2008 Summer Retreat
A Professional Development Program
on Transforming our School Ecologies
in Elementary and Secondary Education
Global Source invites you to join us for three days of professional learning about how to assess a school's sustainability
practices and ecological footprint by engaging educators, school staff, students and operations at curricular and practical levels.
Guiding Questions
Given the urgent need for a sustainable future, what are the roles of our
K-12 schools in the 21st century?
In what ways are we experiencing, or can imagine, the full potential for
sustainability in K-12 education and our schools communities?
How can we design our schools ecologically, collaboratively, and
systemically to achieve transformative resource abundance? And how can there
be fun(ds) doing it?
Program Itinerary
Day 1: Raising Awareness: Creating Vision & Culture of Curriculum
Participants will explore visions and reveal opportunities for sustainable
development in their respective schools, utilizing the Breidablik School as a learning venue. Films, discussions, guest speakers, and small group
collaborations will make for a full-featured and provocative learning
experience in this day as well as in the two succeeding days of the retreat.
Day 2: Building Knowledge: Practical Demonstrations
Turning visions and imagination into practice, day two sets on a course of
learning about the underlying contexts and conditions for school
sustainability. Participants will collaborate as they identify & assess school assets, practice observation skills and generally enliven cultural,
social, economic, civic and ecological values.
Day 3: Fostering Engagement: Practical Demonstration into Program Design & Curriculum Framework
Building on the gleanings of Day 2, participants apply form and structure to
their ideas and visions for sustainability. Enlisting practical design
techniques, innovations in classroom curricula and across the campus will
afford participants with knowledge, skills and materials to take and apply
their learning at their respective schools. The retreat will close with a
celebration featuring local wine and organic foods.
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This three-day retreat will take place
at Breidablik Elementary School, Poulsbo, WA
July 15-17, 2008
Please contact us for more information and reservations 206-780-5797
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New this year, this project will guide schools and districts to review and revise their practices in terms of their environmental impact.
Evidence of global warming and environmental depletion is widespread. We are witnessing the destruction of many essential and deeply interconnected ecologies. We rightfully should be daunted by the scale of the crisis. Yet we can take heart in the opportunity to address the crisis in our schools. Global Source offers unique perspectives on identifying local resources, solutions and guidance for taking steps toward implementation.
At this summer’s retreat, educators will explore a variety of methods for schools to develop as sustainable living and learning centers that conserve energy and accommodate climate and resource transitions with competence and confidence. As a curricular activity, teachers and students will work to initiate a series of planning steps and evaluations. Following the Institutes, Global Source will work with selected pilot schools.
The Sustainable Schools Project prepares for the future by re-imagining and re-designing classroom, school, and community ecologies to be contributors to abundance, health, vitality, and long-term durability.
Engagement must be fully democratic, participatory, critical and whole systems-minded, and inclusive of local and cultural perspectives.
Our approach speaks of nested ecologies rather than a single ecology of anything. Any single ecology is multi-part in nature and internally indivisible so that longevity and reproduction is ensured. The essential elements are physical, bio-environmental, and human-cultural.
Global Source has developed the content and strategies in collaboration with Ed Mikel and Jonathan Scherch, professors at Antioch University Seattle.
Our 2008 Summer Institutes will offer dialogues and resources with a focus on specific school and community resources and needs. Assessments and solutions will be based on whole systems thinking while addressing specific topics such as energy conservation and waste management.
- We will learn to evaluate how a physical ecology based on
managing resources and waste can actually create abundance.
- We will explore how networks and organic processes found in nature can inform our human endeavors
and relationships.
- We will examine how diversity contributes to the health of the whole system and is not simply
a source of conflict.
- We will look at the why and how, seeking actions that go beyond identifying what is happening
or missing.
- We envision individual schools and districts playing an active role in evaluating
their local needs and resources and developing projects and priorities for sustainable practices as
part of classroom curricular activities.
- We will initiate a cycle of thinking and acting in ways that are healthy and enduring,
in order to reduce the ecological footprint of schools.
Tuition $195 for Members and $215 for Non-members.
Clock Hours are available (additional cost)
