tarred & feathered

Happy Earth Day!

Today, MEC Earth and Environmental Science students celebrated life on Earth outside on a sunny and beautiful springtime Wednesday. But first they had a “chalk talk,” which is a silent discussion on the board in response to a couple wonderful Orion articles.

As we wrap up the year, I’ve been learning about something I guess I never really knew too much about: how others learn. For instance, I used to think as a teacher that I had to slow down to emphasize the importance of a point… That can work, but the way humans process information is constantly changing, especially in the 21st century. So much is changing, and quickly too.

Thanks to Lily, I’ve got many wonderful resources to relay to these young minds. I smile when I think about how these ninth graders are learning (and they are learning!) about things I did not know about until college. There’s so much that we need to understand about our planet. Primary point: human activity is causing a life-threatening climate change.

How much information is too much information? I don’t know the answer. All I know is that a ninth grader’s mind moves a lot faster than mine. So no, don’t slow down. Heck, we only have a few weeks left! And who even knows if MEC will survive NC’s devastating k-12 budget cuts? Power to the educators!