The SEMIS Coalition Blog
The place to connect, learn and share perspectives in place-based learning
Welcome to our SEMIS Coalition blog! A commons-based digital space for shared resources, images, and more. It’s a place for you to ask questions, interact with peers, and keep current with the latest Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition activities.
Browse through the most recent posts below, or browse past posts by category via the toolbar on the right.
Remembering Mariann Lupinacci
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Mariann Lupinacci-Kosinski on April 9, 2021. We would like to take this moment to express our deep love for her and our gratitude for all that she brought to the Coalition and the world. As the principal of John Paul II...
LIVING INTO OUR VALUES: We cannot “go back to normal”
I took a vacation this summer. Maybe you did too. It was not enough. Not enough to heal, rest, and re-set my body and mind after close to two years of constant tension and stress. As we head into the school year, let’s remember to: Listen to our bodies—We are...
The Eco-Project: A Yearlong Study of a Field Site
Students completed the “Eco-Project” at a field site near their home; there, they made observations, journal entries, sketches, and reflections. These are their final websites summarizing the experience.
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 surroundings. I’ve shown a connection between ArcGIS Online through EMU. I used story mapping, a geospatial platform, to share my community mapping.
Community Mapping with GIS
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.
Making Detroit a Better Place
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 to that question.
Memory and Metaphor: Denouncing Impervious Surfaces and Announcing Riparian Zones
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...
Civic Engagement and Youth Voice in Place-Based Education
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...
A Walk in the Park: Youth Ambassadors Help Develop PBSE for Ninth Graders
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...
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 responsibility to each...