by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This is a culmination of our Place-Based work around Mill Creek, including, song writing, our collaboration with the HRWC, fly tying, raising brown trout to release into the Mill Creek in collaboration with Trout Unlimited and our interactive story map work with Ducks...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
During our recent energy project our classes were asked to complete the ECOWORKS Healthy Home Audit and to write a persuasive essay demanding that our school admin give (our classes) permission to install a solar array. This is a how-to showing how to complete the...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
We ironed together chip bags to make sleeping bags for Detroit’s homeless population. By: Youth Energy Squad, 6th Grade – 8th Grade Teacher: Jacinda Bowman, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Science Theme: Climate Change Resilience and...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
6th grader Evelyn Wybenga created this independent project that uses math and research to make an argument for the impact planting trees might have on our future. By: Evelyn Wybenga, 6th Grade Teacher: Jacinda Bowman, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This story shows how a project helps me understand my experiences and my interests. By: Sonia Singh, Kaiya Ingram, and Marleen Hernandez, 6th Grade – 8th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This story shows how a project helps me understand my experiences and my interests. By: Isaiah Cox, 8th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General Place-based Education Type: Video Click on the links above...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This story shows how a project helps me understand my experiences and my interests. By: Uriel Bath-Yahweh, 6th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General Place-based Education Type: Video Click on the...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Students weigh in on a Place-based Education (PBE) activity in this video. student responses to help answer the question “Why am I learning math?” Your presentation will be helpful for educators, parents, and students. By: Zora Nunley, Evelyn Wybenga, and...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Student discusses with peer the paycheck stub assignment. In this assignment, the student estimated amount of pay needed to pay bills. By: Kaiya Ingram, 6th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
These drawings depict beauty and nature’s resistance that were seen on a walk in a student’s neighborhood. By: Spencer Lusa, 6th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General Place-based Education...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Scroll inside the frame below to view the document. These drawings depict beauty and nature’s resistance that were seen on a walk in a student’s neighborhood. By: Tanner Green, 6th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School,...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This video is an account of what a student learned about social distancing using mathematics. By: Tanner Green, 6th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General Place-based Education Type: Video Click on the...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Click on the picture or use the arrow keys or space bar to go to the next slide. The photo journals capture what a student saw in their community. By: Hallo Albrechi, 8th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme:...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
This photo journal captures what a student saw in their community. The student is excited about discovering this drawing software. By: Ian Robinson, 7th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Detroit Subject: Math Theme: General...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Click on the button below to view the photo journal on Google Slides. Click to view: Nature’s Resistance This photo journal depicts a student’s impression of nature. By: Willow Lagrou, 8th Grade Teacher: Charlene Jones, The James and Grace Lee Boggs...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Civic Engagement, Community Forum 2021, EcoJustice, Student Voice
Click on the button below to view the illustration. Click to view: Community Mapping with GIS Mr. Segrist and Place-based Education has helped me learn and become more aware of my community’s history and how it has affected its current situation and...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Civic Engagement, Community Forum 2021, EcoJustice, Student Voice
We were given a class project on community mapping and sense of place. It was an opportunity to exercise student voice and learn how to map. When walking around my neighborhood, I learned a lot about the lack of effort that is put into keeping our area safe and clean....
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
By: Landon McKinney, 9th Grade Teacher: Ann Saunders, Ypsilanti Community High School, Ypsilanti Subject: Biology Type: Video Click on the links above to see other gallery entries with the same terms.
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021
Click on the button below to view the presentation on Google Slides. Click to view: Environmental Awareness By: Derek Mitter, 9th Grade Teacher: Ann Saunders, Ypsilanti Community High School, Ypsilanti Type: PowerPoint Click on the links above to see other gallery...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Civic Engagement, Community Forum 2021, Community History
Click on the picture or use the arrow keys or space bar to go to the next slide. Grace Lee Boggs once asked Julia Putnam what she could do as a young person to help Detroit be a better place. The Rainbows asked ourselves the same question. This project is our answer...
by SEMIS Coalition | Apr 2, 2021 | Civic Engagement, Community Partners, Environmental Sustainability, New Community Partners, Paulo Freire, Place-Based Education, Power of Community, Transformational Partnership, Youth Voice
Continuing the annual virtual series learning as we are still experiencing a global pandemic, SEMIS Coalition met with teachers, community partners, administration staff, and coaches for the Winter ’21 Professional Learning. One of the main goals was to use...
by SEMIS Coalition | Apr 2, 2021 | Humanizing Education, Metaphors, Place-Based Education, Revolutionary Love, Social & Emotional Learning, Social-emotional Learning
During the Winter Professional Learning of 2021, Ethan Lowenstein, Director of SEMIS Coalition, gave a beautiful and hopeful speech addressing the challenges we have experienced lately. People in global, national, and local communities have faced a frightening...
by SEMIS Coalition | Jan 6, 2021 | Inquiry-Based Learning, Place-Based Education, STEM, Uncategorized, Water quality testing
Watershed Education 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 is our...
by SEMIS Coalition | Aug 31, 2020 | Civic Action / Leadership, Community Stewardship, Place-Based Education, Readings, Social & Emotional Learning
Living into our values What is education for? The past 13 years have prepared us for this moment of uncertainty and possibility in education. Many in our community are facing significant hardships. As educators – of all kinds – we play several roles and have responded...
by SEMIS Coalition | Aug 30, 2020 | Author: Becca Nielsen, Author: Lisa Voelker, Civic Action / Leadership, Community Mapping, Events, Leadership Development, Professional Development Materials
“Even though we were virtual, it was so nice to see faces of people I met last summer. It’s hard to believe you can build relationships in a weeks time and then see people on a computer screen and then feel the warmth of community like we were right back...
by SEMIS Coalition | Jul 1, 2020 | Civic Action / Leadership, Events, Intergenerational Dialogue, Lower Elementary, Middle Grades, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Student Voice
Place-based education (PBE) is an approach to teaching and learning that uses the local environment and community to investigate content and engage students in stewardship and civic action. PBE, at its root, is a humanizing practice that puts youth and...
by SEMIS Coalition | 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 SEMIS Coalition | Jul 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
What does a Great Lakes prairie have to do with classroom learning? NeinasElementary, in collaboration with The Greening of Detroit, DPS and Friends of The Rouge, engaged students outside the classroom in their local ecology. Their...
by SEMIS Coalition | 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 SEMIS Coalition | Jun 1, 2015 | Gardens, Uncategorized, Water Quality / Studies
“The atmosphere, the earth, the water and the water cycle – those things are good gifts. The ecosystems, the ecosphere, those are good gifts. We have to regard them as gifts because we couldn’t make them. We have to regard them as good gifts because we...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 31, 2015 | Uncategorized
Background: The “ecojustice with/in disability studies” affinity group grew out of shared interests at the SEMIS summer institute. The group looks at the intersection and effect of attitudes towards human animals, nonhuman animals, and plants. The premise is that...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 18, 2015 | Food Systems, Gardens, Uncategorized, Upper Elementary
When the exhausted soil of their family plot doesn’t yield enough and her father leaves to find work, María Luz plants the winter vegetables using new farming techniques she learns from her teacher, Don Pedro. Marigolds repel insect pests. Terracing and using...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
“Exploration of the natural world begins in early childhood, flourishes in middle childhood, and continues in adolescence as a pleasure and a source of strength for social action.” – David Sobel How do you adapt your place-based education to nourish the...
by SEMIS Coalition | Apr 20, 2015 | EcoJustice, Leadership Development, Uncategorized
In honor of Earth Day, brush up on the EcoJustice basics through the following video: In this video, Rebecca Martusewicz defines how the the Ecojustice Education masters program emerged from “a crisis in the way we think about the way we are in relationship to each...
by SEMIS Coalition | 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...
