A Piece for Every day

A Piece for Every Day

-(Guiding Notes)-

I prefer to do it for 10 minutes every day, rather than one day every year.

YES! We must do routine activity to conduct environment education or sustainable development education for our kids. 10 minutes every day even better than 1 hours of lesson every week.

After all, with just 5 minutes for a simple game and another 5 minutes for discussion you can pack this simple activity, integrate it with your biology, math, physic, economy, social, language lesson, etc.

See? A piece for everyday is better!

Preparing Key to Open

Preparing Key to Open
-(Guiding Notes)-

This is a question for teachers and educators, after conducting all activity- games, experiments: is the atmosphere getting colder then?

Yes, even if we play a fantastic game we still have to do some REFLECTIONS for the activity. The purpose for each activity reached if participants understand that it has relation with some of environmental issues.

To help participants understand, sometime we have to ask some questions. It a kind of method to open participants mind. With this KEY QUESTIONS, we can unlock the door and make their opinions and knowledge walking out freely.

Key questions can be asked with the help from: WHY, WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHOM, HOW (5W, 1H). It's a simple journalist method to get more complete information, and in this case: to open a discussion.

It is a very important thing to make a good key question and relate it with the topic you want to open.

Repetition Make It Perfect

Repetition Make It Perfect
-(Guiding Notes)-

Hello guyz, it's been 1 or 2 weeks since my last write. It's been a busy weeks because I have to finish some works. After an ESD conference, some regular works waiting to be finished ^^

I want to talk about important thing to develop environmental awareness among kids: REPETITION, how actually we must go back again and again to a simple activity (nature game, experiments, story telling, discussion, etc) to strengthen environmental awareness.

When I was a little boy, my grandpa and me (and my brothers), every 1 or 2 weeks come to a tea plantation. And then he just let me play in a small river, kind of water channel. We seek for a small fish, insects, water plant or build a small dam (am I say it in right word for "bendungan" in Indonesia, or is it a dike?).

I believe that the repetition make the feel (to love the nature) stronger.

So, it's not a one big shot at all ! To increase children awareness we need REPETITION all the time.

In my opinion, it can be a kind of simple activity like making recycle paper, or just watching the insects in a tree for one semester (a small modification will help)

And that's better than ONE BIG SHOT (like an expensive tour that only being held once a year).

No need to think a complex activity that spend a lot of money, just repeat a good nature activity again and again, to get the feel.

Teachers are Everywhere

Teachers are Everywhere
-(Guiding Notes)-

The kids in the school learn from their teachers.

In some forum, the teachers ask me : I'm a teacher, where I must learn from? Is it from another teachers? Many of them are bussy, they have the same problem with me? Or you mean that I must learn from the kids (with a grin) ?

You know that the first answer are correct, but don't you think the second answer also right?

Yes, that's right. We also must learn from children. It is mean that we learn to tolerance and study their behaviour, and in real meaning that we also observe what is interesting for them, see and feel their games and develop new method according their needs.

If you don't play, and just watching behind your desk, your spirit became weaker. It's not just develop a game, or writing a books - we must being a kids and learn from their point of view. Play and be involved in kids activity.

So a kid can become teacher too, don't you agree with that? (In deeper perception, nature is a teacher - so everything, including a kid is a teacher).

I believe that a kid can become a great teacher too, and if you don't mind I will say, please don't wait for another (older) teacher to tell you what you must do. The kids also can teach us everything, we just have to lower our ego and being sensitive.

If you are a teacher, facilitator, Writing a book and develop education modules doesn't mean anything unless you feel it from the other side. I remind you once more : play and do activity with the kids and I believe we will not grow old.

One more time : play with the kids, not only from your desk \^_^/

Picture taken from http://www.keikiokaaina.org/latest/images/WCCC_Kids_Day_TugWar.jpg

Learn, Play and Respect

Learn, Play and Respect
-(Guiding Notes)-

In all of my writings, please note one thing: we learn, we play and we respect each others.

I have learn that play can teach us about respect. Before playing a game and after it's over, shake each other hands.

Mix a team with boys and girls, a black and white, chinese, arabian and indonesian. Let the strong help other kids, and don't forget to discuss a lesson about respect after finishing the game.

Sometimes there is a situation where a kid blame their friend for losing a game. You must teach participants that nobody is perfect, and for that they must completed each other to become a good team. A target to win the game is important but the most important thing is the process, how they can cooperate each other in this game.

Learn to Do It with Style

Learn to Do It with Style
-(Guiding Notes)-

Hello teachers, good morning...

Dear teachers, have you ever see "Patch Adams" movie? Robbie Williams starring that movie and it is a wonderful movie to watch, about a doctor with humorous style who also cure his patients with laugh and love.

I write a story from Anthonny de Mello, one of my favorite Guru to explain what I will tell you later.

A man buy a dog. It is a big size german shepherd dog.
Everyday, to make the dog always in a good shape, the man gave a food suplement, a cod oil (kind of fish oil).

Everyday the dog rebel against his owner. The man always give a spoonful of cod oil with a forcibly given method. He have to force a spoon to the dog mouth and the dog always rebel against him.

One day, accidently,the bottle of the cod oil fell to the floor. And then the dog lick the cod oil in the floor.

It's not that it doesn't like the cod oil, but it doesn't like the way the man gave it.

So, teachers. I encourage you to find a way to give the cod oil with interesting way. Be a craetive teacher and do learning process with style. Break the wall and get out of the box.

Use farmer hat when teaching about bio engineering. Bring some animals while teaching about environment. Walk to a small river when discuss water pollution. If nothing is left, start a group discussion with your key questions. Good luck !

A Representative Place to Learn

A Representative Place to Learn
-(Guiding Notes)-

When we start learn environmental education, we must find a representative place to learn. Generally we can start learning process in anyplace, but suitable place is better.

Like when we learn about paddy field ecosystem, we can go to a paddy field near our school. It is better than learn all material in a class, sit quietly without nothing to display.

Although the paddy field can be hot in the middle of the day, we can arrange to have a meet in the morning (so we also must consider the time when we arrived) - it is the best place to learn paddy field ecosystem because we can make a direct observation and after that, we may make the discussion wider.

We may talk about pesticide user, insects diversity, farmer culture, irigation process, and even relate some environmental problem with forest degradation.

A suitable place can attract participants to ask more and more. If you can't find any, you must bring some stuff from the place (picture, real paddy plant, seeds, mud, farmer hat, etc) to make them imagine better.

Don't Stick with All Writings

Don't Stick with All Writings
-(Guiding Notes)-

Teacher and facilitator, we will met with this warning sentence in some of the module and I mean it.

Use modification with all your imagination. You always can talk ecology, biology, social science while using the nature game and experiment module. Try different side and you also can talk about mineralogy, economy, local language, English, art, history and do a character and team building for the children.

This is an example how it can be done:
> GUESS THE PEANUT NUMBER. Replace the peanut with small stone and rock and then we can talk about mineralogy, or talk the order (open, guess,...) in local language / English while playing and we can learn about language
> STAR TREK GAME 2: MICRO SEEDS COLLECTOR. Use this game to learn how to draw a simple map, and we can learn how to read a more complicated map
> MESSAGE IN A ROW. Use this game to learn about communication, that can change and going to be fault in some situation. Use this game to explain how as a team they depend on each other, and how to make the communication process more effective and eficient (use of note, cut the long chain process and more)
> RAFT AND RIVER. Use this method to discuss more about hydrology (current, river bank,...) or economy (fish farm, ecotourism, eco-education and other ideas)
> And more, haven't you see how we can make our teaching method more colorful?

We also can play a same game with different topics. Do not hesitate to change the rules or to modify the game into different kind of game. I always do that in the field / class and finally we can have more than one variation for the game and the wild randomization also can attract the children to come learning more and more...

Note : for smaller kids, we suggest to do the activity in pattern. We don't recommend major change / modification in rules or topics in game or experiments. A fix rules or experiments is easier to follow and understand.