by Sarah Halson | Jul 29, 2022 | Blog, Civic Action / Leadership, climate change, Curriculum, High School
TEACHING THROUGH A KING LENS By Willie King III Through my many experiences as an educator, I have found that the spark never really disappears; the flame just looks different. Transitioning into the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year as an official SEMIS...
by Lisa Voelker | Mar 21, 2022 | climate change, Community Mapping, Curriculum, High School, Teacher Toolkit
A big shout out to all the ‘NOAA teachers’, as we say: Mrs. Kerry Williams, Mr. William Albrecht, Ms. Paula Sizemore, Mrs. Andrea Stanczyk, Mrs. Abigail Woodman, and brand new to the initiative is Mr. Dillon Williams. Several teachers in the Coalition are part of a...
by Lisa Voelker | Jan 6, 2021 | Community Stewardship, Curriculum, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Environmental Inventory, High School, Uncategorized, Water Quality / Studies
PBE Topics of Inquiry Water and land use, stream ecology, macroinvertebrates, conducted chemical, biological and physical stream monitoring techniques, stream mapping and assessment, nature drawing and journaling. Essential Question What role could the Rouge Park play...
by Lisa Voelker | Aug 28, 2020 | Curriculum Integration, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Intergenerational Dialogue, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Social & Emotional Learning, Student Voice, Summer Institute, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Young Wisdom Advice From Youth What helps me engage now? The teachers and relationships. Over the course of the last 6 months we have had the opportunity to spend time learning with a few different groups of students from southeast Michigan schools. We have been...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 1, 2020 | Civic Action / Leadership, Community Mapping, Community Stewardship, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Leadership Development, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Summer Institute, Upper Elementary, Water Quality / Studies
SEMIS Coalition Orientation & Place-Based Education 101 During these two events on June 17 & 24 participants included new and returning member teachers, community partners, district leaders and administrators. At this orientation people were given a sense of our...
by Miriam Furlan Brighente, PhD | Jun 10, 2020 | Events, High School, Intergenerational Dialogue, Middle Grades, Professional Development Materials, Student Voice, Upper Elementary
…the future is nothing but transformation—the transformation of today. Paulo Freire SEMIS Director Ethan Lowenstein welcomes particpants to the 2020 Youth Voice Fishbowl. SEMIS Coalition launched on May 18, 2020 a series of dialogues, presentations and workshops...
by Lisa Voelker | May 14, 2020 | Curriculum, Green Energy, High School, Middle Grades, STEM, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Place-Based Education for Remote Learning: Mapping Activities Here is a collection of activities for practicing place-based stewardship education from home. These are the beginning in a series of ideas that are developing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic...
by Lisa Voelker | May 12, 2020 | Curriculum, Early Childhood, High School, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Teacher Toolkit, Upper Elementary
Place-Based Education for Remote Learning: Mapping Activities Here is a collection of activities for practicing place-based stewardship education from home. These are the beginning in a series of ideas that are developing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Curriculum, High School, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Teacher Toolkit, Water Quality / Studies, Water quality testing
An Introduction to Michigan Watersheds for Teachers, Students and Residents — Michigan Sea Grant Beach Mysteries — Alliance for the Great Lakes Follow The Drop — Earth Partnership for Schools University of Wisconsin – Madison Arboretum Great...
by Lisa Voelker | Apr 19, 2017 | Arts in PBE, Civic Action / Leadership, Community Stewardship, Events, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Leadership Development, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Upper Elementary
What stood out to participants from last year’s forum… “What stands out today for me was learning new things and learning how to listen.” Student participant, Grade 9-12 “The young students from Ann Arbor presenting on the Ann Arbor carbon plume and the...
by Lisa Voelker | Jul 2, 2016 | Curriculum Integration, High School, Intergenerational Dialogue, Student Voice, Teacher Toolkit, Uncategorized
Students from Detroit Institute of Technology at CODY High School co-authored an article for the 2016 summer issue of Green Teacher Magazine, titled Fostering Youth Leadership in Urban Place-based Education. This inter-generational collaboration challenged us to...
by Lisa Voelker | May 29, 2016 | Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Environmental Inventory, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, NGSS, Place-Based Education, Teacher Toolkit, Water Quality / Studies, Water quality testing
As a result of the Walk in the Park project, students have developed a sense of responsibility for nature in their community. Students have been able to use Rouge Park as a space to learn stewardship skills such as water quality monitoring, conducting environmental...
by admin | Jun 15, 2015 | Ecosystems / Biodiversity, High School, Uncategorized
Following the yearlong investigation into permaculture as a teaching method, one interesting aspect of this design method is tapping into a complex communication network among plant and animal communities that supports more harmonious agriculture systems, which are...
by admin | Apr 6, 2015 | Green Energy, High School, Middle Grades, Uncategorized
How do we educate on the lesson of climate change that is relevant for youth? How do we understand the root causes of these changes, and how do we plan for a resilient future? These are difficult questions that are often hard to teach in a way that hits home...
by admin | Mar 31, 2015 | Civic Action / Leadership, High School, Middle Grades, Upper Elementary
Are our schools preparing young people to be informed, active citizens of a democratic society? Are we instilling in our young people the dispositions and values needed to be civic actors in their communities? Is our educational system giving them the skills and...
by SEMIS Coalition | Dec 15, 2014 | Civic Action / Leadership, Community History, Early Childhood, EcoJustice, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Environmental Impact, Food Security, Food Systems, Gardens, High School, Inquiry-Based Learning, Literacy, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Social & Emotional Learning, Upper Elementary, Water Quality / Studies
Have you used these books? Share how! At the Summer Institute, teachers received several books to support EcoJustice literacy and investigating the commons. These books were chosen for their support of a few different concepts: integrating multiple perspectives into...
