ourselves to know.
scatonrcOdd, that we must release what’s within us to know what is outside. Traveling within is a process, best taken a step at a time. Enough steps taken, and your teaching will change.

The change flows from a tack in perspective, a paradigm shift, if you will, that presents you with a new, very functional and accessible view of teaching: what it ought to be, what it can be. But, like discovering your inner self, you don’t get there by hearing about it; you have to make the journey yourself.

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This is the fourth installment of “Teaching in the Environment,” a new, regular feature by CLEARING “master teacher” Jim Martin that will explore 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.

Comments

One Response to “Lessons for teaching in the environment and community”

  1. Kevin Faulkner on November 23rd, 2011 1:58 pm

    Great to see Browne’s full statement quoted for once, complete with its advocacy of self-analysis and sly humour of others labouring at an endless and divided volume. A bit like my playing ‘whack-a-mole’ correcting misquotes and mis-attributes by Browne which are endlessly posted on the web. Top marks !

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