Winter 2011 Edition of Community Works Journal

Posted by on January 10, 2011

The Winter 2011 Edition of Community Works Journal is now available on line, available to educators at no cost.

As always you will find a wealth of ideas, information, and resources through the writing and reflections of our educator contributors.

From Baltimore to Los Angeles, the ideals of service-learning, education for sustainability, and place based education resonate through the articles and essays featured in Community Works Journal. As you read these inspiring stories consider your own place and efforts and think about submitting an article of your own. Feel free to contact us if you would like assistance in framing a reflective piece that showcases work in your community. (Submission guidelines are available on our web site)
GO TO: http://www.communityworksjournal.org

FEATURED ARTICLES INCLUDE

• Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Food Activism at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
By ANDREW WOLF
I walked into my first food justice class in New York City last year. After writing “food justice” on the board, I waited for the class to arrive. As the students made their way into the room, it didn’t seem like many of them were taking notice of either the visitor (me) or the chalkboard. I was introduced by the students’ advisory teacher, Luz. A little nervous about getting the students interested in how food gets to our tables, I began by telling the class who I was and asking a starter question. “Who here knows what food justice is?” I asked.

• The Park That Kids Built
By LINDA JASSIM
In 1982 I came across a story in the Los Angeles Times that intrigued me. As a documentary filmmaker I was always on the lookout for a meaningful story that could effect change in people’s lives.  This one was compelling. It was about a group of 5th and 6th graders who lived in an impoverished South Los Angeles neighborhood and their two green and idealistic teachers who thought they could change their world.

• EVENTS—PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In partnership with Shelburne Farms, Community Works Institute is pleased to announce a series of unique professional development events for 2011. Among the events being offered are CWI’s Institute on Service-Learning and Shelburne Farm’s Education for Sustainability Institute. All events are appropriate for K-16 educators administrators, and community organization educators and staff members.

• The Sometimes Surprising Possibility of Place: From White Oaks to Streetcars
By SARAH ANDERSON
I was on the lookout for a location where I could use my place-based training. It would be a place that captured the imagination—an urban pond that hid painted turtles like tiny jewels, a block of historic houses full of ghosts and legends or a public space that served as a gathering ground for the elderly or recent immigrants. But my new school sat in the middle of a neighborhood which has few apparent links to the past—most of the buildings were torn down mid-century to make way for a new highway, condos, office building and warehouses.

• Something to Smile About
By DR. MARY LASHLEY
“I came in as an emergency patient from the Helping Up Mission for a tooth pain. I had been taking antibiotics (3) three times this year for the problem but it kept resurfacing. Your students explained that since the tooth was infected inside the antibiotic was only a temporary relief never fixing the problem.  Knowing that I have not been at the…Mission very long, I knew that the only thing that the school was going to do was yank the tooth out.

• Digging Deeper: Charting a Path to Change Through Service-Learning and Sustainability
By RICK COTA
The experiences of an educator from Mississippi gave me unique perspective that I would not otherwise have ever had an opportunity for. Another educator from Hawaii gave me insight on the challenges that one has on an island paradise…that I later found out were the same as I had in California. What the Institute did for me was allow me the opportunity to share with individuals from different parts of the United States and abroad and realize that we all had unique experiences that we could all relate to.