Community Food Systems: November 3

I'm really excited about bringing what we've been learning into the elementary classroom. I was raised by a teacher, and both me and my sister have been working in the education field since we were old enough to work. In recent years, I've been getting frustrated with the education system, witnessing more and more bureaucratic decisions that negatively effect children passing through the public schools. So I started researching ways to work around the bureaucratic idiocy in order to provide a quality education to children that not only exposes them to new and exciting knowledge, increases their intelligence and critical thinking skills, but also engages their true basic interests and keeps in mind the importance of health and the importance of play.

Integrating food education into elementary schools is incredibly important, so I can't wait to get some practice at relaying what we have learned in Community Food Systems into the classroom setting.

When I worked at a Montessori Preschool for the children of UMASS Faculty and Students, I tried to integrate basic sustainability learning into the classroom. We started using a compost bin as part of the lunch and snack structure. Once my preschoolers had gotten a hang of what goes in the compost and what goes in the trash, they really embraced the idea. I would supervise while the little ones who first grasped the concept would take up the teaching role, and when they noticed one of their friends going to throw food scraps in the trash, they'd let them know where to put it. We would talk about how important it is that we feed our Earth, and that when we give our compost to the ground, she gets a little healthier. I told them about how much the worms that they liked to look at and dig up outside liked to eat the compost, and how many other little creatures would benefit from throwing our food scraps outside rather than in the trash.

We talked a lot about other issues relating to sustainability. We started a little garden for them to work with. Along with the other teachers, I read Richard Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods," which became our bible at that preschool. With the Montessori style of teaching, we were able to let our kids decide what they wanted to learn about the world and nature and about treating the planet and their communities with care.

Of course, this was made easy for a few reasons: We were a research based preschool. Being that we were located on the UMASS campus, we had the benefit of being in the midst of learning about more effective teaching techniques and improving early childhood education almost as a requirement. We had the benefit of progressive educated parents willing to work with us to create this kind of environment, and lots of funding. We had the space, the tools, and the education to know how to provide positive sustainability learning experiences for children.

Working in a private and well funded school is way different than working in the public school system. So I am hoping to get a lot out of our visit to the first graders of Williamsburg, to further educate myself on effective teaching methods that can be used in a public school setting.

I still have in my mind a vision of being able to teach sustainability in urban public schools, so every step closer to realizing this vision is exhilarating.