Below is an original curriculum I created for a 1 month human sustainability unit for high school environmental science.
In regards to my curriculum on Human Sustainability, I feel like there are several revisions I would like to make that would make it a more powerful learning opportunity for students. First, I think that, rather than having students all complete video interviews with faculty and staff about sustainability, I want to open up the School Sustainability Challenge to an array of student options for how they would like to engage our school in sustainability. In the week of preparing for video interviews then, this would be used primarily as a work week toward research and project work on a topic of their choosing (and teacher approval). I would also like to maneuver their look into green schools on Day 1 or 2, so that they can generate ideas for what is ahead rather than after a week of classes has gone by. I think this allows for much more student-driven content and a more personal engagement for students in what they think of as sustainability. I also would like them to see the guidelines and criteria for the School Sustainability Challenge at the first day of the unit so that they can prepare, gain understanding and ask questions early on. After Jimmy’s suggestion, I would like to alter the starting points of my Challenge Board from -5 to 5 so that students do not see any discouragement in starting in the negative. They would instead try to maintain these 5 points through their completion of the Challenge Board items. In terms of smaller tweaks, I feel that I would like to discourage certain incentives, like a reward only if the School Board accepts a SSC idea, or more points for the Challenge Board if they make a sustainable treat for the whole class since some students may be disadvantaged from that. There are a number of overall changes I would like to make to my micro lessons and assessment generally, but specifically I don’t yet have an idea. I think that a thematic guide to assessment and lessons, like exploring some aspect of green schools each class, could help make these days feel more cohesive and pertinent to their SSCs. I was very happy to receive the thorough feedback from Jimmy, Whistle and Hannah throughout the course and especially for my convening session. I think the extra eyes help my curriculum avoid inauthentic tendencies and “autopilot” lessons.