Students tour U of T's GRIT Lab.
At the start of the third term, I was approached by a colleague seeking to collaborate on a new project for my students. As a new teacher at Greenwood, he was advised to work with more experienced teachers on a project that would allow them to demonstrate their strengths. This particular colleague and I share a passion for all things urban - urban planning, municipal politics, sustainable cities, design and most of all public space - so working together was bound to be an enjoyable experience. After tossing around several ideas such as looking at city monitoring wells to determine possible site contaminants, we decided to focus on green roofs, as it was a natural progression for the students from their previous unit on sustainable landscape design.
Here's the run down:
1. We worked together to build a series of activities focused on Toronto's green roof bylaw, the first of its kind in North America. After an introduction to green roofs and their environmental benefits (students were already familiar with these concepts - storm water management, reducing the urban heat island effect, improving air quality, etc), students used a template to complete research based on the question: "Is the City of Toronto’s Green Roof Bylaw an effective environmental policy?" Click here to view the
full assignment.
2. My colleague is well connected in the city, so he was able to arrange for us to visit some local green roofs. On a rainy Monday afternoon, we went on a field trip to three green roof projects in Toronto - the Central YMCA, the University of Toronto's GRIT Lab -- a state of the art green roof testing lab where we heard from Scott MacIvor, the chief biologist and green roof expert -- and City Hall's green roof. Students were able to see first hand how the roofs were designed and built, and hear from experts on their usage and the science behind plant selection and growing medium choices. At City Hall, students completed an activity that encouraged them to think deeper about the use of public space, making connections back to their prior learning in landscape design.
3. Back in the classroom, students participated in a flip debate activity about the merits of the city bylaw. Walking around the classroom observing this activity, I was thrilled to hear in-depth discussions based on facts, passionate arguments, and thoughtful consensus. In the end, most students agreed that the bylaw was good, but that it could be better.
4. Using their research notes from the flip debates, students wrote Op Ed articles detailing their opinions on whether or not environmental sustainability should be legislated. The results from this assignment reflected their level of engagement in the flip debate activity. Click here for a
student example.
5. Now, students are putting their knowledge and their design skills to work, investigating methods of constructing green roofs by developing their own design for Greenwood's green roof on the new school building.
So What?
Overall, this was a great experience collaborating with a colleague to develop a unit of study that we were both passionate about. I really enjoyed working together as each idea we came up with seemed to be better than the next. In creating the assignment, we were each able to contribute based on our individual strengths - I have more experience developing checklists for grading than he does; while he has more experience in teaching students to write for an intended audience. He has more knowledge of city politics and bylaws, whereas I have more knowledge of the environmental benefits of green roofs. Together, we were able to develop an assignment that was better than we could have created on our own.
Once again, I have found that making real-world connections has the power to engage students in meaningful learning experiences. Through a connection to the bylaw, to professionals working in the field, and to Greenwood's new building, students recognized the application for their learning.
