Module X ~ Life After "The Class"

Image from bing.com

First some revelations... then the the lesson!

About two weeks ago I was so excited after watching one of the TD videos I called my family over to the computer to watch it with me. After watching it I said, "Can you believe that?". My seven year old son replied, "Is that what you've been wasting all of our family time on?". So... not everybody gets it! My hope is that over time I can share with him some of the exciting, beautiful, alarming, and thought provoking information that I have had the privilege to learn over the last ten weeks!

During this time I was able to share with my family places that they have not seen. Through Google Earth I zoomed down onto the street view of the house where my father grew up, the ranch my father-law was raised on, and the front doors of relatives that live all over the world! This tool is illustrating the stories of our lives. It has given an image to grandchildren who have only heard about these places. I began to see my dad well up with tears as he shared with me the geography of a little town where he threw rocks from the bridge and kissed girls behind the corner. This is the is the value of learning, it unites old and new. It joins ideas, people, places and futures.

Thank you to Clay, and the rest of the members of the course who shared a little of their lives and experiences with the rest of us, it was a wonderful experience to be part of. I feel very lucky that I was chosen to be amongst such wonderful writers, teachers, and visionaries!



Image from WebEcoist ~ They are all pics of items created from discarded beer cans

The Lesson:
I am an art teacher. It was fun to share some science and contemporary climate issues in my class. I used the 1000 drops of water to start off the lesson with my eighth grade students. I said that they could work together for the quiz and then I polled them on their answers to number of drops in glaciers. The guesses were from 100 to 400. Before I gave the correct figures I asked them to reconsider their answers after I gave them the percentage of fresh water in the world. (2.8%) They were shocked to hear the results!

I used three TD videos with the purpose of giving visual images to the facts that I was presenting! I also wanted to bring the concept of global warming to a more tangible, local reality. I focused on the fact that changes that are happening here are effecting the rest of the world. They were amazed how much the water would raise if all of our glaciers melted and how much impact humans are having on our planet.

After a discussion of information that was just shared in our quiz and in the videos we talked about how we could help reduce pollution. The students came up with ideas like walking instead of using a car, turning off lights and electronics when not in use, and planting trees. I talked to the class about how we could illustrate these ideas through art.

I introduced an organization who is trying to use art to bring focus upon many current World issues. It is called the Hexagon Project. It encourages youth from all around the world to participate by creating art on a hexagon. The shapes are then all collected and placed together like a puzzle to signify a unified front to solve problems peacefully. It is worth checking out! My students loved creating art with a purpose!

I also did this same lesson with my colleagues. It was interesting to hear the varied opinions and view points about global warming and climate change. I have been sharing with them over the last 10 weeks about the time and energy I have been putting into the class. I was proud to share the information that I had learned with them.