Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Happy Monday! We welcome back our friends from Unity Charter School, a tuition-free, public K – 8 charter school in Morris Township. In case you missed last week’s post, Unity is unique because it combines New Jersey core curriculum requirements with a focus on teaching students the principles of sustainability, ecology and diversity to celebrate and protect the planet and all its inhabitants.

What’s it like to be a teacher at this remarkable little school? Julia Kelly weighs in with her perpective today:

By Julia Kelly

I have been teaching the multi-age third and fourth grade learning group at Unity Charter school since 2002. While the previous building on Speedwell Avenue was quaint and homey, as we grew larger it became a cramped and challenging environment in which to teach and learn. It was particularly challenging to teach in a room with only a sky light and no windows. Now that we have moved to the new location, my classroom has six wonderful windows! Not only is the space much bigger, but it is wonderful and bright. The students are growing plants in every window. We have some great old hardwood and pine trees right outside, and we have hung many bird feeders. It was thrilling watching the birds all winter long.

One of the most important aspects of Unity is to teach the importance of protecting and improving the environment by educating our students on the principles of sustainability. There are many reasons why teaching at Unity has been such a wonderful experience for me these past nine years. Unity is a place that I have been able to share my passion for protecting the earth with young minds and this has impacted my life in many positive ways. I like the way we look at the whole child and are able to teach with a hands-on approach.

From a young age I have felt very connected to the earth. At the age of sixteen I designed my own herb garden in the back yard of our house in Califon, N.J. It was a successful first attempt at gardening. I have had a vegetable or flower garden just about every year since then. I love to share my passion for gardening with my students.

I have written many Education for Sustainability curriculum units with the help of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. There are two units that I am particularly proud of having written. The first is an Efs unit on Endangered Species of New Jersey. With a combination of science, language arts, technology and art the students produce wonderful final projects around this subject area. They make their own book and sculptures of their chosen endangered species. We invite the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey come to our school to deepen the knowledge that students gain through their research of endangered species. The class then raises money for the foundation, and we adopt an endangered species with our donation.

Another curriculum unit that I am proud of is the Native and Invasive Plant Species of New Jersey. This unit is also multi-disciplinary; bringing together art, science, technology and language arts throughout the lesson plan. I also take the students on a field trip to the Tourne Park to see the native plant species garden. We finalize this unit with a power point presentation and class book that serves as a legacy project for future third and fourth grade classes.

Unity is an ideal place for me to share my love of the planet with young students. The mission is very close to my heart, and I think that makes it more genuine for the students as well. I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of this very special learning environment. •

This series continues next Monday

Images: Unity School students and their garden

Today we welcome a new guest blog series from Dodge grantee Unity Charter School, a tuition-free, public K – 8 charter school in Morris Township. Unity is unique because it combines New Jersey core curriculum requirements with a focus on teaching students the principles of sustainability, ecology and diversity to celebrate and protect the planet and all its inhabitants.

Founded in 1998,  it was among the second cohort of schools to be granted a charter in New Jersey. In the fall of 2010, the school expanded enrollment and relocated to a larger facility at One Evergreen Place in Morris Township.

In the coming weeks, we will hear from a number of perspectives – a parent, a teacher, a student, and a Board Member – and learn about the community this school has built and the remarkable practices it has put into place. Today’s blog post comes from Tanya Seaward, a member of the Board, a parent of three Unity students, and a member of the commUnity since 2007, about the tremendous effort behind their recent move to a much larger space, where they now have room to grow.

Students at the new Unity Charter School

By Tanya Seaward

I was a late joiner to the expansion effort. A doubting Thomas, if you will. In the three years that our family had been part of Unity, I had heard much talk of “expansion,” but nothing more than that. Just idle parking lot chatter. No real action. And the school continued on as always, doing wonderful things in the classroom, but in a cramped facility that it had long outgrown.

In the summer of 2009, a group of parents and Board members formed a new expansion committee. This group was energized, and they gave themselves a goal of one year to find a new location. I knew that previous expansion efforts had not been successful (high cost of real estate in Morristown and the Township, our limited start-up funds, restrictive charter school financing regulations), and I really didn’t expect the current effort to be any different.

My perspective changed in November 2009. The Expansion Committee had made a presentation to the Board of Trustees, in which they had identified the “target” – One Evergreen Place. The building, although located in an urban/industrial area, had a few key things going for it. First, it was zoned for school use, which would save months—years even—and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to change the zoning use.

Second, about half of the building had been used previously as a preschool. We thought we could use a significant portion of the existing layout, which would save time and renovation costs, which fit our budget (miniscule) and our mission perfectly. And while the existing room configurations were not always ideal, (our architect described some rooms as “bowling alleys”), we were used to making compromises. After all, in the old school, students ate lunch in the hallway, and we conducted our school-wide morning meetings outside!

The Expansion presentation was a turning point for me as a Trustee, as a parent, and as a volunteer. It was the first time that I really felt that expansion was actually possible. It wasn’t just idle chatter anymore, and  I couldn’t wait to see the facility.

Unity’s Spanish language classroom

The building itself was in a slightly shabby state of disuse. But to me, it was full of promise at every turn. Crumbling ceiling tiles on the floor? I saw a lovely small group learning classroom. (Current small groups were taking place behind a curtained off section of the hallway.) Water stained carpet from a leaky roof? I saw a bright kindergarten classroom with windows on two sides. (My daughter was currently in a classroom with no windows at all – only a skylight.) Forlorn playground full of waist-high weeds? I could already hear the happy squeals of children playing tag, and the bounce of the four-square ball.

Walking the halls, and peering into the rooms, I imagined the children filing from classroom to classroom, eating lunch in a real cafeteria, learning in a real school. It was a like a dream, and the building was vacant to boot! And finally, the last good portent: the children of one of our Trustees had actually attended the YMCA preschool in that very building ten years ago. He knew the building like the back of his hand. It all just “felt” right.

Unity students playing outside (plans to build a playground are in the works)

I got so excited about the prospects for the school, I immediately joined the Expansion Committee. I knew that there was an incredible amount of work to be done, and I wanted to help. The Expansion Committee was an amazing and dedicated group of volunteers with the perfect mix of talents for this mission—Architect! Lawyer! Fundraiser! Sustainability Expert! Accountant! and even a Nurse! It was an expansion “dream team.”

Little did I know that the next ten months would prove to be an intense, grueling, emotional roller-coaster of planning, strategizing, endless meetings, presentations, negotiations, frustration, perseverance, tears, drama and great memories too.

I’m chuckling as I write this, remembering some of the more hilarious and downright ludicrous moments: Conference calling banks inquiring about bond financing from our “office”—the backseat of a committee members’ car that had conference call technology! Another committee member, sending expansion emails from the floor of the closet of her hotel room during her family holiday, so that the light from the computer screen wouldn’t wake her children. Our husbands, texting each other, and commiserating as self-described “Expansion Widowers.” Our maternal fears that our children would suffer malnutrition from endless meals of mac and cheese. Sneaking downstairs in the wee hours of the morning to work on financial projections, so that my family wouldn’t see how much time I was spending on “expansion,” which had now become a dirty word in our household. Final lease negotiations, held in my laundry room, while the other committee members’ collective nine children stampeded throughout the house.

But finally, success! We opened the doors for the start of the school year at 8 am on Monday, September 13, 2010, right on schedule (barely!).

I feel immensely proud to have been part of the expansion effort, and the fact that Unity can now bring quality sustainability education to so many more children and their parents. I also feel fortunate to have been able to work with such an incredibly talented group of women, whose intelligence, perseverance and commitment to education and sustainability are awe-inspiring. But most of all, I feel amazed. Amazed every single time I walk in the building. Amazed that we did it despite our limited finances and that we did it in such a short time period. Amazed … and immensely thankful. •

This series continues next Monday.

Images: Unity Charter School

Today is the final installment of the New Jersey Learns series, in which we have had the pleasure of hearing from teachers and community leaders who have completed The Cloud Institute’s unique leadership training program “New Jersey Learns: Schools and Communities Learn Together for a Sustainable Future.”

We give our thanks to the contributors to this series:
Stacey Kennealy of GreenFaith
Winnie Fatton of Sustainable Jersey
Caitlin Wargo of Far Hills Country Day School
David Hallowell of Sustainable West Milford

As well as to Jaimie Cloud and Leah Mayor of the Cloud Institute.

Today, we’re happy to hear from Angela Clerico of Banisch Associates, a community planning and design firm in Flemington, New Jersey, about her New Jersey Learns experience:

In a profession where the goal is to plan better communities it seemed to me that we were going about things the same way we had been for decades. Sure, over time the focus shifted away from sprawling communities and toward “smart growth” – building homes near major transportation corridors, protecting the environs. But, there had to be something more… a better way, still, to create more livable communities and communities that thrive, not just survive.

When I was introduced to the NJ Learns program, I was interested because I had an interest in the topic of sustainability. It has been called the largest social movement this planet has ever seen – only you don’t actually “see” it happening. Millions of people all over the world in town halls, school libraries, and community centers are getting together to implement their visions for change. They’re organizing events to inform their local officials and the community-at-large. It’s a movement alright, and I wanted to learn how to better communicate the concept. I learned more than that!

Participating in the NJ Learns program, I had many “aha” moments. From learning how to teach the concepts about and the data for sustainability to a better understanding of how people perceive sustainability and their concerns for changing behavior, I could see how the shift would not only have to come from the community, but that the local leaders would have to set the example. The lone planner in a room full of educators, I began to see how educating my audience would be a little different since I am not a teacher, per se, but that it could be just as powerful. Now, every time I walk into a planning board meeting the topic of sustainability is on my mind and is communicated through my work.

The hard part is that it is a process and results may not be seen overnight. In the NJ Learns program, we participated in a simulation where, in groups, we were fishermen. We had to fish the ocean in a manner that, with an average replenishment rate, the ocean would remain sustainable. The ocean would continue to produce fish for us to catch to maintain our livelihoods. The problem, however, was the same all around: everyone “crashed the system” by overfishing. It took many of the groups several tries, if not more, to figure out that we just had to make it through the down times in order to remain sustainable. Instead, different mentalities took over. “Everyone else was taking more than their share, so I should too!” “I could see this was not going to work, so I jumped on the bandwagon.”

These mentalities translate right into our communities and it is hard for residents and local leaders to see the benefits, when it is such incremental change.

There are a few popular phrases in local government that tend to set the tone for creating sustainability strategies. One is “How can we get the biggest bang for our buck?” Local leaders want to do right by their taxpayers, providing quality of life, but they don’t want to enforce practices that may cost money. The other is “Let’s look at the low-hanging fruit.” This is a good strategy for getting something off the ground. It is a quick way to get a project done and shows that the local leadership is doing something for the community. It also provides momentum for a larger-scale project that may take more time. However, it often doesn’t take into account the bigger picture.

The topic of sustainability is a tough web to untangle and make sense of. Land use planners are typically the ones to break down these issues and present them in a meaningful way so that local leaders can make decisions. Planners guide the development of ordinances, policies, and regulations, at the same time, supporting community-wide campaigns for residents to become more aware of how they can green their lifestyles. If all planners were speaking a shared language of planning for sustainability, we could create a paradigm shift toward sustainability and livable communities from the top-down and the bottom-up.

My NJ Learns training and practice of the program continues every day I am working to create more livable communities in NJ.

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Thanks again to Angela and to all of the New Jersey Learns guest bloggers.

New Jersey Learns introduces teachers and community leaders to Education for Sustainability. Education for Sustainability (EfS) is a whole system approach to schools and communities learning together for a sustainable future and includes the Cloud Institute’s EfS Core Content Standards. The program brings community-based teams to participate in one year of introductory training, implementation, coaching and assessment activities.

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Welcome to the fourth installment of “New Jersey Learns Mondays.” The reflections and stories from K-12 teachers and community leaders who have completed The Cloud Institute’s unique leadership training program “New Jersey Learns: Schools and Communities Learn Together for a Sustainable Future” are showing us that it is possible to lead the shift to a sustainable future.

If you are new to the Dodge blog, you can read the first three installments of the New Jersey Learns series here (Stacey Kennealy of GreenFaith),  here (Winnie Fatton of Sustainable Jersey), and here (Caitlin Wargo of Far Hills Country Day School). Today, we hear from David Hallowell, President of Sustainable West Milford who has been training with New Jersey Learns for two years now.

From Action to Thinking and Back Again!

When I first learned of the NJ LEARNS Educating for Sustainability opportunity, we were well on our way to making changes in West Milford. We had established a nonprofit called Sustainable West Milford and grown our membership from 6 to over 400 people in just one year. We had a variety of action-oriented and educational programs including: monthly educational presentations; “Buy Local” campaigns; an organic community garden: and an annual GreenFest.

We were excited with the prospect of learning more, getting some new tools, and making some connections with other groups around the state to help move our efforts forward. The NJ Learns program delivered all that and more. I was in the first year of the training, and even continued my training for a second year! Not that I’m all that remedial, (well, maybe a little!) , but that fact is, I learned even more in the second year. And more importantly, I learned different things that have shaped the way I think about sustainability.

After the first year of Educating for Sustainability (EfS), my focus was on using the wonderful tools and information provided to better engage community members and convince them of the need to change their actions, for as Jaimie Cloud points out, “everything you do or DON’T do, makes a difference.” After the second year of the EfS training, I have become keenly aware of the need to change the thinking of our community in order to change their actions.

Often during presentations on sustainability, I am asked to describe what sustainability “looks like” in the community or in a school. My old answer used to include the usual suspects – they recycle, use renewable energy, buy local, compost, etc. In short, promoting different actions. Now, my answer begins with “they think differently – and that thinking leads to different actions”.

The old expression, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” provides a wonderful analogy to describe our shift. We have done a great job of leading the horses (tons of information and reasons why we should be acting more sustainably) and providing the water (actual opportunities to act differently through our programs), but not all were drinking. Many were, and indeed, many more did with each additional opportunity we provided. For example, Sustainable West Milford’s Farmer’s Market initiative was so successful last year that we attracted 14,000 shoppers. That is 14,000 people promoting our local economy, local agriculture, and effectively acting more sustainably.

But how do you get more people to drink the water? The answer is in helping them to start thinking differently. If we follow the problem of unsustainable actions “upstream,” to their source, we find faulty thinking. For example, in our culture, we tend to focus relieving the symptoms of a problem rather than the problem itself – we take a pill to lower our blood pressure while ignoring our lack of exercise, poor diet, and excess weight. This is an example from EfS of a mental model called “Shifting the Burden Archetyp.e” Using this thinking leads you to working hard to resolve the symptoms of a problem while essentially ignoring the fundamental problem. Similiarly, SWM’s efforts have targeted community member actions while largely ignoring changing community member thinking – the fundamental problem.

Make no mistake: this strategy of changing community members’ actions by providing information and opportunities to make real changes has been extremely effective and essential in building momentum, exposure, and support, but like most strategies, it has its limitations. For one thing, it is not fast enough – our window for change is a narrow one, and for another, we can only do so much!

So, this year, in addition to our action-oriented strategy, we introduced a companion strategy to address this need for a change in thinking. If community members change the way they think, they will lead themselves to make the choices that will result in a truly sustainable community. As Jaimie reminded us during our training, there is never just one reason for a problem and there is never just one solution!

Stay tuned: the last of our New Jersey Learns series will appear on the Dodge blog on Wednesday.

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New Jersey Learns introduces teachers and community leaders to Education for Sustainability. Education for Sustainability (EfS) is a whole system approach to schools and communities learning together for a sustainable future and includes the Cloud Institute’s EfS Core Content Standards. The program brings community-based teams to participate in one year of introductory training, implementation, coaching and assessment activities.

* * *
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

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On the heels of our Earthwatch guest blog series, Dodge has now teamed up with the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education for a new round of guest blog posts, “New Jersey Learns Mondays.” The reflections and stories from K-12 teachers and community leaders who have completed Cloud’s unique leadership training program “New Jersey Learns: Schools and Communities Learn Together for a Sustainable Future” will show that it is possible to lead the shift to a sustainable future.

From innovative instructional partnerships to curriculum design, NJ Learns is building capacity among educators, parents, community members, and, ultimately, our youth, to “live responsibly and well within the means of nature.”

If you missed them, you can read the previous NJ Learns entries with Stacey Kennealy of GreenFaith and with Winnie Fatton of Sustainable Jersey. Today, we hear from Caitlin Wargo, the Director of Sustainability and Energy Management for the Far Hills Country Day School.

Far Hills Country Day School students making natural bird feeders

By Caitlin Wargo, Director of Sustainability and Energy Management
Far Hills Country Day School

The Far Hills Country Day School team (who are Jen Berry, parent; Jen Wagar, fifth grade teacher; Ben Yu, Pre-K teaching assistant and I) almost didn’t make it to NJ Learns. A freak power outage shut down the school on the day everything was due. FHCDS parent and Energy Committee member Jen Berry had power at her house, so we went there to finalize our application, along with an apology for not including any of the attachments, which were stuck on my computer at school.

That was about a year ago, and I know I can speak for our team when I say that we have gotten so much more out of this program than we could have imagined.

I thought I might walk away from the workshop with some helpful tips for the school’s new Energy and Sustainability Initiatives. Far Hills had been recycling and composting long before I was hired, so our students already had a stewardship in their “think.” The new Energy Initiative, on the other hand, charged us with achieving energy independence in ten years, a lofty goal offering us a significant opportunity to impact our students’ mindset regarding energy. From the outset, we saw this first and foremost as an opportunity to educate, so we have involved our students in all of our plans, enabling them to be the decision makers charting the course of the initiative: from researching renewable options to speaking on behalf of the school in front of the Planning Board.

Post-workshop, I met with our Head of School, Jayne Geiger, and told her I wanted to change up my whole approach. I think the words I used were, “Put my money where my mouth is.”

The information on systems thinking and brain science presented by Jaimie Cloud made so much sense, and helped me understand what we as a school needed to do if we were to really let the kids be leaders in this initiative.

The timing couldn’t have been better for Far Hills. We had just launched a new strategic plan emphasizing 21st century and project-based learning, as well as fostering global perspectives and building community. The EfS standards dovetail seamlessly with these, setting the stage for a collaboration that will have meaning at FHCDS and our community for years to come.

Here are some great things that have come about since our team took part in the NJ Learns workshop last year:

1. We played the fish game with the entire school faculty at the start of the school year. Feedback was unanimously positive and our faculty engaged in lively discussions about preserving the “commons.”
2. We taught the Jaimie Cloud’s one-day seminar over the course of two evening sessions to a group of ten co-workers and school parents, who were so enthusiastic that we had a hard time wrapping up each session. Some of those same teachers are now planning to attend the Curriculum Design Studio at the Cloud Institute this summer.
3. Jen Wagar is using the EfS standards as her team revises the third grade curriculum.
4. Jen Berry is organizing parents to host a film series/discussion group on sustainable themes for the school and community.
5. Ben Yu is working to put in a school garden. This garden will provide endless opportunities for learning about sustainable practices on a level that can be understood by our youngest learners. He is working with a group of interested students to decide what we should grow. One of the first suggestions was “puppies,” which may take a little work!
6. After taking part in NJ Learns, I revamped my environmental club to use a project-based learning approach. Within this new framework, the students generated several ideas. They decided to fix our defunct composting system and to rehab an underused courtyard at the school with outdoor seating and to create art installations and bird feeding stations. They also want to put in a small pond – I am not bursting their bubble yet. Who knows? It just might fly. As part of their research, are interviewing several community members who have offered to lend their expertise.
7. This spring, I will be working with eighth graders who want to help me determine the school’s most effective renewable energy options as part of their research project requirement.
8. The Science Department is working with the Upper Raritan Watershed Association to revise our existing Pond Project so that it includes data on the effectiveness of our retention basins in filtering runoff from our parking lots and drives.
9. FHCDS joined Sustainable Jersey in Bernardsville and will have students participating in their community information session in March, alongside students from the local public high school.

FHCDS students hanging their bird feeders

Where do we go from here? We’ve built a strong, committed team, and as Jaimie Cloud says, “This isn’t instant orange juice.” As a result of Far Hills Country Day School’s participation in the NJ Learns program, however, I think our students will be even better prepared to take their place as the leaders of the future.

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New Jersey Learns introduces teachers and community leaders to Education for Sustainability. Education for Sustainability (EfS) is a whole system approach to schools and communities learning together for a sustainable future and includes the Cloud Institute’s EfS Core Content Standards. The program brings community-based teams to participate in one year of introductory training, implementation, coaching and assessment activities.

* * *
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
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