Self-Reflection

Sadly, I never got to teach any of the lessons I have made. The lessons were all

hypothetical. The teacher finished the unit on Environmental Science while I was in Spring

Break. However, I still had all the Environmental Science curriculum from the teacher, and I

used the curriculum to base off my lesson plans. The curriculum is from Michigan

Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum from Oakland Schools.

I started planning my lessons by creating an overview of the unit first. I read over the

curriculum and I picked out certain topics that interested me for each lesson. The first lesson

on Human/Environment Interaction was, How Do Humans Interact with the Environment?

However, I did not start with the lesson provided in the curriculum for my first lesson, rather

I went to YouTube to find videos on human impacts on the environment. Then, I created my

own lesson on bringing a tree to plant in the school garden. I wanted to do something way

outside the box, and gathering the students and going outside to plant a tree would make the

students feel as if they are part of changing the environment.

For my second lesson, I used the ten global problems relating to human/environment

interaction. The curriculum gave themes of each World Environmental Day and a little

paragraph explaining the problem and the reason for being a global problem. I used this

handout because it gave a clear grasp of global issue that is being discussed among leaders

and politicians from all over the world.

The third lesson focuses on natural resources which was mentioned in the second

lesson of Human/Environment Interaction. However, I altered the Anticipation Guide used in

the curriculum to fit with my own lesson plan. I dont go into the definition and examples of

natural resources, rather I wanted to look at the overexploitation of natural resources in our
world to discuss justice issue.

The fourth lesson dives into the history of natural resource use so that students can

understand the reasoning behind why we use so much natural resources. The third lesson was

on what and how natural resources are used and the fourth lesson asks the question of why.

For the last lesson, I go in depth to discuss why we overexploit natural resources in

Africa for the sake of our own goods. The curriculum does not go into the injustice of

forcefully taking natural resources of Africa, but it touches upon rich and poor countries and

their natural resources. I do not want to show the student which country is poor or rich, but I

want them to know why poor countries are facing poverty because of rich countries

overexploiting natural resources in these countries.

As a teacher, I do not want to lecture about facts and dates to the students. Yes, some

facts and dates are important for students to know, but what is more important is why they are

learning what they are learning. I want to expand their perspectives on the human impacts on

the environment so that they may understand and realize how much injustice there is in the

world. I am not trying to make them feel bad and guilt-trip them in thinking they are awful,

greedy, first-world students, but rather to give them hope that they may be the change in their

homes, neighborhoods, communities, schools, cities, and the world. They may not change the

world now, but through teaching about how we can make a difference in small steps, the

students will be empowered to do greater things in which God has called them to do.

This kind of learning must come from the school as well. In Teaching to Change the

World, the authors talk about schools are pressed by values, beliefs, and commitments of the

larger culture. Press refers to the influence of a cultural imperative or a social consensus. It

suggests an inevitability that each member of a society, a group, or an institution will be

immersed in, and thus pressed by particular cultural values. (Oakes, Lipton, Anderson, and
Stillman, 2013, p. 262). Whatever the cultural value the school hold, that will be my standing

on how I am going to teach. The school I am teaching at value environmental justice deeply;

therefore, I am more inclined to teach justice and human rights to the students. The Christian

belief the school has for the students gives me room to share about Gods grace and

redemption in His creation through us. Thus, I want to teach to bring justice and equity in the

world God created.