The same premise of allowing feeling & intellect being intimately involved in the learning process for students, goes for educators. At the end of the day, as learners we need to be hooked. Surveying teachers' to understand how to meet them halfway can be a standing grounds to providing them with a transformational experience.
It may very well take financial resources as Jennifer said, that account for teachers' participating in programming that builds their awareness & interest, so they can break down their own fears and misconceptions.
It seems like folks in the area of non-formal EE could be a resource for school-based administrators attempting to be inclusive of providing professional development on EE. Seems like school administrators also need to be pulled in within a circle amongst their own, to become inspired. Real-life examples of models in their region would also speak loudest to making this commitment become real-life application!
I whole-heartedly agree & know from experience that Sobel and others that confirm that things need to start from the very place we inhabit is the way to go. Being in the city, has been the greatest teacher in this respect. Challenging but powerful. It's actually the reason I decided to do Merry Lea as opposed to venturing to the west coast (just yet), because this first part of my living has been connected to the great lakes/midwest.
This approach would personalize the context for educators as well, having to deal with their immediate surroundings -such as on school grounds -i.e. is there only lawns or gardens too?
Ruth Wilson, who speaks a lot about Childhood development and sense of place - "Places shape the stories of our lives. These stories become ongoing "ecological conversations"—i.e., expressions of the dialogue between ourselves and the environment (Lutts, 1985). When this conversation ends, so will our future.
ReplyDeleteThe development of healthy environmental awareness
and concern starts with a feeling response to nature. Such a response comes primarily by way of firsthand positive experiences in the out-of-doors, especially in environments fostering a "sense of place" experience.
Attention to creating a sense of place for young children can thus prove helpful in fostering a lifelong commitment to the natural environment. In designing "sense of place" play and learning spaces for young children, we are, indeed, designing the future as well."
Steven Kellert has an article about Sense of Place as well but he talks about the importance of writing things down and memory of what surrounds you.
from www.childrenandnature.org/uploads/Kellert_BuildingforLife.pdf
I dreamed I was in an elephant.
I dreamed I was stepped on by a giant chicken.
I dreamed I was dreaming.
I dreamed I had no brain.
I dreamed that my ears were bigger than me.
I dreamed that I had static hair forever.
I dreamed that I ate too much food.
I dreamed that when I sneezed it was a tornado.
I dreamed when I spit it was a great flood.
I dreamed that I flew to a different galaxy.
I dreamed that I was a brownie and I ate myself.
I dreamed I turned into a hockey puck and got a lot of concussions.
I dreamed I had to be cross-eyed forever.
I dreamed I finished my poem.
---Peter Weinberg, age 7