Educators of kindergarten to Grade 12 were immersed in the project-experience, shared ideas, and learned from veteran EE and project-based learning educators including Paul Tweed, Jeff Hadorn, and Liz Seubert (Wildlands), Sandy Vandervelden and Joann Engel (Fox River Academy) and myself (formerly, River Crossing Environmental Charter School).

Many teachers may ask, “How can you think about environment-based projects when we are being tested in reading and math?” The answers these educators discovered was: “Not only, can we do environment-based projects, we can also engage students in critical thinking and problem solving and raise reading and math achievement at the same time!”

Environmental education is not new; in fact it has been mandated as a part of K-12 curriculum in the state since 1990. Many schools integrate EE into science and other curricula areas. The model of using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning ™ was first trade-marked by the State Education and Environment Roundtable in 1997 (http://www.seer.org/). Today, however, “green” charter schools in Wisconsin are leaders of the pack in the environmental project-based learning model where students are designing and implementing projects in the outdoors, educators are facilitating rather than lecturing, and an emphasis on 21st Century Skills is found throughout the educational program.

I left the institute on Thursday morning with the feeling that environmental literacy in our state was achievable, knowing that these 25 dedicated educators represented just a fraction of the educators in the state striving for environmental literacy! I look forward to the student success stories that will emerge from these incredible efforts.

This fall we will be embarking on many new adventures to help achieve environmental literacy. Please stay tuned, keep in touch, keep providing feedback, and keep up your good work! Please don’t hesitate to call on me to support your efforts in EE!

Victoria Rydberg
Environmental Education Consultant
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608-266-0419
victoria.rydberg@dpi.wi.gov
http://www.dpi.wi.gov/cal/environmental-ed.html

Good Oak
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue.
To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the week end in town astride a radiator.
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

This is a favorite passage of students at River Crossing. One reason is mainly that a lot of their projects encompass this chapter. As Victoria Rydberg states, “the students write their autobiography in reverse chronological order, like they were cutting through the rings of the tree.” Another reason is that they learn about the tree anatomy and the types of tissue, and experience first hand cutting and splitting of their own good oak. Not only do these students learn the environmental history of Wisconsin, but embrace the land ethic as described so clearly by Aldo Leopold in the Sand County Almanac. “The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” “In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.” As Leopold would put it, these students are “Thinking Like a Mountain”. The students are learning first hand their role in nature and their responsibilities to respect the natural involvement of land.

Educators at the Institute had the pleasure to meet and listen to Marybeth Lorbiecki, author of “Aldo Leopold – A fierce green fire”. This biography tells the life story of Aldo Leopold and his story on the conservation of land use. The environmental projects that students engage allow the students to learn first hand about nature and themselves conserve the land. Another author, Greg Summers, spoke at the Institute not on “Thinking Like a Mountain” as Leopold would state, but “Thinking Like a Home Owner”. Summers uses the house as a metaphor. He wants people to consider nature in terms of a home, by going room to room and finding the connection of the resources brought into the home and where they originate. The goal is for homeowners to recognize what resources are used for the heating of their house, water coming from the faucet and electricity running their appliances. As homeowners recognize these resources as the comfort of nature, they can begin to help sustain these resources.

As described in the evening activities and speakers, the Environmental Project Based Learning Institute provided so much more than projects for teachers to bring into their classrooms. It provided a network of resources to everyone that will continue to grow. It brought a better understanding on how to incorporate the natural world not only into the student projects, but also across the curriculum and to the school as a whole. A teacher also mentioned once that project-based learning is based on relationships; the relationship between the teacher and student; the relationship between the student and parent; and the relationship between the teacher and parent. Environmental project based learning takes it a step further with the relationship of all these people and nature.

The Institute did not stop with only the 22 hours of learning during the day. Evening events took place every day as teachers participated in archery, bat monitoring and visiting the observatory. After dinner on the first evening everyone gathered to experience archery first hand. Fox River Academy brought their archery equipment and Sandy Vander Velden, certified to teach archery, guided everyone through the safety of archery. The feeling is incredible to place the arrow on the bow, pull back your arm (remember to keep your elbow up and use your shoulder) and watch as the arrow sails through the air and hits the bulls eye. O.K. in my case some arrows may have hit the board behind the target, but it was a great experience never the less. As dusk fell on the campsite, the gathering continued at the campfire. Not being a girl scout myself, I was a little hesitant in my ability to start the fire. Luckily others had more experience and gathered the twigs and placed one piece of paper under the twigs. “It will only take one match”, insisted one of the teachers. In my past camping experiences one match was never enough, but I was willing to try. I lit the match and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it did take only one match. As we stoked the fire, a whippoorwill called to us to announce its presence. The evening ended with everyone recounting his or her first teaching experience. The dedication of these teachers never ceases to amaze me.

The second night allowed for everyone to participate in hands on acoustic bat monitoring. Volunteers survey the bats and the ultrasound calls through a hand held system that records the bat calls. Combined with a global positioning system (GPS) and personal data assistant (PDA) volunteers capture bat calls in real time. The final night allowed for observation of the night sky at Hobbs observatory. Unfortunately, it was a little foggy, so we did not see any passing comets, but did glance at an amazing view of the moon. Each person took his or her turn at the telescope waiting for the clouds to pass and I wish I recorded the excitement in each person’s voice as the clouds slowly shifted and the moon came into view. The ‘wows’ echoed in the observatory. You can see here my view of the moon, as I was able to capture it through my camera. As I learned that night the telescope and digital camera are both afocal, allowing for images from the telescope to be recorded on a very simple digital camera.

The Environmental Project Based Learning Institute became more than a place to learn about projects for students. As I asked one high school teacher what brought him to the Institute, he responded that at first he only wanted to become familiar with Project Based Learning (PBL). However, he has changed his goal and would like to see how he can fit PBL into his high school as a whole. The key is to bring these ideas to the teachers not attending the institute, and find a way to incorporate PBL into the professional development and use different ways to evaluate students. The final outcome for him at the Institute was designing the course for a nine week Green class. The course will include for these students group work (such as rodent tracking), then teacher directed time on using GPS and service learning with a final individual directed project. Another middle school teacher was looking for further ways to use the resources that surrounds the school. The school has a school forest, water test kit, land fill and rock sites. The goal is to find projects to engage students in these resources. One school was also looking into community involvement with project-based learning. They want to provide students with service learning and a hands-on cross-curriculum learning style. Teachers walked away with a framework to infuse a small project and integrate it across curriculum.

The teachers that attended the Institute are not all teaching in charter schools. There were many teachers from schools searching for a chance to meet others and gather ideas to bring into their own classrooms. This is a primary goal of charter schools. Charter schools focus on the areas of critical thinking, creativity, and innovation, and serve as a “testing ground” for new curriculums and teacher methods. These methods are modified and developed into successful models that are then rolled out to non-charter public schools. This Institute served as a good example of three different charter schools (one elementary -Fox River Academy in Appleton, one middle school –River Crossing in Portage and one high school –Wildlands in Augusta) sharing their experience of project based learning and allowing other schools (charter and non-charter) to use these projects within their own school.

One main focus I took back from the Institute was that project based learning created a method of excitement and enthusiasm for the students. As Jeff Nania stated, a volunteer at River Crossing and retired Executive Director from Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, “There’s a rock skipping, frog catching heart inside very child. Teachers are the ones that make this come alive”. Students look for meaningfulness in science. They are not looking for busywork, but a place where what they do and learn makes a difference in their community. The Institute was a great experience because everyone wanted to be there and everyone wanted to learn.

Come back tomorrow for the final installment of the Environmental Project Based Learning Institute

I had the privilege of joining educators from Minnesota and Wisconsin on a four day Environmental Project Based Learning Institute. Not being an educator myself I enjoy spending time and embracing the thoughts and expertise of teachers. Teachers encourage our children to explore their own thoughts and build upon the knowledge surrounding their everyday lives. As true educators themselves, those attending the four-day institute came to expand their own knowledge and add to the curriculum already taught in their own school. The Institute provides a resource to educators looking for strategies to incorporate the natural world into student projects and develop project based learning management skills. It was a time for all to become a student again and experience project based learning first hand. As the underlying theme expressed, the Institute allows for “No Teachers Left Inside.”

Hosted by Wildlands School, the Institute took place at the well-maintained Beaver Creek Reserve in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. The temperature dropped from the previous week to a pleasant 75° F. Although the humidity was kept at bay the mosquitoes were out in full force. However, everyone was well prepared with plenty of bug spray and good spirits. How could anyone resist a location where birdcalls welcomed guests to their home. One teacher was fortunate enough to have a bald eagle fly by the side of her car and direct her toward the reserve. A doe in the brush greeted another teacher as he set up camp.

The first afternoon entailed the technicalities and summary of the Institute. It was a time to introduce the instructors and familiarize attendees with project based learning and to find out specifically what they hoped to gain by the end of the four days. Some came knowing the meaning of project based learning and others hoped to understand the concept better and how to apply it with their students. Wildlands defines project learning as based on a constructivist model of learning that engages students in real-world scholarly activity. Students create meaning by designing and completing a project that ultimately benefits the community. The High School group and host of the Institute was led by Paul Tweeds and Liz Seubert.

The middle school group, led by teachers Victoria Rydberg (River Crossing) and Jeff Hadorn (Wildlands) jumped right into a project on Tuesday with the Great Lakes Worm Watch. After listening to an explanation of the project and gathering equipment needed, the groups divided into threes and headed outside for worm extraction. I was asked to close my eyes and put my finger on a map of the reserve. Agreeable or not, we headed off to the Savanna area based on my random map location. With bug spray in tow, we arrived a short distance to the well preserved Savanna area of the reserve. Each group dropped a wood frame (1/9 of a square meter) onto a lush duff area (a layer of decomposed leaves, needles, fine twigs, and other organic material found on the forest soil). Each group started the search for earthworms at this location. I did not participate in the actual extraction of earthworms, but watched as groups dug through the duff to find worms. To allow further worms to rise to the surface, groups poured a mixed solution of 1/3 mustard powder and a gallon of water in the wooden square. As the earthworms squirmed to the surface, forceps and fingers were on hand to put them into a container of isopropyl alcohol. By the time everyone arrived back at the lab, the worms would be ready for identification and study under a microscope. As worms were gathered, others used the GPS to gather longitude and latitude, and used the kestrel (a technical weather hawk) for recording of temperature. These results would be used for nature mapping to create a baseline for the location of worms. Since earthworms are not native to the Great Lakes region, this project is one of many educational projects available for students to learn first hand about the land around them and how it changes based on invasive species.

As the middle school group explored earthworms, the elementary group, led by Sandy Vander Velden and Joann Engel (Fox River Academy), studied watersheds (an area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place). All living things are linked to this common water source and obtaining water samples allows for a better understanding of the water source. The elementary group found the PH of the Eau Claire River (6.5 – acidic), turbidity (clarity – clear) and velocity (timed the floatation of a ping pong ball down the river). On the third day of the Institute the elementary group created a project to incorporate water sampling into their curriculum. One project is to create a field guide.

Come back tomorrow for the second installment of the Environmental Project Based Learning Institute

These two announcements were met with some resistance, not surprisingly. We recognize that the climate in WI is such that Charter Schools would rather keep their heads down and continue to do the good work they do, in isolation than take the risk of raising their heads and being noticed as a whole movement. The mentality currently is “if one of our neighboring charter schools faces trouble, well, at least it isn’t us.” But we want to move to a community of schools that stand up for each other and demand accountability from each other. How do we get there?

We believe we can achieve this only through a charter school specific assessment and certification program. But we also believe that this has to come from you all- from the schools.

So, as we begin work on this, I urge you all to send me your thoughts. Think about and try to answer these questions:
- What does accurate assessment look like for charter schools?
- What kinds of things should be ‘measured’ to determine if a school is meeting quality standards?
- How can we as a movement begin to influence the DPI’s phasing out of the WKCE and what will replace it?

Leave you thoughts here, or send them to me at sgranofsky@wicharterschools.org

The theme of the conference is QUALITY.

Featured speakers at the conference include Greg Richmond, President and founding board member of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and establisher of the Chicago Public School District’s Charter Schools Office; Ursula Wright, the Chief Operating Officer for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; Sarah Archibald of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at UW-Madison and the Value-Added Research Center; and Richard Halverson, an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Also speaking at the Conference will be:
• State Senator John Lehman (D-Racine), Chair Senate Education Committee
• State Senator Luther Olsen (R-Berlin), Ranking Minority Member, Senate Education
• State Representative Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Middleton), Chair, Assembly Education Committee
• State Representative Brett Davis (R-Oregon), Ranking Minority Member, Assembly Education

Click here for full schedule and registration.

Register Before February 19, 2010 to get the Early Bird rates!

This year’s theme is Quality Happens. The Conference will highlight the quality learning, teaching, and action taking place in our state’s quality charter schools.

Keynote speakers include:
Richard Halverson – Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is co-director of Games, Learning, and Society at UW-Madison, an internationally known research group that investigates how cutting edge learning technologies can reshape learning in and out of schools. Richard Halverson is co-author (with Allan Collins) of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America.

Ursula Wright - Chief Operating Officer for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Before assuming her current position, Ursula served as the Chief Financial Officer for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for three years. Her diverse professional experience includes corporate finance, operations, and business development positions at some of the nation’s leading firms. She has helped to found a charter school in Washington, D.C. Ursula earned an Economics degree from Spelman College and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Sarah Archibald – Associate Researcher at The Wisconsin Center for Education Research, a part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education. Sarah has a PhD in educational leadership in policy analysis (ELPA) from the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has studied and assisted in district- and school-level reform, district- and school-level resource reallocation, educational adequacy, professional development, teacher compensation, and most recently, the strategic management of human capital. She is the coauthor of the previous edition of Reallocating Resources: How to Boost Student Achievement Without Asking For More.

Click here to register for the 2010 Annual Conference.
Click here to view the schedule.

WHEN: March 22-23, 2010
WHERE: Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, Madison
WCSA Member Rates
Individual – $190
Groups of 6 or more – $160 per person
Student Rate (one day attendance for a student of a WCSA member charter school) – $50
One Day Pass – $100

Non-Member Rates:
Individual – $240 per person

Register today – remember, rates go up on February 19th!

Evers also nominated seven traditional public schools, so there are eight total Wisconsin schools up for recognition. This is a great showing for our state.

Nominations were based on criteria in two categories: dramatically improving schools and high performing schools. The Brompton School was nominated as a high performing school, as it has met the state’s adequate yearly progress objectives for the previous two years and is among the top 10 percent of all schools for that grade configuration on state assessments in both reading and mathematics. And indeed, the Brompton School performs very well.

Patricia Jones is the Director of the Brompton School and has been with the school since the doors opened in 1997. She and her school’s teachers and staff have been working to strengthen the school’s education philosophy over the past 12+ years, and it is a wonderful thing that the school is receiving the recognition that it deserves.

This recognition will go a long way to showcase how charter schools work together with (and alongside) traditional public schools to bring a wide range of excellent education opportunities for children in our state. The WCSA has long been bringing forth the message that charters are a necessary component of public education, to provide a variety of options for families and their children’s education.

Still want to know more about public charter schools? Here’s the video we recently launched that gives you more details on what these schools are and what they have to offer. Please take a few minutes to watch this if you haven’t yet, and please help us spread word virally!

And stay tuned for what happens next for The Brompton School. It will complete an application from the U.S. Department of Education that focuses on results and scientifically based instruction; the applications are reviewed and then the official announcement of Blue Ribbon Schools will take place next September. The WCSA will be watching and cheering on all the excellent public schools – both charter and traditional – across the state.

TO HELP US SPREAD WORD ABOUT CHARTERS VIA THE VIDEO:
All you have to do is copy and paste the instructional message below into an email, add a personal message, and send it off to those you know. Together we can get the word out about charter schools and make Wisconsin a better place for all our students.
Include these instructions in your email (all links should be included if you copy and paste):
How well do you know Charter Schools? Did you know they educate over 30,000 students in WI with that number increasing every year? Did you know they range in educational focus from Montessori to Project Based Learning to Direct Instruction and STEM? Charter Schools are an increasingly important piece of the quality education puzzle in Wisconsin and we should all brush up on our knowledge about them. Please take a few minutes to watch this short video on Charter Schools and help us spread the word! We cannot do it alone!

Or, use these instructions to post on a blog or website!
1. Find the “What is a charter school” teaser video HERE.
2. Copy the Embedding code (found on the right hand side of the page right below the WCSA logo)
3. Paste the Embedding code into a text box on your website or blog (the video will appear when published).
4. Underneath the code, please include the sentence- “To watch the full 5 minute video and meet some charter school students visit the WI Charter Schools Association website.”

Well, now it’s our turn. We can’t post billboards, yet, but what we do have is thousands of charter school supporters who can help us spread the message. If we all send out one email to a few people, imagine the good word we could spread about charter schools in WI.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, please watch it on our website HERE.

All you have to do is copy and paste the instructional message below into an email, add a personal message, and send it off to those you know. Together we can get the word out about charter schools and make Wisconsin a better place for all our students.

Include these instructions in your email (all links should be included if you copy and paste):

How well do you know Charter Schools? Did you know they educate over 30,000 students in WI with that number increasing every year? Did you know they range in educational focus from Montessori to Project Based Learning to Direct Instruction and STEM? Charter Schools are an increasingly important piece of the quality education puzzle in Wisconsin and we should all brush up on our knowledge about them. Please take a few minutes to watch this short video on Charter Schools and help us spread the word! We cannot do it alone!

Or, use these instructions to post on a blog or website!
1. Find the “What is a charter school” teaser video HERE.
2. Copy the Embedding code (found on the right hand side of the page right below the WCSA logo)
3. Paste the Embedding code into a text box on your website or blog (the video will appear when published).
4. Underneath the code, please include the sentence- “To watch the full 5 minute video and meet some charter school students visit the WI Charter Schools Association website.”

That’s it! Let’s put charter schools on the map!

Here are the winners – congratulations to all!

Charter School Person of the Year:
Platinum Award:  Dennis Conta
Gold Award:   Jan Bontz
Silver Award:  Lynne Sobczak & Kristi Cole  (Milwaukee Public Schools)
Distinguished Merit: Robert Rauh, (Milwaukee College Prep)
Distinguished Merit: Dr. Joe Sheehan and Ted Hamm (Sheboygan Area School District)

Charter School Teacher of the Year:
Platinum Award:  Victoria Rydberg  (River Crossing Environmental School, Portage)
Gold Award:   Erin Fuller  (Carmen School of Science and Technology, Milwaukee)
Silver Award:  Kim Johnsen  (WINGS Academy, Milwaukee)
Distinguished Merit: Darlene Machtan (Northwoods Community Secondary School, Rhinelander)
Distinguished Merit: Kirby Kohler (Rhinelander Environmental Stewardship Academy)

Charter Innovator of the Year
Platinum Award:  Department of Public Instruction
Gold Award:    Danny Goldberg
Silver Award:  Seeds of Health (Marcia Spector)
Distinguished Merit: Valley New School (Appleton)

This year, one Overall Charter School of the Year was selected, and additional schools were recognized in two additional categories. 

One category recognizes schools that have shown truly outstanding student performance. These are schools with the highest test results compared to all public schools in the state. 

The other category is schools that are models for the original and creative ways they educate children that embody the Charter School spirit of school reform and innovation.  These schools also show strong academic performance.

Overall Charter School of the Year
Platinum Award:  Tenor High School (Milwaukee)

High Achievement Charter School of the Year:
Gold Award:  River Crossing Environmental Charter School (Portage)
Silver Award:  Alliance School (Milwaukee)

High Performance Charter School of the Year:
Gold Award:   Lake Country Academy (Sheboygan)
Silver Award:  Milwaukee College Prep (Milwaukee)

The three Career Achievement Awards went to:
Barbara Ernest, IDEAL (retired)
Dan Grego, Executive Director, Trans Center for Youth
Chris Uelmen, Verona Core Knowledge Charter School

Thanks to everyone who came for the celebration and recognition of all the amazing achievements of the Charter School community in our state.

And start making plans to attend the 2010 Gala!