Rethinking Schools: Teaching for Environmental Justice

Posted by on June 22, 2009

Volume 23 No. 4 – Summer 2009 – Teaching for Environmental Justice

It’s no exaggeration to say that how educators of conscience respond to the global ecological emergency will echo through the ages. The summer issue of Rethinking Schools magazine features a collection of articles on teaching for environmental justice. Articles in this important collection include “The Big One,” by Bill Bigelow; “A Pedagogy for Ecology,” by Ann Pelo; “The Wonder of Nature,” by Bob Peterson; “Rethinking Lunchtime,” by Michael K. Stone; and “Educating Heather,” by Lauren G. McClanahan.

Online, we feature “The Big One,” by Bill Bigelow.

Bigelow, Rethinking Schools’ curriculum editor, argues that that our rapidly warming earth—especially at the poles—is a civilization-threatening issue, and requires an urgent cross-curricular approach in schools—that no one discipline ‘owns’ the environment.

Working with fellow Portland educator Tim Swinehart, Bigelow wanted students to probe beyond the “buy green” solutions to global warming and find who is most vulnerable to our rapidly changing environment. The article includes free curriculum resources that are available for download.

Also in this issue:

“Connected to the Community,” by Marianne Smith and Jan Osborn
Although Chapman University’s I-Teach program is defunct, Smith and Osborn believe the program they helped develop and oversee provides enduring lessons on educating teachers committed to working in high-need schools. This is another in a series of Ford Foundation-supported articles on retaining and nurturing teachers.

“An Open Letter to Arne Duncan,” by Herb Kohl
In his “Good Stuff” column, Kohl, a National Book Award winner, warns Education Secretary Arne Duncan that in the zeal to produce measurable learning outcomes, “we have lost sight of the essential motivations to learn that moved my students.”

“Teaching for Joy and Justice,” by Linda Christensen An excerpt from Christensen’s new book, Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-imagining the Language Arts Classroom.

“Bait and Switch,” by Barbara Miner
Voucher advocates are fast-talking their way around a new report that cast doubts on the value of the program.

“Obama, Schools, and the Environment,” an editorial from Rethinking Schools
More than ever, it’s time that social justice educators renew our commitment to develop a curriculum that addresses the central issues of our time. We need to “green” the schools in every imaginable way.

And this isn’t half of what’s contained in the summer issue. Indeed, your summer reading list is incomplete if it doesn’t include a copy of Rethinking Schools.

Visit http://www.rethinkingschools.org or call 1-800-669-4192. You can also download a PDF of the full issue for $4.95. Or subscribe online to Rethinking Schools for just $17.95 for one year or $29.95 for two years and receive a free PDF of the current issue as a gift. (This free PDF is a special bonus for online credit card subscription orders only.)

As a special summer bonus: we’ll give you $5 off any two-year subscription to Rethinking Schools—a great gift for a teacher or a teacher-to-be. Just go to the subscription order page and enter the special code 5SJ2F9.

Rethinking Schools, edited by current and former classroom teachers, is a national quarterly magazine that advocates education reform in elementary and secondary public schools.