Edutopia

Both of the vodcast that I watched were brought to me by Edutopia which is a wonderful resource for all teachers to have. Please click on the above hyperlink and bookmark it as one of your favorites. There are tons of great ideas and it is a great way to be in the know.

The Edible Schoolyard

The first vodcast I watched was "The Edible Schoolyard" and it actually has inspired me. Alice Water is the brain child behind "The Edible Schoolyard" and said that it was initially started to better the food quality in schools. This video was about an outside classroom dealing with gardening and cooking. In this school the first part of the year is spent outside working on their classroom garden. They would plant, harvest as well as eat from their garden. It was a great example of integrating various studies. Following is not the same vodcast that I viewed but it is dealing with the same school and children:



I found this to be a wonderful way to integrate social studies, math, science and general life lessons. These students learned the basics of ecology within this class, as well as teamwork and how to build a community. One of the teachers mentions that she felt this type of education was a sign of the times. In other words, children are not learning these simple values such as how to cook, set the table and work together as a community. I feel that one of the best things about this type of learning is that the students have fun! They do not realize that they are learning so many valuable tools to help better themselves in the future. They have a sense of ownership of their garden and are willing to work it whenever they can.

A Night in the Global Village

The second vodcast I watched was entitled "A Night in the Global Village." This one was about a school in California that focused on expeditionary learning. In other words these students would be assigned numbers and where later split up into "families" along with one adult chaperon. Each family would then live in structures that were built to represent various poverty stricken areas from around the world. There was even one refugee camp that were given no supplies and where not allowed to speak English or any language that would be understandable to any of the other villages.

In addition to that a member from each family was automatically made pregnant and an additional family member had the loss of one arm. Throughout the evening these families were to work together to get supplies needed to survive through the night. Since on one family was given all the supplies needed they would have to barter amongst one another to make this a success. At the end of the 24 hours the students were brought back together to have a reflection of the events from the night prior. During this reflection time students discussed how they felt, what they could do to help the hungry and even acted out some of the events from the night previous night.

Following is a brief video based on this vodcast:



I found this to be a wonderfully beneficial program. I feel that children are must more receptible to new ideas and change. So, what a great way to enable them with new ideas and hope for changing the future. If you are interested in learning more about this school please click on this link: Heifer Ranch and see what other ways you can help.