A Discussion: Taking Care of Earth and Animals
Lesson Overview
Initially to engage my students in their own advocacy I had to define advocacy for them. We had already read several stories about people who advocate for social injustice like: A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara and Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara. We revisited each of those books over the course of a week and I reminded them of the various ways that we could advocate for ourselves and others.
Photos from: https://www.amazon.com/Activist-Innosanto-Nagara/dp/1609805399/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1609805399&pd_rd_r=KX0TYZHTV2DMVWKR3V6V&pd_rd_w=5cWyZ&pd_rd_wg=It2kM&psc=1&refRID=KX0TYZHTV2DMVWKR3V6V&dpID=51VHcow4iTL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail
Photos from: https://www.amazon.com/Counting-Community-Innosanto-Nagara/dp/1609806328/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1609806328&pd_rd_r=J5WGHZ2NWN27R8EC9ZVJ&pd_rd_w=FxTKQ&pd_rd_wg=Wc6m7&psc=1&refRID=J5WGHZ2NWN27R8EC9ZVJ&dpID=61tQG7f6-bL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail
Then, I introduced them to a cycle of advocacy visual I created that would help them all make sure we're incorporating essential ideals of advocacy into our project work. We discussed each element of the cycle and students were able to ask questions about any part they didn't understand. For the lesson initially we were going to focus on perspective taking, social justice, investigate the world, kindness, communicate the ideas and reflect. Following that we would focus on take action. The visual was posted prominently in our room to remind us of the work we're doing.
After reviewing the cycle of advocacy I began looking up an appropriate book to expose children to the ideas they have always expressed an interest in: the earth and animals. I came across the book One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul and corresponding website:
Utilizing the website as inspiration I began a read-aloud of the book with the children by asking them open-ended questions about the cover with a thinking routine: See/Think/Wonder. The children saw: "a woman, goats, trash, bags". They thought that maybe the "woman was picking up trash" and they wondered: "what the goats were doing and where the story took place". Once I read them the title they thought the story would be about a plastic bag and recycling. After the story was finished I had them use a worksheet I created to initially draw their idea for reusing recycling like Isatou Ceesay did. Then, I interviewed each child and wrote down their answers to the top questions. Below is the cover of the story, an annotated lesson plan that aligns with a multitude of standards related to science, social justice and Pre-K expectations and a reflection tool I designed for students to engage with at the end of the lesson.
Lesson Plan I created and implemented around the book One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul:
Reflections on Lesson
The reflections on the story from the children revealed that they understood that trash and littering makes the earth sick, animals die and that it doesn't have to be that way. They expressed through their drawings and interviews that they understood that we can reuse items we would ordinarily throw away, like milk boxes from our lunches and create art or something else useful out of it. Prior to this lesson I had not heard them reflect on the trash they produce themselves nor how they might turn that waste into something creative and useful again. It was clear that the story of Isatou Ceesay had an impact and that their perspectives were shifting and becoming more connected to everyday injustices that we are complicit in and how to change them.
In response to the children's reflections we created more space and opportunities for them to collect recyclable materials from their lunches or brought in from home to add to our mini-atelier (art studio). These items would be reused during our project and choice time to create the ideas they sketched after the lesson.
Conclusion
This was a student-led and teacher facilitated introduction to addressing systemic injustices related to the environment. People continue to make mistakes when it comes to making environmentally friendly choices and my students connected to this idea through literature and reflection. Students began evaluating and analyzing their own behaviors inside the classroom like instead of throwing away recyclable material from their lunches they could rinse and reuse them to make art projects in the atelier and at home they could also encourage their families to do the same. There next task was to engage in an action related to their new understanding and thoughts on the earth and how to protect its animals.