Genevieve McNally's-Writers Teaching Writers-Final Draft

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    Business Plan:

    Our society does not live sustainably. Our cars emit CO2; toxic waste pollutes

    our drinking water; overpopulation is spreading across the globe.

    We need solutionsreal, long-term solutions.

    Happily, one such solution is looking us right in the face: todays youth.

    The only way we can change the future is by teaching the young to be the

    change. Our educational system must teach students how to be good

    stewards of the environment.

    To that end, I propose to set up an innovative program to teach

    environmental sustainability to elementary, middle school and high school

    students. Heres how the program will work. The program will be set up so

    that there is about fifteen minutes every week set up before during or after

    school. During this time students will get together with teachers, and will

    work on different projects along with being taught about new environmental

    topics. These topics will differ depending on what the students are yearning

    to learn and what topics interest them. Throughout the year children will

    hold clothes drives. With the clothes they collect they will then take them to a

    shop called Platos Closet. This is a store which buys back used clothing. The

    profit made will fund all the projects, speakers and any other activities,

    which the students and the teachers want. The budget to start out will only

    be three thousand dollars. Hopefully, after the first two years the program

    will fund itself or go down to a budget of one thousand dollars a year. I want

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    to make sure that this is a program that lasts, so the less it costs our city and

    school systems the more likely the program is to stay running. If the budget

    does go beyond three thousand dollars or above the hopeful one thousand

    dollars after the first two years, I have already contacted numerous

    companies, such as GE, Platos closet and Toms shoes, which will assist in

    funding.

    I want this program to be a continuum. I want the students to start out in

    elementary school learning the basics of environmental education, for

    example how to take care of the class bunny. Then in middle school I want

    the students to understand the importance or niches, the importance of

    habitats and what makes them healthy and thrive. Then when the students

    go to high school they should be learning about how to maintain a

    sustainable ecosystem and habitat. By the time the students finish high

    school they should have a greater understanding of the world around them.

    How the world works, why we must protect habitats, how every little critter

    really does matter in an ecosystem and most importantly they will

    understand that their actions do have an impact and they do effect the

    environment to some degree. Because the students have been seeing familiar

    concepts, just building on them every school change, it allows environmental

    awareness to be embedded within their young minds. This will benefit the

    future of our society because these students will have been given the

    opportunity to make connections with the world around them that other

    generations have not.

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    This program will benefit the students in several ways. The programs will

    teach responsibility, life lessons, life skills, sustainable living, cause and effect

    of ones actions, life cycles, ecosystems and the effect we have on them, the

    importance of health, and how students can make a difference. These

    programs will also teach budgeting and setting up and achieving goals to the

    students. All of these will greatly benefit the students and will allow them to

    be more intelligent, and also more aware of their surroundings. I believe

    firmly that environmental education is the missing link in the education

    system. The environment has been around for as long as we have been here,

    thus it has been a critical part of our everyday life. Without the environment

    we would not have physics, or astronomers, there would be no naturalists in

    literature such examples as Henry David Thoreau and Edgar Allan Poe. There

    would also be no understanding of basic biology. This is why this program is

    so beneficial.

    If a school is having trouble fitting in fifteen minutes a week to teach solely

    environmental education, they can easily just add in environmental

    education in what ever their class discussion for the day is. For example, if

    the teacher is teaching long division the teacher can easily create a few word

    problems, which involve animal extinction or other environmental topics.

    This way the time will be benefit ail on a grander scale.

    These students are our future. And it is never to late to fix a problem, if you

    are proactive. So let us join now and listen to the voices of the future and

    incorporate these programs.

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    YouTube video also

    Speech fromYouTube video presentation:

    Our society does not live sustainably. Our cars emit CO2; toxic waste pollutes our

    drinking water; overpopulation is spreading across the globe.

    We need solutionsreal, long-term solutions.

    Happily, one such solution is looking us right in the face: todays youth.

    The only way we can change the future is by teaching the young to be the change.

    Our educational system must teach students how to be good stewards of the

    environment.

    I propose to set up an innovative program, one that your school needs. It will teach

    environmental sustainability to elementary, middle school and high school students.

    Heres how the program will work. The program will be set up so that there is about

    fifteen minutes every week set up before during or after school. During this time

    students will get together with teachers, and will work on different projects along

    with being taught about new environmental topics. These topics will differ

    depending on what the students are yearning to learn and what topics interest

    them. Throughout the year children will hold clothes drives. With the clothes they

  • 8/9/2019 Genevieve McNally's-Writers Teaching Writers-Final Draft

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    collect they will then take them to a shop called Platos Closet. This is a store which

    buys back used clothing. The profit made will fund all the projects, speakers and any

    other activities, which the students and the teachers want. The budget to start out

    will only be three thousand dollars. Hopefully, after the first two years the program

    will fund itself or go down to a budget of one thousand dollars a year. I want to make

    sure that this is a program that lasts, so the less it costs our city and school systems

    the more likely the program is to stay running. If the budget does go beyond three

    thousand dollars or above the hopeful one thousand dollars after the first two years,

    I have already contacted numerous companies, such as GE, Platos closet and Toms

    shoes, which will assist in funding.

    I want this program to be a continuum. I want the students to start out in

    elementary school learning the basics of environmental education, for example how

    to take care of the class bunny. Then in middle school I want the students to

    understand the importance or niches, the importance of habitats and what makes

    them healthy and thrive. Then when the students go to high school they should be

    learning about how to maintain a sustainable ecosystem and habitat. By the time the

    students finish high school they should have a greater understanding of the world

    around them. How the world works, why we must protect habitats, how every little

    critter really does matter in an ecosystem and most importantly they will

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    understand that their actions do have an impact and they do effect the environment

    to some degree. Because the students have been seeing familiar concepts, just

    building on them every school change, it allows environmental awareness to be

    embedded within their young minds. This will benefit the future of our society

    because these students will have been given the opportunity to make connections

    with the world around them that other generations have not.

    This program will benefit the students in several ways. The programs will teach:

    Responsibility

    Life Lessons

    Life Skills

    Sustainable Living

    Cause and Effects

    Ecosystems and the effects we have on them

    Importance of health

    Setting and Achieving Goals

    Budgeting

    And last How students can make a difference. All of these will greatly benefit the

    students and will allow them to be more intelligent, and also more aware of their

    surroundings. I believe firmly that environmental education is the missing link in

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    the education system. The environment has been around for as long as we have

    been here, thus it has been a critical part of our everyday life. Without the

    environment we would not have physics, or astronomers, there would be no

    naturalists in literature such examples as Henry David Thoreau and Edgar Allan Poe.

    There would also be no understanding of basic biology. This is why this program is

    so beneficial.

    Benefits Schools:

    Because Environmental education can be taught along side all other topics, it will be

    easy to incorporate.

    By teaching environmental education it will allow all students to make more

    connections to what they are learning and thus will increase the conceptual

    understanding of what they are learning

    By teaching environmental education to kids that are living in a society which is

    trying to go Green, it will benefit everyone. This is because we are teaching the

    students key important issues that need to be learned in order to understand the

    future of our economics and world

    We cannot expect our kids to be eco friendly in the future if we do not teach them

    about it now.

    It is time to make the change and incorporate it.

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    It also gives students an understanding of how the world works.

    And also how to get creative while being responsible with the environment

    This allows for an opportunity for ideas to flourish, which in the way will benefit the

    society.

    I firmly believe that this program will cause students to get higher grades and a

    better understanding about what is going on in the world and how it works.

    We would be monitoring the students progress through examining the SAT, ACT and

    CSAP scores before and after the start of the program along with monthly quizzes

    which will be short yet evaluate what has been learned and what the student has

    gotten out of this months projects or talks.

    Challenges of the Program:

    The program will have to ensure that its funding will always be there. The good

    thing is that I think the program will only need about $3000 dollars per school. This

    is because that is a low amount that should be able to fund all the projects. And if not

    the students goal will be to come up with innovative ways to get the community and

    local businesses involved.

    Schools are suppose to be set up to teach the future generations how to go about the

    world, as the past generations have. Being taught about the minor errors, which past

    generations have experienced. Thus it allows the future to be brighter and not

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    having history repeat itself.

    Why not let our future generations learn from our un-Eco friendly ways and allow

    them to learn so that they can make changes for the future generations. Let our

    generation not make a silly error by not incorporating this much-needed program

    into the curriculum of schools.

    Hong Kong is a great example, because they started incorporating environmental

    education Schools especially within kindergartens.

    If you want to make a change, talk to those that can actually make the change.

    That is not the school board, I apologize, but it is the students.

    I have collected ANONOMOUS surveys from the students at a few schools within DPS

    legislation. And I have received word from the students that they want this program.

    10 out of 10 students believe that this program will benefit the school

    10 out of 10 students believe that this will drastically change the future10 out of 10 students are curious as to why there is not a program already

    The future has spoken put this program into action. Stop living in the past help thefuture.

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    Audience:

    Easy:

    Katie: She has a teaching license. She teaches and aids, and is on a leave of absent

    from school because she just had a set of twins. She loves children. She believes thatstudents are the future and wants to assist them in any way. She loves theenvironment. She volunteers her weekends to picking up trash in her neighborhoodparks. She would love to incorporate environmental education into the schoolscurriculum.

    Medium:

    Lucy: Is a science teacher who has way to many students. She is stressed because ofthis. She loves her job and her students but she wishes that she did not have to teachto that many students. She is a very calm person but believes that she should be

    given a raise for her patience. She also believes that the school should help her getan environmental club started but the school says that she could not be in chargebecause of her other duties.

    Hard:Frank: Is a middle class father, who protests against any hippie activity. He is veryrepublican. He believes if your helping the earth then youre helping out theDemocrats. He is the head of DSP. He does enjoy letting children learn about all thedifferent opportunities there are in life. But he will not support hippy activities. Hedoes not think they are neither beneficial nor needed in his community noranywhere.

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    Annotated Bibliography:

    Blackwell, Edward. How to prepare a business plan.London: Kogan Page, 2002. This is an essential source because it explains

    how to create a business plan. This is crucial in having in my list of resources

    because I must create one. This book is very easy to follow the set up is easy to

    understand. It is very helpful. It really explains all the steps really well. It also gives

    me numerous ideas about how I can further expand on my business plan after this

    project.

    Johnson, Edward, and Michael Mappin. Envrionmental Education and

    Advocay:Changing Perspectives of Ecology and Education. New York: Cambridge

    University Press, 2005. This is an excellent book it includes a ton of valuable

    information. It includes a ton of great insights. I used this book to understand the

    changing perspective of ecology and on environmental education. This book helped

    to explain what I wanted to target in my project. It also assisted me in

    understanding how I wanted to incorporated environmental education into my

    program, yet still making it effective and efficient.

    Lo, Eva Yuen Yi. "Early Child Development & Care;" June 2010: 571-583. This article

    was fascinating it was about what Hong Kong was doing with its kindergartners.

    How Hong Kong was trying to introduce environmental education into schools. This

    was a very helpful article for me because it allowed me to learn what I wanted to

    incorporate into my environmental educational program. This article enlightened

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    me on dos and donts and it also allowed me to start thinking more and more about

    wanting to make this program a reality. This is because environmental programs are

    needed around the world.