This being a Youth Forum changed the make up of the teachers who attended the PD session. These were teachers (of students from grade 2-8) who were highly motivated and already working on eco teams and with colleagues and students. I followed a similar format to that of the Youth Forum we did in Milton for the morning session.
We began the day with our circle up activity outdoors. We discovered that collectively we had over 250 years of experience in the group. This suggestion, of counting the years of experience that the group brings, supports the idea that the wisdom shared during the day will be that of the collective group. (Thanks Pamela for this idea.) I introduced the work of Zoe Weil and the idea of "educating a generation of solutionaries". Here is a link to Zoe's blog and her video called You Are What You Teach.
I kept the same provocation as we previously used but followed up with a discussion of the new CC provocation (one personal action in response to CC, one personal action that contributes to CC, what keeps you up at night). Then, I showed Arjun Wal's video. This led into the KBC where the discussion moved from what teachers are doing to teach about CC in the curriculum presently to what it takes to ignite change in your school (colleagues, administration and custodial staff). After the KBC the group decided to stay in the circle formation for the rest of the time (thanks again to Pamela for this suggestion).
I also wanted to expand the idea of the 21st century learner to incorporate the Modern Learner (from Peel). I searched the HPEDSB's website to find that they too have mandate to educate the "Globally-Minded Learner and Leader". We used this idea to get into the transformational practices of teaching and learning. Because they all knew the [impossibly cluttered] graphic they could relate some of the ways and situations where moving to a more transformational practice was appropriate for their individual situations. We watched the Felix Finkbeiner video to see these ideas in action.
This led us into the DOTS document. I had each group (they grouped themselves by school first, then by division) summarize on the chalkboard, one of the DOTS strategies and to present this to the group (similar to what we did in Grismby with Ellen). They found the DOTS document to be very help and the examples very concrete. This group, being mainly junior teachers (one grade 2, one grade 3, about 12 teachers of grades 5/6 and 2 grade 7/8) were very concrete; however they seemed more willing to learn (from each other, from their students, and from their colleagues). There was little academic talk or thinking, they were more practical (not shallow but practical) than deep thinkers. Many made reference to other workshops that they've attended - the one that sounded the most interesting was on critical thinking. Sorry I didn't get more information about this workshop.
The exit card at lunch gave me direction for the afternoon. They loved the R4R demo and after another short outdoor activity we explored a sample activity from Green Teacher's new document (coming out later this month) called Climate Change for Kids. (The activity I shared was called "Weathering Climate Change Confusion.) This was the impetus for a conversation on entry points into teaching 'climate change'. I also shared Paul Hawken's top 10 most effective responses to turn around climate change from Drawdown (the first 2.25 minutes of this video) and this led us into a discussion on HOPE.
I actually ran out of time as we rushed to split into 3 groups. One group explored R4R, another gave input into community partners and the third group worked in their eco teams to plan next steps. 2:30 comes quickly after lunch... after the survey they had to rush off. I actually didn't even get to do a closing activity, which I regretted.
I would like to see someone do the concept mapping and now, I'd like to see Ellen's graffiti board. I have not planned a follow up with this group and am not sure I was supposed to do that. I was inspired when I saw the follow up from the Guelph high school institute that Stan ran.
The teachers seemed happy, the evaluations were positive... I think I could have done more in hindsight...
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