The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

These videos, provided by Edutopia on iTunes, were nothing short of amazing. The first video I watched was entitled The Edible Schoolyard. It was a short documentary of how Martin Luther King Junior Middle School used an organic garden completely grown by the students as a bases for all subject areas in school. The students spend their entire first period planting and tending to their garden while facilitating their math skills, social/cooperative skills, and scientific knowledge. The garden helps better portray topics such as the life cycle and recycling of matter, some chemistry, ecology basics, math, cooking, environmental science, and even social studies/history. What I also found intriguing, was that all learning styles are accommodated with the garden. Students have the opportunity to learn auditorally, visually, and kinesthetically while participating in maintenance of the garden!

The second video I watched was entitled A Night in the Global Village. This program is used to teach students how other people in the world live in poor living conditions, without proper supplies, water sources, food, or adequate shelter. They spend 24 hours living together in a natural setting, and are forced to trade and bargain with other groups for supplies they were not provided. One group, the refugees, begin with nothing. They must then build a fire, cook their food, and purify their water before they go to bed in their shack-like shelters. This teaches the students important living skills, cooperation, and can truly reveal to young people how others throughout the world live their daily lives. This program is also a nonprofit organization that works to donate livestock and other supplies to the deprived all over the world. Another aspect of this program called "Read to Feed," is utilized in the classrooms. This program provides books that educate students about other cultures and explains how American choices affect the rest of the world.

As an early-childhood special education major, I think that the most useful podcast for me would be the edible garden podcast. My goal is to work with autistic children ranging from 0-5, and in my experience, autistic children learn so much more and are much more engaged when participating in hands on activities. Perhaps the most prominent aspect of autism is social interaction. With something like a garden, or any other project the requires team work and cooperation, better social skills can be acquired with others. These podcasts will certainly remain in my mind when I become an educator, and I hope that I will one day create similar learning environments for my future students.