1. M ISS W ARD ’ S C LASSROOM IN 2014 Striving for Sustainability

2. M Y S TUDENTS Innovative Inquiry based learners Ask a lot of questions Determined Challenging, both to me and themselves Passionate Independent Push me outside the box

3. E NVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Climate change and irreversible effects Pollution and litter Political awareness and action Farming/Agriculture Personal/ Internal environment Deforestation Habitat loss War Over population

4. D EALING WITH E NVIRONMENTAL I SSUES I am having my students keep journals about issues discussed in class as well as things they get from outside the class Once a week we have a round up where students get to share their thoughts, research, actions, etc. from their journals The pets and class gardens provide many opportunities for environmental discussions As a class, we are partaking in a our own action research plan, as well as helping our school reach its goal of accomplishing one major green activity a month My students do buddy days with younger students to help educate them on the issues we’ve been learning about in class I am using the resources that I’ve gathered from many classes at university to help me and the students cover content and think critically about the issues we’re facing

5. My classroom has animals and plants in it to aid in the students learning I think its important to allow animals in the classroom because it allows for a whole different type of learning to occur I would try to have things that the students wouldn’t necessarily have at home, like a snake, turtle or lizard As you can see, we have a turtle right now Pets

6. G ARDENS I have gardens for my students and have them plant, harvest and care for them This will teach them important skills as well as give them information they can take home or use in the future

7. C ROSS C URRICULAR I will be incorporating environmental education into all my classes and using the environmental education framework that has been implemented from the final draft created by ESCI 302 fall 2009 Cross curricular content is a major factor in my lessons and the way I teach Its important to make connections so that your students don’t feel a disconnect between classes which leads them to distinguish between which is ‘more important’

8. P HILOSOPHIES I’ve spent the last four years really developing and evolving my teaching philosophies. My students are still my number one priority and I make sure I’m doing everything I can for them I have driven environmental education into my main ideas about teaching and I believe that it should be present in everything I am teaching Reflection is an important part of my day and I feel that as an educator, I have the responsibility to reflect on my actions as well as the students reactions in order to continually make my classroom a better place My philosophies are constantly changing and evolving but the underlying importance of the environment and my students success are always my starting points

9. H OW I FEEL A BOUT MY C LASS I’m constantly looking for new resources and ideas to use I think I’ve come a long way as a teacher, even in the short 4 years I’ve been here Its been a wonderful journey and the most rewarding thing is seeing my students succeed and develop passion for issues that are facing our world today I think my students are some of the smartest and most enthusiastic They really pick up on my energy and I feed off theirs\ They teach me things I had never hoped to know