Best of the Best! Designed for preK-12 educators, this interactive, 60-minute webinar highlights "best of the best" resources and curriculum that GSNN and its collaborators have curated for virtual and at-home learning.
Growth in careers within environmental and sustainability fields is expected to trend upward for the foreseeable future. It’s vital that educators prepare students to be leaders and innovators in these fields by equipping them with the skills needed to ideate, design, adapt, take risks, learn from mistakes, and collaborate with others. This webinar will feature a school and a school district that are giving students opportunities to hone these skills. Common Ground High School in Connecticut will offer insights into their Green Jobs Corps program and how powerful experiences like this one provide students with a clearer pathway to college and careers. Whitefish School District in Montana will share how their Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship offers students a fast track to a green future. Students from Common Ground and Whitefish Schools will be on hand to share their perspectives as well.
Looking for opportunities to deepen your understanding of education for sustainability? This webinar is for you! Presenters from Green Schools National Network, Center for Green Schools at USGBC, Envirolution, and The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education will provide an overview of professional development approaches, virtual resources, and upcoming workshops that are designed for future thinking K-12 educators who want to bring sustainability education to life in their classrooms.
June 17 – 19, 2020 |12:00 – 4:00pm ET Middle School EducatorsFocused Topic: Watersheds This virtual PD workshop for middle school teachers explores the central role that water plays in all life. Over the course of three, four-hour sessions, attendees will take part in synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences that demonstrate how “We All Live in a Watershed!”, connecting backyards, schoolyards, and communities. These learning experiences were designed using a rubric for place-, project-, and problem-based learning and leverage real-time, online data sources that provide watershed information and resources. Experiences can be replicated with middle school students and support mastery of science, math, and ELA standards. Cost: Free for Catalyst Network members; $50 for non-network participantsRegistration limited to 24 participantsRegistration deadline is June 10 (5:00 p.m. ET) June 17, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 18, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 19, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ET
June 24 – 26, 2020 | 12:00 – 4:00pm ET Elementary School EducatorsFocused Topic: Pollinators This virtual PD session for elementary school teachers explores the diversity of pollinators that can be found in backyards, schoolyards, and parks. Over the course of three, four-hour sessions, attendees will learn how to translate their students’ observations into burning questions that will help them understand the importance of pollinators in an ecosystem and in our food system. These learning experiences were designed using a rubric for place-, project-, and problem-based learning, can be replicated with elementary students, and support mastery of science, art, math, and ELA standards. Cost: Free for Catalyst Network members; $50 for non-network participantsRegistration limited to 24 participantsRegistration deadline is June 10 (5:00 p.m. ET) June 24, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 25, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 26, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ET
Walk away with the beginning design for a compelling project that you can use when school is back in session July 15 - 17, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00pm ET High School EducatorsFocused Topic: Environmental Justice This virtual PD workshop for high school teachers explores the implications of environmental pollution on our communities. Over the course of three, four-hour sessions, attendees will use the book, A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet Washington, as the anchor for a set of learning experiences that will shed light on how Americans of color are disproportionately harmed by environmental hazards. The workshop will model how to incorporate fieldwork and experts to deepen students' understanding of toxic exposure and institutional negligence in their own communities, and how this exposure impacts cognitive development. Providing background knowledge, inspiration, and direction, attendees will leave with sound ideas on how to build student agency around a powerful topic. You’ll learn: About the movement to improve and maintain a clean and healthful environment, especially for communities of color How to create a culture of curiosity and inquiry for your students How to integrate environmental justice into your curriculum Cost: Catalyst Members: $25 Non-Members: $75 July 15, 2020 | […]
“A Call to Action for Educational Leaders” is a free, five-part webinar series designed by and for California education leaders. Based on our "Call to Action" tool, each session will illustrate how to support teachers in delivering culturally-responsive, multi-disciplinary, standards-based curriculum during the pandemic crisis and beyond.This new webinar series will give practical advice & effective strategies for education leaders to implement environmental literacy initiatives in their counties, districts, or schools. Students throughout California are concerned about the future. They want to learn about the climate crisis, and be part of the solution. Education leaders must answer this call with environmental literacy—an approach to engage students in understanding and protecting the natural world around them. That’s why we and our friends at the California Environmental Literacy Initiative are launching a NEW webinar series, “A Call to Action for Educational Leaders.” This five-part series was designed by and for California education leaders, to help you learn strategies for integrating environmental literacy across school systems. Tune into these sessions for tools, resources, facilitated discussions, networking, and more, on a variety of topics. Reserve your spot today for the following sessions: Introduction to the Call to Action for Environmental Literacy (September 16, 2020) — Register here! Social-Emotional Learning […]
The School Campus as a 3-D Textbook for Sustainability Education Join us on Tuesday, October 20 at noon EST as Jennifer Seydel, PhD., Green Schools National Network hosts a panel of educators from Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS). VBCPS recognizes that the built environment, and everything that goes in the building, is integral to a student’s development. Schools should be inspirational spaces that illustrate the delicate balance between social, economic, and environmental issues that are critical for our 67,000 students to understand as they navigate tomorrow’s world. The panel will provide an overview of how policy and practice, informed by sustainability, informs a vision that shapes the day to day decision making related to the built environment as well as what and how students learn. The panel includes: Aaron Spence, Ed.D., Superintendent Tim Cole, Sustainability Officer Kelly Hedrick, Ed.D., Principal of Old Donation School Chris Freeman, Coordinator, Environmental Studies Program at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Brock Environmental Center, Chris Freeman Shaw Contract hosts a two-part webinar series that explores how sustainability influences decisions related to materials choices and manufacturing and the impacts a holistic approach to sustainability can have on students and communities. Participants will leave with: An […]
Since 2015, Green Schools National Network (GSNN) has featured stories of educators implementing sustainability best practices on our blog and in our peer-reviewed journal, Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly. We’ve amassed quite a few examples of schools and districts doing the work to bring whole school sustainability to life! So, it should come as no surprise that we finally put pen to paper and captured some of the more compelling stories in book form. Trailblazers in Whole School Sustainability: Case Studies of Educators in Action is an edited collection of stories from schools and school districts across the country that highlights best practices and lessons learned in their pursuit of health, equity, and sustainability. Some of these stories might look familiar – more than a few were adapted from past Green Schools Catalyst Quarterly articles. Others were penned by GSNN partners exclusively for the book. All demonstrate the amazing work these educators are accomplishing as they transform their school communities for a just and sustainable future. GSNN partners featured in the book include: Boulder Valley School District Common Ground High School Discovery Elementary School Encinitas Union School District New Roots Charter School Oak Park Unified School District Prairie Crossing Charter School […]
Join us for an evening to learn about us and our debut book "Trailblazers for Whole School Sustainability". Colonial Parking operates a garage below the building. Street parking is also available for 2+ hours using a meter and the ParkMobile app. The office is walking distance from the Farragut North (red line) and Farragut West (blue, orange, and silver lines). Complimentary drinks & appetizers. Sponsored by Tito's. Any questions, please contact Janelle Darst at jdarst@greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org. Green Schools National Network (GSNN)’s mission is to shape healthy, equitable, and sustainable schools where children thrive and learn to steward the environments and communities they call home. Since 2007, GSNN has used a holistic approach in its work with schools, districts, organizations, and individual educators to transform schools from good to green. GSNN’s work is informed by its GreenPrint, a framework for transformation that covers best practices in leadership, curriculum and instruction, culture and climate, and facilities and operations. To learn more, visit greenschoolsnationalnetwork.org. In Trailblazers for Whole School Sustainability, educators and school leaders share stories highlighting best practices and lessons learned in their pursuit of health, equity, and sustainability. The book is organized according to the four impact systems in GSNN’s GreenPrint: Leadership, […]