Welcome
Teaching for a Positive Future is
a pilot project to help us learn ways to infuse
information about sustainability into the
preparation of teachers and other education and
human services professionals. The project
provides a variety of professional development activities
for teacher education faculty and pre-service
teachers. We also conduct research related
to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that
contribute to development of sustainability
literate education professionals. Our
current priority area is the pre-service
preparation of teachers who plan to work in K-12
classrooms. However, we wish to
inform that work with the experiences of
community-based sustainability educators, as
well as teachers and school administrators
already employed in K-12 settings.
Sustainability:
Meeting the needs
of people today and at the same time making sure
future generations are able to meet their needs.
Sustainability involves the
interconnectedness of social justice,
environmental stewardship and economic
development. Teaching for a Positive
Future is premised on the belief that K-12
teachers will be instrumental in helping to
bring about the social, political, economic, and
environmental conditions necessary to create a
positive and just future. The teachers we
prepare today will need to help their students
negotiate a world that presents unprecedented
environmental and economic challenges related to
rapidly accelerating climate change and the
inevitable demise of petroleum-based
economies. Therefore, all teachers will need to
become “sustainability literate”.
Essential
Questions: Making the Personal Professional
Teaching for a Positive Future is a response to a
growing recognition by Woodring students, staff, and faculty
of our roles and responsibilities as educators
to anticipate the needs of our students and
communities, within the context of a global
community. We hope to
challenge individuals and the organizations
in which they work
to critically examine their responsibilities in
working for a more positive future. The
essential questions that help guide our work
include the following:
- What does a
positive future look like?
- In what
ways do my (our) habits and beliefs help
create a positive future?
- How can I
(we) best learn and teach about new ways of
living and working sustainably?
Join the
Community
We are excited to be part of the growing
community of educators around world who are
engaged in education for sustainability. In
March, 2006, the we received a grant from the
Russell Family Foundation to support faculty
development, and initial planning and future
project development. Currently, 9 faculty in
the three Woodring teacher education programs
(Secondary, Elementary, and Special Education)
as well as the Science, Math, and Technology
Education Learning Resource Center are directly participating in
the project through research, teaching, and
curriculum innovation activities. During the
2006-07 school year, Teaching for a Positive
Future will be sponsoring a series of
topical teaching and learning events to model
lessons and activities related to sustainability
that can be implemented by pre-service teachers
in practicum and internship settings. In
conjunction with these teaching demonstrations,
a series of interactive panel discussion will be
held to identify key dimensions of the
knowledge, skills, and dispositions that should
be part of a teacher education program.
Teaching for a Positive Future
benefits from the assistance of two project
partners: Gilda Wheeler, senior author of the
Facing the Future: People and the Planet
curriculum program and Kim Corrigan, Education
Outreach Manager for
Yes! Magazine
and the Positive Futures Network. Gilda also is
the Environmental & Natural Resource Education
Coordinator for the Washington Office of
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Gilda
and Kim have actively participated in the
development of the project and are active
collaborators in our work.
Please
take a few moments to explore our links to
resources, literature, and to our community
network. We think you will be encouraged
to see the work that is being done, and feel a sense of hope for the
opportunities to affect change in our
communities, and to work toward a positive
future.
We
welcome participation from the community in this
exploration and welcome any comments.
Please
contact us at
Positive.Future@wwu.edu.
Highlights
Online contributions to sustainability
teaching and learning:
Majority World Website promotes
diversity viewpoints on our world.
Majority World is a new global initiative
which champions the cause of indigenous
photographers from the developing world and
the global South - the majority world!
What does a Teacher Really Make?
Comedian
Taylor Mali speaking about teaching as a
profession.
Ecological Footprint Quiz provides
an opportunity for individuals to understand
the impact of their daily choices in terms
of carrying capacity of the earth.
Links for a kid's version and teacher
curricular materials designed around this
calculator are especially worthy of note for
educators. Go to
Global Footprint Network for more
information about this wonderful tool.
Earth Day 2008 Report: EarthDay
Network. Comprehensive
coverage of the action on Earth Day 2008 and
reasons to hope as well as opportunities to
make every day Earth Day!
Events
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