Action
(Variable and intermittent class time to implement Action plan; 2-4 classes to prepare Action tour; 1 class for the Action Tour)
During the Action phase, your students will begin implementing their school board approved proposal as well prepare and give a tour of the actions they have taken to a small group of invited guests. Your class will have successfully completed the Wild Treasures curriculum and can earn a District Sustainability Award if they can persuasively and creatively demonstrate to their Action guests that:
1) They have taken significant steps toward implementing their proposal, and
2) They can explain their actions by applying all of the ideas introduced to them during the Challenge Trail: waste, exponential growth, cycling, feedback loops and entropy.
Procedure for Implementing the Action Plan
During this part of the Action phase, students should work in groups of 2-3. Here are some ideas for how to proceed.
1. List on the board all of the actions the school board approved. With your students help, list next to each action what has to happen to realize each goal (making phone calls, ordering materials, building, etc.).
2. Tell students the date of the anticipated Action Tour.
3. Figure out who is going to do what, how and by when. Keep this information visible until all actions are completed.
4. Discuss as a whole class how you plan to support their efforts to implement their Action Plan.
5. Create opportunities for all the groups to check in with each other, to offer help and to coordinate their efforts.
6. While the Action Plan is being implemented, begin to prepare for the Action Tour.
Procedure for Preparing Action Tour
1. Explain to students that the purpose of the Action Tour is to convince invited guests that they have indeed begun to seriously implement their school board approved proposal.
2. Ask students whom they would like to invite to their Action Tour. Their guests should at least include the chair of the school board, superintendent of schools, principal and a local state representative.
3. Ask students to work in groups of 2-3 to design a 1-class period Action Tour. Encourage them to imagine the sequence, length, and props they will need for each part of their tour. If an action doesn’t necessarily have an observable component, ask them to create something that will help the guests imagine it.
4. Have pairs join up with another pair to integrate the best parts of each of their Action Tour.
5. Have one member from each group write their tour on the board. Use these as a reference for deciding as a class on the best Action Tour.
6. Decide on what needs to be done, by whom and by when. Try to involve everyone with some component of the tour.
7. Provide in-class time to create props to support the tour.
8. Encourage those students who will be speaking during the tour to speak loudly, clearly and without notes.
9. Invite parents and other teachers to a dress rehearsal. Encourage the folks to ask questions of clarification, play devil’s advocate and ask students to explain what their actions have to do with sustainability.
Sustainability Awards
Many states, including Vermont and New Hampshire, offer Sustainability Awards for excellent projects such as the one your students are working on. Consider contacting your local representative or search online for how to apply or be recognized.
Closing Remarks
Wild Treasures: Sustainability, Naturally is searching for teachers who value real problem solving, real rewards, real decision-making and consequences, original scientific research, real community involvement and active civic participation rooted in rational processes.
These are only some of the attributes that inspired Brattleboro’s Karen DiIorio-Bowen of Oak Grove Elementary School to assert, “Wild Treasures provided the structure and support that nurtured the growth of my students’ abilities to learn, take notice, care and articulate a plan. It was an amazing experience for my students and our school.”
Credits
“Wild Treasures: Sustainability, Naturally” is designed by Jimmy Karlan, Ed.D. Academic Director and Director of the Teacher Certification Programs of the Masters Program in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH. [email protected]. All Antioch Wild Treasures’ curriculum are available on-line for free at http://www.antiochne.edu/wildtreasures.html