Thinking Outside the Bubble, by Dorian Stocking and Caitlin Corr

What’s a noun? How might you punctuate “Eats, shoots, and leaves”? What constitutes a run-on sentence? What would you use to measure a pH balance? What is the corresponding nucleotide for each of these letters: ACGT? Can you find the value of x?

These questions are examples of what’s on a STAR test. It’s important to know the basics such as names, dates, formulas, and tools, but there’s more to learning than that. During the week of STAR schedules were confusing, and there was an overwhelming feeling of apathy. Most students at TL don’t care about STAR tests, however there are also those who try to do well. We think there needs to be an assessment on the basics, but it shouldn’t be so overdone. In MSEL, our teachers help us to become problem solvers, effective communicators, productive team members, and generally encourage empathy and flexibility. The STAR test isn’t an accurate measure of these skills, however interactive projects require us to use these abilities in the field. We then are able to demonstrate our knowledge from past experience, utilizing our range of skills gained from it.

STAR testing, compared to the rest of the year, was a breeze. It represents a kind of words on paper learning compared to hands on projects like the cook-off. We as humans, learn more from experience than by conducting a simple procedure, and finally marking the correct bubble. The more that one experiences, the more that he or she will learn. Examples of hands on learning this year have been learning how to communicate better during the retreat, project week, and the cook-off. On every one of these occasions we learned from our experiences to work together, and work around hardships.

We believe that the standard curriculum should be based around hands on, project based learning because it develops your mind to solve greater problems that you will run into later in life. Project based learning increases teamwork efficiency and leadership skills. STAR testing is an inaccurate measure of knowledge because it focuses mainly on the simple, easy, basic ideas that are expanded through hands on activities.

During the first project week, everyone who participated greatly benefited in their communication skills. At times, we were in the process of planning, interviewing, filming, or testing, the atmosphere got a bit hectic. It was only our first time organizing a real project week, and we had to understand that it was a procedure of learning. Along the way we found out that if you don’t communicate, people start to get off track, and confused about what their job is. It was essential to have everyone in the group sit down, and go over what the plan for the day was. All the groups constantly had to contact and communicate with one another to be sure that they were on the same page. At the end of this chaotic experience, we all learned some important skills about staying on task and forming various ways of thinking to confront issues we came across.

During the second project week, all the groups went off campus at least once, and we all had to rely on people outside of MSEL. It was difficult at times to contact our volunteers who were at work, or contacting people from different school districts. MSELers were all over the place, and a lot of people didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of confusion about what some groups were really doing. Some groups started to do one thing, and then figured they were doing the wrong thing. In the end, we used more of our flexibility skills this project week, and learned that it takes more patience, and empathy to deal with people that won’t always be around.

At the end of a stressful and insane day, we realize that each project week highly increased our skills and abilities as people now, and later on in life. After suffering through many disappointments and struggling in communicating with students, staff, and volunteers, we end up as stronger and smarter people overall. It is very difficult to gain these skills without the hands on learning aspect. This is why MSEL is a unique program that not only teaches us about the environment, but also educates us for our futures in the working world.

April 25, 2012

Adaptation on the Fly: the Evolution of Marin SEL. By Ethan Gaines and Dylan Adler

Adaptation is the evolution of a species over time to better fit its environment. For example, the whale, a huge sea animal, used to be a land animal no bigger than a dog and we know this because whales have a hip-bone that has no use. The hip-bone in a whale is called a “vestigial structure,” because of its lack of use. MSEL didn’t get the chance to adapt over time during the Friday cook-off, like the whale did. We had to adapt in the moment to save our cooking competition, called the “Hunger Games”, which is exactly what we did.

It all started the week before Spring Break. We were studying the food system in the United States in all of our Marin SEL classes, looking at “conventional” food and comparing it to healthier, local, organic food. Then our teachers informed us that to build upon the idea of organic local food, we would be having an organic, local, healthy, food cook-off.   We chose our teams of five, and each team had its own style of cooking, drawing from different cultural influences from all around the world. The goal was to create dishes that used ingredients that were organic, local, sustainable, healthy, and used environmentally friendly ingredients. As a class, we ventured to one of the Marin Farmers Markets the day before the competition.

The Farmers Market was an exciting experience:

I was walkin’ down the road with my group b’side me

Zargar came up next to us sayin’ “Can you please find me

a Belgian waffle, savory and sweet

by the Belgian’ waffle truck we should meet”

Takin’ pics with the group

got distracted from dat smell o’ soup

We ate some kettle corn

so sweet and shiny

It looked so good

it amost said buy me

We fought o’er dat pop corn

and those dat didn’t get any felt forlorn.

            Our trip to the market was a huge success. Everybody got the ingredients that they needed. We also learned some interesting things at the market, because we were asking stall owners questions from our MSEL questionaire.  For example, we were told that spider DNA is used in McDonalds French fries.  We learned that it takes hard work, dedication, and passion to live the farmer lifestyle and grow local, organic food. We felt confident coming back from our Farmers Market. Little did we know that the next day would bring chaos beyond our wildest dreams.

           

            We got to the kitchen adjacent to the MarinSEL room the next day feeling confident in our dishes, prepared to create our delicious creations. We began to cook and had some early success, but success was soon replaced with disaster. We were continuing our cooking when a catastrophe arose. We heard “BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP”, the blaring sound continued to pulsate throughout the school, signaling a supposed fire threat. Evidently, some smoke and steam from our cooking leaked into the hallway setting off the fire alarms. The school was quickly in a state of panic.  There was mayhem in the hallways, as everyone had to evacuate the school.

           

            When we returned to the room we found that administrators at the district level had decided we could no longer use the kitchen. At first we were disappointed, but then, as our teacher, Ms Leonhart said,” We handled it like champions”.

           

            We had been studying evolution and adaptation in biology that week, and quickly realized that, like our ancestors before us, we must adapt to our environment. We had to evolve our dishes to match the conditions before us. Some dishes had to be completely rearranged, like replacing crepes with angel cake and mixing ingredients to make a salad, but others stayed mostly the same due to Ms. Leonharts superb actions in bringing all the uncooked food to her own kitchen and cooking it for us.

            The food came out fantastic, especially with Ms. Leonhart’s herculean efforts. (Teacher’s note: This entailed shlepping three loads of half-prepared dishes to my car, a quick trip home, an impressive blowout of my kitchen, the abandonment of my second period class--huge props to Frankie, our campus security officer for holding down the fort--and a return to school in time to beat the bell. All told, I'm glad I know how to cook and live so close to school. Thanks for the thanks!) The winning group for our “Hunger Games” cook-off will get to go to a Giants game, complete with time on the field and a Green Tour of the stadium as part of the Giants partnership with local schools. It hasn’t yet been announced which group gets to go, but everyone hopes it will be theirs.  Through this process, we managed to adapt to a difficult situation, and evolved as a class and as people. We learned that there will always be roadblocks along the way, but with creative thinking, we can surpass any obstacle. We will be ready to face the other challenges that are sure to come our way during our time with MarinSEL, and in our lives. As a wise person once said,” It’s never crowded at the cutting edge.” We are honored to be part of the cutting edge at MarinSEL.

Without a Plan, Do You Think You Can? By Ani Pirinjian and Alyssa Ceccanti-Harris

We stare at the feathery red hat filled with fluttering slips of red and green, wondering whose names will be called. Chiara, one of our two previous bloggers, sticks her hand into that giant hat and pulls out a single green sheet of paper. She delivers the name of one of this week’s bloggers, “Ani!” Ani turns to Alyssa and says, “I hope you get picked too.” Now the hat travels to Ember, our other previous blogger. Ember grabs a red slip, and Alyssa is chosen. Ironic, Huh?

Planning and preparation are the first steps to success. Without any rough sketch of what is coming ahead, the result wouldn't turn out well. While planning, one must consider the outcome they are striving for. For example, take this very blog. Without planning, this blog would never be put into action. The two weeks of preparation for the bi-monthly post consists of looking for and making connections within the five MarinSEL classes, some academic, but also social. For example, academic connections connect the films we watch in our Geography class to the books we read in our English class. Social connections are the ones we notice not necessarily in school but throughout our days and we connect back to MarinSEL with everything we learn in each unit. Our chosen bloggers must be the eyes and ears of the academy. Throughout the week, the two bloggers must take copious notes explaining what occurred in each class. In addition, they meet several times before the week is over to discover connections within the five classes and to decide a theme for their blog of the week.  Next comes the Friday meeting with Ms. Leonhart to look over the notes taken and the connections made. You need a plan before starting anything, from simple school projects to lifetime opportunities.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were put on the spot and didn’t know what to do? Not only when the teacher randomly calls on you to answer the one homework problem you skipped, but in an emergency when someone needs help and you don’t know how to deliver? Well, our very own Mr. Garcia is preparing us for any possibility. This week the twenty-five of us began CPR training in our health class. We went through a presentation of what to do in such a situation and then practiced what we learned on dummies. Now, thanks to planning and preparation.  we are prepared for a possible emergency that could happen any time

There was much planning involved with character design in our English class, taught by Ms. Leonhart. The assignment was to create a character and write a short story based on the book we recently read, The Milagro Beanfield War. Each student developed his or her own kooky character and wrote about a single event that occurred in his or her life. Now we are working on refining our stories with multiple drafts. Keep in mind that what you planned originally will not always be the same as the final outcome.

The writing process is very similar to life. You start with one crappy draft where all you are doing is sharing your ideas with the world. Then you ask your peers to revise the piece you have put together. You take their revisions and improve your paper. Once you believe your paper is perfect you take it to your teacher and earn a grade worth hanging on the fridge, proud that you have a paper that can be as perfect as possible. In life, you plan a rough sketch of an event to start off. After experiencing it for the first time you ask others for their opinion and revise your ideas. After an updated plan for the event, the experience is much better the second time and you are living the highlife.

To some students, it may seem like teachers just give out homework and grade tests. However, teachers put the same effort, if not more, than students themselves into assignments, curriculum, and tests. For instance, in World Geography, Mr. Madsen planned out our entire food unit. We started the unit with a simple online activity and we will get into more depth as we continue learning about different aspects of food.

In Mr. Zargar’s Biology class we have been learning about genetics and the passing down of traits from parents to children. This class has showed us that planning is not just a major role in school and work, but in important life changing decisions as well. Learning about different aspects of yourself that you can pass down to your kids, from the good traits to the bad ones, really gets us teenagers imagining what our future will turn out to be.

All of these examples about the importance of planning can teach individuals important tools for living well. Our country’s leaders should also have a plan.  In our final MarinSEL class, seminar, we watched a film to wrap up our energy unit. The movie was called Kilowatt Our and it discussed current issues involving energy and our country's use of it. As a class, we focused on how our government should come up with an energy plan in the next couple years. If we don’t fix the energy crisis, the problem will grow to be gigantic until it is irreversible. Who knows, maybe one of us MarinSELers will be involved in the writing of this energy plan.

            Overall, we have learned that planning is a mandatory step in completing the actions one wishes to take. Without planning, even MarinSEL would not be possible. Think about it: if we did not plan our daily lives, then the world would just be one big jumble of confusion. Planning and preparation are how we figure out what we want to do in life, who we want to be, ,and most importantly how we want to live.    

Marin SEL: Creation Station! By Chiara Cameron and Ember Vosmek-Park

In our world, there are so many problems that need solutions. However, the solution cannot be just anything: it needs to work for everyone and still solve the problem. To think of these ideas we need creativity, however studies are indicating that children’s creativity scores are decreasing (Bronson and Merriman). This may be caused by schools not emphasizing kids’ creativity and out of the box thinking. The answers to the questions are either A, B, C, or D, which does not help students solve real world problems or help to think of creative solutions. Luckily, there are twenty-five students in Marin who get to be in MSEL. In so many ways we get to be creative and act like adults, making sure that problems get fixed and questions get answered and to do this we really have to expand beyond “normal” thinking.

For instance, in Mr. Madsen’s class we have created our own imaginary environmentally-friendly summer camp. We have a budget, as we would in the “real world,” and we have to choose how we get our shelter, food, water, and energy. We use our creativity to see what would work best for the campers and what is the most cost-efficient. There is no “right” answer for this summer camp. The answer is what we decide as a class with each individual person’s creative ideas. We began with one partner creating and developing our ideas for the camp, then combined with two more groups, developing a plan to incorporate every one's ideas in an innovative way. And finally as one unit we, the class, listened to every one’s perspective and make our final decision. For this project we did not have to simply bubble in an answer with our #2 pencil; we had to communicate, problem solve, and create--skills used in the real world. Additionally, we came up with environmental jobs that we could do. Although some people thought of jobs that already existed, many thought of clever and imaginative ideas, like Ani. She thought of a job where people bring in their old clothes that cannot be worn anymore because of a hole or stain. Then, she would design something that looks new and fashionable like a scarf, purse, or even some socks from the remnants. Without creativity, these jobs would not be conceived and we would never have a store like this. On the other hand, Meredith wanted to become a Marine Biologist, an existing job; another idea was to help fix windmills and work with all the parts in the generator of a windmill an existing technology. A man named Torrance led an experiment about creativity and this is what he found: “Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers” (The Creativity Crisis). So thanks to Mr. Madsen's encouragement of our creativity, we will have entrepreneurs, like Ani along with Marine Biologists like Meredith.

Ms. Leonhart’s English class has helped us connect with our creative instincts. Ms. Leonhart played us a rap that is still stuck in my head, but this was not just any rap. It was about “Plot, character, conflict, theme, setting! Yes! These are the five things that you’re going to be needing when you’re reading or writing a short story that's mad exciting!" I woke up this morning still singing this little rap from Flocabulary. Creative approaches to teaching can make a huge difference. If Ms. Leonhart had said, “You need plot, character, conflict, theme, and setting in your writing,” I would have just took that information and moved on never thinking about it again, especially on my weekend. But, because I heard everyone singing it all day I will not be forgetting it soon. In English we are working on creating characters who live in the quirky, mystical town of Milagro in The Milagro Beanfeild War. Every person develops his or her character out of pieces of themselves and people they know, whether conscious of it or not. Some characters reflect who we are, who we want to be, someone close to us, or an imaginary friend from your past; they can be whoever the writer wants them to be. One of the most important lessons that we have learned this week is that you have to use your creative imagination as well as your insight on other people and personal experience to make your character someone that the reader can relate to or sympathise with. Any story, but The Milagro Bean Field War especially, is based on the characters, and how they react to different situations and events. The plot should build off the characters; you should not determine your plot and then try to fit your characters into it. As Dr. Seuss said, “I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. Then in the end, I go back and try to cut out most of the preachments.” Every character we create, every story we build is unique and creative; just the way it is.

Even in Zargar’s Biology class, we found something creative to think about. We have been doing punnet squares and looking at traits of plants and even human beings. The genes or traits that are passed down from the parents to the child are what make a person individual, and it creates their own creative side. In many cases, if both parents are carriers for a recessive trait then the child will have their very own trait that was not visible and did not come up in the parent, making them different. The definition of creativity is “having the quality or power of creating” (Dictionary.com) and the definition of creating is “to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.” (Dictionary.com) There could not be a better definition that would relate to biology. To cause something unique is exactly what parents do by creating a child.

In Seminar, we are creating a proposal to give to Mr.  Christensen about how to help our school to become a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly school. As Ms. Leonhart said, “Creativity changes minds,” and that is exactly what we are hoping to do. So instead of a document some people wanted to create a poster. A poster would be much more visual and creative and it could, possibly, change Mr. Christensen’s mind about the energy we use. We have noticed that we want to learn and change if we are taught in a creative way, whether a rap, visual, or hands on.

Mr. Garcia’s health and P.E. class also involved some creativity. We watched a movie about Erin Brochovich, a brave single mother of three kids who exercises creative problem-solving, despite the general stereotypes that are connected with daring, beautiful, and completely broke women like herself. After watching this movie, I found myself wanting to fight for causes like Erin’s in the future. Taking our innovation to a physical level, we had to use our creativity to find a way to exercise at home, after school on Thursday and Friday, then get a slip signed by our parents saying that we did the physical exercise. Even though we barely had this class this week or did any activities in it to challenge our creativity, it is an example of how  we can always find ways to connect creativity to our every-day lives.

The evidence shows that being creative is extremely important to fantastic jobs and minds that can problem solve and find solutions to tricky situations like global warming. Albert Einstein said “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” This idea describes global warming perfectly. It shows that you must develop plans and create solutions and we cannot just continue our lives using the energy that we use. Without realizing i,t every student in MSEL is receiving a fantastic lesson in creativity, and every class in MSEL pushes our creativity making us think more and leading us on the path to success.

Love, War, and Perspective: By Sophi Leporte and Cheyenne Biel

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew.

Perspective can change everything: from how we deal with internal conflicts to how we face the external conflicts that surround us in our society. This week in MSEL, we learned of many things, from how synthetic biology can affect our future to potential green inventions, such as trees on roofs. Throughout the week, however, there seemed to be one reoccurring theme, perspective, and how it can completely change a story, an idea, and a world.

In English class we discussed the characters and plot in The Milagro Beanfield War. There are two kinds of characters in every book; flat - those who remain the same throughout the book - and round - those who change and experience emotional, physical, and mental growth as the story progresses. As we have just started reading this book, only certain perspectives of different individuals have already become clear. The book is not just based on one person’s experience with the plot or their story which some people find tedious while others think it is beautiful. Instead, John Nichols wrote The Milagro Beanfield War in such a way that the views of almost everyone in the community are present, and so are the individual stories of their lives. The book offers an interesting insight into the fight between large agri-businesses and small farm owners that are struggling to live with their lack of water in the valley as it shows the view of both sides, allowing us to see it from different perspectives. After much deliberation, we have decided not to read the entire book, but instead take out certain sections that relate to our class discussions due to different perspectives on particular chapters. Although in Geography we were not exposed to media that showed different perspectives of one problem, we learned to look past the opinions and focus on the facts.

In World Geography we watched a documentary called Fuel. This movie was based on the story of a young man who was brought up in Louisiana and exposed to harmful gases, from the nearby oil refinery. As he grew older, he became aware of the gas’ effect on his community. Fuel is not only about his story but also focuses on the idea that we do not need oil and gas from these harmful companies, that instead we can use bio-fuel. It shows different ways to save the dependency on these companies by presenting new ideas such as Megaflora trees that can grow by themselves and then grow back when they are cut down, potentially allowing paper to become a renewable source. Although the movie was inspirational and interesting, the main character had a personal connection with these oil companies far bigger than we do, and often would state opinions as opposed to facts. His perspective on the companies was different from that of, say, a worker there, and we had to seek the facts and look past the opinions because it’s important to receive information from every perspective because only then can we make a true choice. We need to view situations objectively in order to seek our subjective opinions.

In Biology class this week we looked at synthetic biology and the idea of making or “renovating” genes. Of course, this is a breakthrough in the world of science but there is also a downside. As research provides more insights to faster ways of creating genes, the market becomes bigger and the price becomes lower. Soon, the luxury of developing or studying a particular gene will be available to many as prices get lower every year. Why does this matter? Because this technology is not necessarily a good thing. It could have unpredictable, potentially disastrous consequences if the technology is used for non-beneficial purposes such as making a harmful life form that did not previously exist on this planet. Even though we are just freshman in high school and we should go more in depth into this subject to really develop our own opinion, both views on synthetic biology are extremely relevant and thought-provoking, each perspective offering a valid point.

John Lubbock, an English politician and biologist said, “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” This concept is threaded neatly into the movie we are watching in health: Erin Brockovich. Erin is a bad-luck-attracting, single mother who went through many hardships in life.Then, she started working at a law agency, and discovered that PG&E was continuously offering a high buying price on a house, due to its close proximity to one of their plants.The family living there had suffered many health problems, and they had been provided with a doctor by the company. The family was told by this doctor that their various health issues had nothing to do with the nearby PG&E plant. After Erin did some digging, she found that the symptoms matched exactly with symptoms of exposure to the harmful materials the plant was leaking. It took an outsider’s perspective on the case to crack it, and sometimes we have to remember to step back and see our problems from an outsider’s point of view.

Finally, in seminar we have worked on our debates about renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Half the class was given a non-renewable energy source to study while the other half we were given the tough job of trying to find facts that support a non-renewable energy source, the exact facts that we have been working against all year. It’s interesting to look at it all from another perspective though, to see all of this information almost out of another set of eyes which is what we must do to convince the audience that our source is truly the all-round best choice for energy. Sometimes it is hard to view situations from another angle and sometimes it even requires a shove or push in order to do so; however, once we do, everything becomes a lot clearer.

All in all, this week has taught us so much in our basic lessons but has also given us a subtle, not-so-obvious lesson on perspective. In order to truly understand anything we need to look at every viewpoint and from all angles. Every idea, thought, and creation is a bridge, a pathway between two separate opinions. No one can build a bridge from just studying one side of the land, the only way to create the best bridge is to step back and look at both sides and from there, everything will (for the most part) fall into place.

Human Energy, by Nivie Oron and Bertha Morales

      What concept  relates to waking up early to climb the ridge, swimming in the pool with Mr. Garcia, what we covered in Biology with Mr. Zargar, English with Ms. Leonhart and Geography with Mr. Madsen? Energy! “Energy” is a "loaded word." As we have learned in English,  we use it in many different ways: scientifically, symbolically, and practically. In all its forms and functions, energy has played a part in our classes since Spring Semester began.

      In Geography, we learned about the different types of energy: Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Solar, Wind, Coal, Natural Gas, Oil, Nuclear, and more. We explored the electron that loses energy as it passes through the electron transport chain, just as some of our electricity that passes through wires in the power grid. More energy is transferred in the electron transport chain than any other step of cellular respiration. Also, in the topic of cellular respiration, we learned that active transport requires energy from the cell to transport molecules , rather than the passive transport that doesn’t require energy.  These fundamentals of energy and its uses and functions are important, but they are not the only way that energy functions. In English, we approached energy more symbolically.

    All ninth graders recently watched the film MissRepresentation, written and directed by Jennifer Siebel. This film shows how we are unaware of the important role language plays in society (how language and the ways we use it have energy as well). Ads, television ,and movies shape our culture and the language used influences us. Celebrities shown in the media portray the message that people (particularly women and girls) should look and act a certain way: unrealistically slim and flawless--but their images are polished to unrealistic perfection by technology. This can lead to women and girls' low self esteem relating to our appearance, often causing eating disorders and depression . Misrepresentation of women and girls can also lead to lack of recognition when women assume positions of leadership or power. For example, Rosalind Franklin and her X-ray diffraction photograph of DNA helped reveal the characteristic shape of the double helix, but she never got as much credit as James Watson and Francis Crick who relied on her to produce their model of DNA.

     The passion that drives scientists such as Franklin, Watson, and Crick is a form of human energy. This kind of energy is stronger as people are uniting for a common cause such as the Global Occupy movement, which we investigated for English.  The Occupy protesters claim that a minority (the wealthy) are controlling our country's wealth.  Occupy protests are not only happening in the US, but are occurring all over the world as people in many nations combine their energies to stand up for their human rights.  Though there are many positive aspects to the movement,  I heard some students saying that maybe the protesters need a leader so that they can be clear on what they want, not only what they are fighting against. Also, we learned that the protesters have the right to use their energy to peacefully protest, but they are still getting unfairly treated by policemen.  

     Just like the Occupy protesters who peacefully use the power of language to promote equality, in seminar, we are using this language energy to become better leaders with Toastmasters. As we advocate for environmental changes and negotiate within our community, it becomes necessary for MSEL students to also harness the power of language in the name of positive environmental change and increased consciousness. 

As we worked with Toastmasters, we practiced preparing and presenting speeches about interesting personal experiences. The Marin School of Environment Leadership, altogether, is another example of how teamwork increases human energy. We are joining forces to make a change in our school as well as our community.

      After working as a team to break down aspects of the article “The Protestor” (Time Magazine, 2012) we began reading a new book in English class called “The Milagro Beanfield War”, about people living in New Mexico with minimal water rights. In this book, the the Devine company  has taken away the poor town’s water rights and leaving poor farmers unable to irrigate their fields for subsistence farming.  The main character, Joe Mondragon, decides he has had enough and stands up to the company, rerouting water to water hi family's beanfield.  An example of conflict over water today can be found in the Nestle Company that takes over towns’ water and at times leaves people without water even when they’re paying their bills. This book has introduced us to another protester, standing up for his rights much like the Occupy protestors.  It's another example of human energy and people coming together to make positive changes.

Marin SEL students, the Occupy protesters, and Joe Modragon from “The Milagro Beanfeild War” all have something in common. We all obtain human energy, and harness it to stand up for what we believe, whether this relates to changing people's environmental behaviors,  changing  patterns of inequality to women,  or advocating for the less wealthy in America and all over the world.

(Final edits on this piece completed by Ms. Leonhart)

Listen Up, Green People. It's Toomey Time.

Before winter break, MSEL completed our long-awaited Project Week. During Project Week we split into five groups of five people, each group completing a different task relating to the use (and abuse) of bottled water. There was Student Body Campaign, Teacher and Administration Cohort, Research and Marketing Cohort, Cafeteria and Athletics Cohort and finally the Documentary Cohort (see links!). Each group strove to put the word out that the use of bottled water has a negative impact on our society. We tried our best to convince others that drinking water from a plastic water bottle is unhealthy to the human body as well as the environment. Project Week was stressful, but also fun. The week gave us the chance to get our voices out there and negotiate with students as well as adults, building skills we’ll definitely use in the adult world.

The week started out extremely disorganized. It seemed as if we had a lot of time, but time flew by and suddenly we were at the point where time was up and projects were due. At points, the groups were going in different directions and they didn't seem to be working as a team. I felt a bit of "negative energy". There were disagreements and it was difficult to complete tasks. If we worked more efficiently as a team, I think it would have gone more smoothly. On the up side of things, we were able to show our different talents and creativity to volunteers and our teachers, as well as our peers. Though there wasn’t much homework during project week, the documentary group worked all throughout break to complete their amazing film. It was fun to have the freedom to walk around and do creative activities. As a result of our energy and hard work, we were able to communicate with health classes, present to the administration, do water taste tests around the school, bring filtered water to basketball games (something we’re still working on—thanks Cathy Licht!)), get a slew of teachers on board with us, and generally begin to increase consciousness about bottle abuse around the school. With Project Week behind us, we now have started the New Year with the study of energy and the effort to present to our parents what project week was all about.

Energy is now the theme in all of our MSEL classes. Starting with Biology, we watched Earth: A User’s Manual, a film about different types of energy and the positive effects of diverse energies in our society. Some of the types of energy sources we've looked at are solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear. They all have different impacts on the environment, positive and detrimental. The most popular energy efficient sources are wind and solar. Wind doesn't cause pollutants and isn't costly, but it kills birds and disrupts the beauty of the land. Plus, locations of the instruments for wind are limited. Solar is good as it doesn't make noise and there are no moving parts. You can actually get partially reimbursed from PG.&E for the cost of the panel over time. There are tax incentives when upgrading to solar energy. However, solar doesn't work at night and takes up a lot of roof space to use properly. The most commonly used energy source around the world is nuclear energy. Although nuclear energy may be popular it creates radioactive waste (not to mention tension between nations). We also learned about types of energy in World Geography.

The different types of energy sources that we learned about in Geography are solar, wind, geothermal, hydro-electric, nuclear, oil, natural gas, agricultural bio-mass, tidal and coal. Half of these listed are renewable. The renewable energy sources are tidal, solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-electricity. The remaining sources are non-renewable, meaning that you have to get more and more every time you use it. We are warned as a society that oil and natural gas can contribute to global warming and are not cost-effective. It seems that if the world was more knowledgeable about the other types of energy they may be more apt to try them. Mr. Madsen split us into groups to each make a poster giving information about each source of energy. We've had the last week to complete this goal and to take notes on the final projects and score each one. We also learned how to make professional looking posters that represent us with polish—increasing our ethos, if you will!

In Language Arts we have been learning about the spiritual, emotional and linguistic side of energy. For one assignment we had to find advertisements that said one thing but really meant another. For example, if a vacuum cleaner store said "Our vacuum cleaners suck!” the first thought that comes to mind is the vacuum cleaner is not good, when what they are actually trying to say is that they suck up dirt. Another assignment was finding words that mean the same thing but have a different emotional energy toward them. One good example from class was Sophie's example of "quiz vs. test": a “quiz” doesn't sound half as bad as a “test.” But they are actually the exact same thing! The way that language is used can be essential to our goal at MSEL, as we need to be able to inform others of what we've learned. To try to make changes in our society can be difficult, but to be persuasive and learn how to market to others through speech is incredibly important.

To close my blog, I offer you a sample of my poetry:

Project Week was full of excitement, and full of stress,
full of worry, we did our best,
This place we call MarinSEL, has given us a chance to ring the thinking bell,
Creativity and hard work,
mind-blowing teamwork,
Put together to succeed, this weeklong project... we succeeded indeed!
Volunteers wanted to help out; they tried and tried but had no doubts,
A week went by, we wanted to be done,
but what we didn’t know?
The real stressing had just begun!
From presenting to classes, parents, teachers too, we couldn’t help but to
Put on a show....
MarinSEL is only brand new,
And we want to tell the story to you.
Don’t worry, don’t hide in the shade,
Joining MarinSEL was the best choice I’ve made.

Welcome Back and Looking Forward! By Teagen Leonhart

Hi Everyone-- students, parents, colleagues and community,

Finally the rain has come and with it a sense of getting down to a new semester, taking the lessons learned in stride, and generally feeling accomplished and excited about our journey in MSEL so far. I thought I would take a moment and reflect--for your benefit and mine--on what I have learned as part of this academy. As a teacher, I am a great believer in making the unseen seen--allowing others behind the "scenes," as it were, and revealing the inner workings of things. And what better time to do this than a rainy day when I have stack of tests I'd rather put off, a hot cup of coffee, and the weekend ahead.

Choosing literature for a class with environmental themes and finding connections between different subject areas: what a fun challenge! I have felt this from the start and it continues to be true, though, as happens as ideas evolve, I have come to see that sometimes a loose connection can be as powerful as a clear one. After all, our MSELers are still high school students and there is every manner of subject matter, theme and skill that I serve them to cover, regardless of the fact that we have a focus on water, food, waste or energy. I will attempt here to explain the curricular choices over first semester and give you an idea of what is coming. I know it is a leap of faith to have your kids in an academy that's built as we go, and I want to reiterate my thanks in your trust in our abilities. There will perfect fits and valiant efforts that don't pan out, but all in all, I'm so pleased with the kids efforts and accomplishments so far, and endlessly impressed with my team, Saum, Jesse and Dave.

We begin the year with a focus first on poetry so that we might review certain skills concerning approaches to text. Over the course of one's academic career, annotation plays the role of bridge between a text, a reader and an author; it helps organize vast and complex texts into manageable ideas. As these kids are reading LOTS of things where they are not the intended audience (i.e. college level material at times), these skills are crucial and I have seen a world of improvement thus far. Plus, poetry is a great doorway to knowing people, and as we're in this for the long haul, building our relationships was as vital as any academic skill. We moved from poetry into observational writing, using as a core text "A River Runs Through It," by Norman Maclean. It's a beautiful story and gave us a model for looking closely at our immediate environment so that we might gain insight about the forces that shape the environmental culture of the school (or lack of it thereof). Next, the kids looked closely at their own ecological habits, and we all found--literally by holding onto our garbage for 24 hours--that despite our best intentions and identifying as "environmentalists," that we had a long way to go in abandoning our wasteful and addictive habits around convenience and vulnerability to cheap trends. Since then, I am seeing a LOT more Tupperware and reusable bottles. The papers were thoughtful, insightful and often funny, and helped us get honest about who we are and what we are doing here. These are choices I may repeat, though I may seek another story in doing so. They liked it, but weren't enthralled....then again, they don't always need to be in rapture, and the writing/thinking outcomes were achieved.

We continued on with a reading of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha,  a book many kids won't encounter till they are seniors. But our freshmen found much that resonated with them on this classic heroic journey.  Siddhartha, like all of us, is an imperfect character who must make many mistakes and face many ugly, challenging or distracting forces along his path to "enlightenment." We had some wonderful class discussions around this book, rooted in the four Noble Truths of Buddhism: that life is suffering; that suffering comes from desire; that to end desire meant the end of suffering, and in order to achieve this, one can follow the Eight-fold path. Simply put, the Eightfold-path outlines the steps of leading a life of integrity, vision, altruism and purpose. Though it's hard to grasp that in Buddhism this enlightenment may take several life-times to achieve (Meredith: "You mean you have to START OVER every time!?"), I think we all saw that as an academy we are just starting off on our journey, and will encounter many of the same forces Siddhartha did. We may not reach nirvana all at once, but we can certainly live a life of integrity and purpose, and every small victory we make is in its own way a journey. And what better message to absorb than that a great portion of our earth's suffering is rooted in human consumption of unnecessary and ultimately unfulfilling material objects? Incidentally, the Eight-fold path fits beautifully over Joseph Campbell's heroic Journey and we had a lot of fun finding parallels between these two narrative paradigms (for lack of a better phrase.) If you are interested in any of the supplementals we have used or would like to know more about any of these elements, please let me know.

Project week was quickly upon us and I will let John give you his input below, as I think many of you are quite aware of its great successes and frustrations. I will also post the documentary in a link, if you would enjoy and inside view no blog post can reveal. I fairly swooned with pride over what our kids were able to accomplish in just a week; I can't imagine what ground they will break in the future. What an amazing group--I am grateful for them every day.

Looking forward: at the moment, we are focused on the "energy" of language and image, having just viewed Missrespresentation,  which deals with how media's portrayal of girls and women serve to propagate low self image and the attendant, self destructive behaviors so tragically common amongst females of all ages; further, it delves into the insidious agenda at work that aims to keep women out of leadership positions and what needs to be done, looking forward, to ensure that girls are empowered, working together, and confident in their abilities to do whatever they want. There's a message for boys too--that they don't have to be a hyper-masculine, testosterone-driven, violence machine to be a young man; they, too, are allowed to feel and be human, and we all have to work together to overcome false and stereotypical expectations placed on us by a society that profits on our insecurity. We've also taken a hard look at why there are so few boys (those ground-breakers!) in our class and thought about how we can make environmentalism more accessible and attractive to boys in the future. As one female news anchor in the film reminded us, you don't need t wait for role models who look like you to come along--just DO what you want to do and BE the role model. I think this is true not just for boys or girls, but for al of us as we journey toward creating something truly new amidst plenty of naysaying and negativity.  We adults have to deal with this as much as they do, and we are in it together.

So: big stuff! I'm sure you'll hear about their response papers over the weekend, as they all had a LOT to say on this issue (Nivie: "I get really emotional about this!" Me: "Me too!").

We'll continue along with a focus on the "energy" of language and they'll have lots of chances to use it in powerful, personal and empowering ways. We've also ordered  The Milagro Beanfield Wars,  which will help us tap the power of human energy, and people coming together to make necessary if controversial changes in their communities. I'll have them do a a brief research project on a social or political movement of their choice and they'll likely do a short presentation on these, accompanying their training with Toastmasters, which will happen in Seminar. Looking further ahead we'll get into food, so if you'd like to buy a copy of  Grapes of Wrath,  you'll be able to read along with us. I have more supplementals than I know what to do with for this unit, and as it comes closer, I can be more specific about these choices. Finally we'll finish the year (as I see it now) with a little Shakespeare during our Waste unit. I think  Romeo and Juliet  is a mainstay for all freshmen and I will let you interpret how this tragic story relates to the theme of waste!

These are all projections and subject to change, but I want to communicate with you all a much as I can in the shaping of our collective vision as an academy and community. I could go on at length about what this means for me, but that stack of papers is beckoning, a bell is ringing, and there is work to be done. As always, I welcome your questions and comments, and hope you'll continue to provide encouragement and feedback to our bloggers, and to all of us.

A very happy New Year to all, and look for John's blog this very weekend!

Green is good!
Ms Leonhart