by Anna Balzer | Aug 11, 2024 | Place-Based Education, Summer Institute
Learn more about Anna! Check out our social media Dear SEMIS Coalition members, I hope everyone has been able to enjoy their favorite parts of summer in Southeast Michigan and to find time for rest, reflection, and rejuvenation amidst all of your other activities...
by Ethan Lowenstein | Jan 4, 2024 | Blog, Grants / Funding, Place-Based Education
Community care grows from common ground.Our 20K goal was met thanks to your support! As we start off 2024, the year that I transition out of the directorship—a position I’ve dedicated a good portion of my career to—I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my own...
by SEMIS Coalition | Dec 5, 2023 | Blog, Events, Place-Based Education
Image Description: Five James & Grace Lee Boggs School Students and their educator, Jacinda Bowman, after their presentation titled “How Student-Led Environmental Justice Teams Organized the First Annual Boggs Earth Day Event.” Photo taken at the 2023...
by Ethan Lowenstein | Mar 15, 2023 | Blog, STEM
The Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition is honored to have received the 2023 MiSTEM Critical Partner Award.Read the Eastern Michigan University newsletter article and Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity press release.Acceptance Remarks –...
by Sarah Halson | Oct 31, 2022 | Blog, Humanizing Education, Place-Based Education
By: Susan Kinsky As place-based educators, we facilitate relationships: between people, with students, with community members, and with the places we study. I want to focus on emotional relationships and connections with places. I don’t think this is separate from...
by Sarah Halson | Jun 30, 2022 | Blog, Civic Engagement, Curriculum, Place-Based Education, Upper Elementary, Water Quality / Studies
“I thought I knew everything there was to know about water, but I didn’t know water was everywhere!” proclaimed a 6th grade student during their final presentation to community members after a month-long unit on stormwater. This student was one of almost 300 students...
by Ethan Lowenstein | May 31, 2022 | Blog, climate change, Community Forum 2022, Events, Gratitude, Humanizing Education, Intergenerational Dialogue, Power of Community, Youth Voice
Welcome to this year’s SEMIS Community Forum and the third event in our Forum series this week! This is the first time we’ve had an in-person Community Forum in 3 years and the first time we’ve ever had it outside, so this is a very happy moment for all of us in the...
by Sarah Halson | Mar 20, 2022 | Outdoor Learning Initiative, Place-Based Education
What happens to children when they get a daily dose of trees and fresh air? When they have the opportunity to get outside briefly for a walk, learn lessons outdoors, or simply reflect in front of a natural scene? Many studies indicate that playing, relaxing and...
by Miriam Furlan Brighente, PhD | Sep 21, 2021 | Disability Justice, Events, Place-Based Education
On July 22, 2021, coalition members had a critical discussion facilitated by Jason DeCamillis (teacher consultant at Washtenaw ISD) and me after watching the movie Crip Camp on Zoom. As a result, it launched a year-long initiative to create a universal design for...
by SEMIS Coalition | May 17, 2021 | Community Forum 2021, Place-Based Education
Click on the button below to view the Google Site portal to the students’ individual websites. Click to view: Eco-Projects Students completed the “Eco-Project” at a field site near their home; there, they made observations, journal entries, sketches,...
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 Miriam Furlan Brighente, PhD | 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 Miriam Furlan Brighente, PhD | 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 Ethan Lowenstein | 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 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 31, 2020 | Events, Professional Development Materials, Social & Emotional Learning, Summer Institute
This introduction with teacher Bill Boyle was an opportunity to understand what Mindfulness is, and is not, to develop or deepen practice, and make connections between our personal practice and the issues of our time. We gathered for one hour a day for 5 days from...
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 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 1, 2020 | Curriculum, Events, Social & Emotional Learning
Town Hall Spring 2020 On April 14, over 60 SEMIS Coalition members gathered online for a welcome point of connection after much distance, and a global pandemic changing the fabric of our daily lives as educators…as humans. We talked about how we can care for...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Leadership Development, Place-Based Education, Readings, Teacher Toolkit
Place-based Education can be a complex process to dive into! Check out these videos to hear stories of schools, classrooms, students, and teachers in Southeast Michigan who are each engaging in PBE. The Spotlight on Stewards Project is a collaborative pilot program...
by Lisa Voelker | Feb 6, 2018 | Featured Front Page, Inquiry-Based Learning, Place-Based Education, Student Voice, Teacher Toolkit
Place-Based Education — broaden and deepen your knowledge of PBE by checking out the following websites. PBE may look different depending on where you live and attend school, but there are principles, ideas, and practices that connect PBE work across the...
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 | Aug 30, 2016 | Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Uncategorized
Written by Bill Boyle and Ethan Lowenstein. Chet Bowers asks a question that we should all be considering, especially those of us who serve as educators: “How do we live more interdependent lives based on practices that are less dependent on a monetized world, that...
by Lisa Voelker | Aug 1, 2016 | Community History, Ecosystems / Biodiversity, Environmental Impact, Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials, Readings
By Matt Siegfried Display image courtesy of Fresh Water and Marine Image Bank, University of Washington The sturgeon, or Na’me in Anishinaabemowin (the language of the many Great Lakes First Nations communities), is an ancient fish just emerging from danger of...
by Lisa Voelker | Aug 1, 2016 | Community History, Environmental Impact, Professional Development Materials, Readings
This reading list was compiled by historian Matt Siegfried. Great Lakes Sturgeon Readings Abel, Kerry M., and Jean Friesen. Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects. Winnipeg, Man.: University of Manitoba Press, 1991. Ashworth, William. 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 | Jun 21, 2016 | Events, Professional Development Materials, Video Links
By Bill Boyle Day 2 started with Ethan Lowenstein introducing the Coalition norms for being in community. These norms are a means of ensuring that as relational beings, we create a space that allows us to bring out the best in each other. The SEMIS norms are: *Speak...
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 Lisa Voelker | Oct 27, 2015 | EcoJustice, Place-Based Education, Porter Chair Series, Social & Emotional Learning, Topics
Recognizing Community, Recognizing Its Members By Bill Boyle October 27, 2015 One of the more promising antidotes to the alienated individualism of the “ethic of achievement” in schools lies in the use of Restorative Practices. As I’ve written previously, “We tend to...
by Lisa Voelker | Oct 14, 2015 | Place-Based Education, Professional Development Materials
Our Fall PD on September 25th, 2015 was a great kick-off to the SEMIS Coalition 2015-16 project year! We had many new community partners and faculty from EMU, and many familiar faces we are happy to see return! It was wonderful to see everyone who was...
