“Wow, what an amazing workshop!! Loved all the GLAD strategies used and the voices of hope shared to teach about such a critical topic!” is just one piece of feedback received after the latest 3-day Voices of Hope GLAD Unit workshop. The event was held at Educational Service District 123 in Pasco, February 23rd through the 25th. Over the course of three days, educators were immersed in learning about this one-of-a-kind open educational resource GLAD unit developed and trained by NCESD’s Kate Lindholm with the help of Dr. Sara Martinez, Strategic Steps.
The focus of the unit is to bring hope and agency to students in grades 4 through 7 as they learn about and come to understand climate science.
A key piece of the unit is, with the help of their teachers, the development of an action plan by students. Throughout the unit students are introduced to individuals and organizations that are taking action to positively impact the climate. As they learn what others are doing, they are called to take action and make a plan on how they can make a difference.
During the workshop, teachers learn the GLAD strategies used in the unit, the climate science to support student learning as well as their own, science investigations that are integrated into the unit, and how to help students find the hope in the climate science topic. Teachers leave the workshop with a resource kit to fully implement the unit upon returning to their classrooms.
Teachers investigate pollutants from fire as part of their training on the GLAD unit.
Several more three-day workshops are currently scheduled at various locations around the state of Washington. These workshops are currently postponed due to safety concerns around the novel Coronavirus.
