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These look fabulous - I want to take them all!  These sound like what I envisioned when thinking about an advanced curriculum in lieu of APs - in depth exploration of a topic with ties to the current state of the world through a variety of means, with a focus on projects and reflection.  Powerful!

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These look fabulous - I want to take them all!  These sound like what I envisioned when thinking about an advanced curriculum in lieu of APs - in depth exploration of a topic with ties to the current state of the world through a variety of means, with a focus on projects and reflection.  Powerful!

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Terrific curriculum!

Will we be able to hear the podcasts?

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Wonderful ideas!

Which native people can lay claim to Emma’s property?

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Great course! Love the connection with the local community in Hoosick Falls.

What will the students include in a case study?

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Thanks so much for sharing your excellent work!

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Example of a Student's Slideshow on the Decision to Intervene in Iraq

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Example of a Student's Slideshow on the Decision to Intervene in Iraq

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Example of the "Explanatory Statement" component of an interview project 

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Example of the "Explanatory Statement" component of an interview project 

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Course Overview (outline of topics and assessments)

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Course Overview (outline of topics and assessments)

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More Detailed Planning Guide (definitely a work in progress, but has more information on specific assignments and pacing, essential questions and learning objectives, and assessments)

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More Detailed Planning Guide (definitely a work in progress, but has more information on specific assignments and pacing, essential questions and learning objectives, and assessments)

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Course Syllabus (mostly generic comments re: how to be an active student, take good notes, etc., plus info on grading breakdown)

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Course Syllabus (mostly generic comments re: how to be an active student, take good notes, etc., plus info on grading breakdown)

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Here is the basic course syllabus I shared with students. My own instructor plan is evolving, and I can share it individually with anyone interested.

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Unit 1: Summer Reading and Definitions of "Environmental Imagination" and "Environmental Justice"

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Unit 1: Summer Reading and Definitions of "Environmental Imagination" and "Environmental Justice"

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Over the summer, students had the choice of reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and The Teachings of Plants; Richard Powers's The Overstory; or Elizabeth Rush's Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore. We spent the first couple of weeks engaged in student-led conversations about these books and together generated definitions of "environmental justice" and "environmental imagination." We also talked about the practice of land acknowledgments and read Emily Raboteau's beautiful essay "Lessons in Survival," about organized retreat and climate migration. Students have been invited to a free live Zoom event on October 8th featuring two of the summer reading authors.

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Live from your home!

You're invited to the first ever virtual Book Lovers Ball

Join publisher Milkweed Editions and readers around the world for a hopeful and inspiring event celebrating writers and the power of books in our lives!

Featuring authors from across America including special guest Robin Wall Kimmerer

Join us at the Book Lovers Ball to celebrate the legacy of Robin's transformative book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Other featured writers to be revealed between now and the event. Register to be the first to receive news of the full lineup.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, the virtual Book Lovers Ball is free to attend!

As you're able, please consider adding a donation to your registration. Donations to Milkweed Editions support writers and their powerful books.

Donate $65 or more to also get a copy of the new special edition of Braiding Sweetgrass!
Donate $25 or more to attend a live Q&A with Robin Wall Kimmerer!

Register for free! Add a donation to support writers and their books!

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Live from your home! You're invited to the first ever virtual Book Lovers Ball Join publisher Milkweed Editions and readers around the world for a hopeful and inspiring event celebrating writers and the power of books in our lives!

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Unit 2: Reading Thoreau in the Anthropocene

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Unit 2: Reading Thoreau in the Anthropocene

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We are right now considering whether classical environmental literature such as Walden is still relevant in the Age of the Anthropocene. To answer this question, our group is collectively reading and annotating Walden and "Civil Disobedience" on the Readers' Thoreau site. As we read, students are also playing the Walden game (I got free educational licenses for all of them) and working on their own Walden-inspired projects. They will be writing a series of five short pieces about living in 2020, related in some fashion to Walden (they can write in any genre they like about their shelters, plants around them, their food, materialism, industrial capitalism, the legacy of enslavement, whatever!), and presenting these written pieces in an anthology form along with an introduction and analytical essay about Walden.

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Posted in: Emma Willard Nature Writing and Beyond In reply to Anna Diefendorf. You draw attention to an important line! I don't always think of Thoreau as valuing tenderness and delicate handling, but as you say, that is exactly what he shows reverence for here.

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Unit 3: Environmental Justice Case Studies

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Unit 3: Environmental Justice Case Studies

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When we get to Unit 3, we will spend time learning about a couple EJ case studies together, such as the Flint water crisis, which was recently chronicled in Anna Clark's book The Poisoned City,  and Hurricane Katrina, about which an excellent podcast called "Floodlines" was just made. Then the students will break off to do their own research about a case study that interests them and create a presentation about one. I am also arranging to have three guest speakers who work on Hudson Valley/Capital District EJ issues related to drinking water and PCBs stream into our classroom. I plan also to introduce students to organizations like WEACT (see below).

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WE ACT for Environmental Justice has launched a series of free online learning modules for children in grades 4 -12. Based on our successful Environmental Health and Justice Leading Training program, these mini lessons provide students - and their parents - with an introduction to the basic concepts of environmental health and environmental justice.
Mini Lesson: Environmental Justice
Download the presentation and worksheet and then watch the video below. And please take this survey to give us feedback on the module.
Mini-Lesson: Environmental Health
Download the presentation and worksheet and then watch the video below.

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Mini-Modules - WE ACT for Environmental Justice

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WE ACT for Environmental Justice has launched a series of free online learning modules for children in grades 4 -12. Based on our successful Environmental Health and Justice Leading Training program, these mini lessons provide students - and their parents - with an introduction to the basic concepts of environmental health and environmental justice.

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As their "final" in the course, students will complete an advocacy project. For the project, they will dig deeper into an issue covered in the class (e.g. lead contamination in water) or explore a related topic (e.g. pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water). Through a series of activities (read: choice board), students will take on the work of being an advocate for that cause. A rough draft of the project is linked below.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Students explored news articles within the past 5 years about water quality. These articles were collected on a Wakelet page. Students were asked to read 3 other articles and summarize their learning as a homework assignment. Students used this work as a launch for a KWL chart that informed the direction of class.

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In our final unit, students will read Hope Jahren's The Story of More and consider how we might best tell the story of climate change. I recently volunteered to be a "Climate Ambassador" at the Climate Stories Project, and I am planning to invite the leader of the project, Jason Davis, to our class and help students feel empowered to interview folks around them about their climate stories. The final project will be an advocacy-based project that allows students to research an effect of climate change and use their research to inform a work of advocacy.

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Please apply for our Fall 2023 Climate Stories Ambassador training series, starting Wednesday, September 27 at noon Eastern Time. Applications will close Monday, September 18.

Are you excited about becoming an ambassador for climate storytelling in your community? Join Climate Stories Project and participants from around the world for a 3-part training series to learn about climate storytelling, develop interview skills, and record and share climate stories.

As a Climate Stories Ambassador you will:

Craft and share your own climate story

Receive training and guidance to conduct climate story interviews​

Connect with other Climate Story Ambassadors from around the world

Learn valuable environmental communication skills

Promote an inclusive and effective movement to confront the climate crisis​

A climate story by Climate Stories Ambassador Ken Pitts of Portland, Oregon.

​As an Ambassador, you'll record 1-3 climate story interviews with people in your own community during a 3-month time span. Following the initial online training, you'll take part in two additional online meetings to discuss your progress with other Ambassadors and learn from each other about using climate storytelling to promote an effective response to the climate crisis.

Participation is free and open to all. Ambassadors who submit their own story and at least one interview will receive a certificate of completion of the Climate Stories Ambassadors program.

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Climate Stories Project - personal stories about climate change