Edutopia Videos

The first video that I watched was “The Edible Schoolyard.” This is a program that teaches junior high school students the origin of their food and how to prepare it. It also shows them how a garden relates to other subjects that they have learned about. This video helps students to get a better understanding of environmental concerns and the value of hard work. This program also allows the teachers to teach different subjects to the students such as: math, science skills which teach them in a new way which helps them excel in the things they do.

The second video I watched was “A Night in the Global Village.” Which is located in Perryville, AR. This Village is ran by the Global Gateway Program, in which is dedicated to ending hunger, poverty and creating sustainable development in the poor countries. This pod cast talks about how kids were taking a 5-acre ranch and divided into groups and had to stay the night living how the poor do. Each group is given a very insufficient amount of supplies and they have to trade with the other groups in order to be able to cook their own meals. The next day, they have to do chores and then it is time to tell what they experienced the night before as they lived one night how the poor do.

I found the first pod cast very interesting and maybe something I could actually use in my classroom and have the students plant a garden and keep up with it and have them measure the each week and see the growth and in the plants. This would help my students get involved in the cultivating process.

The second pod cast would be interesting to take a group of wealthy students to a ranch and have them live one day in the shoes of a poor individual and see how it feels like. These days kids don’t realize what they have they take things for granted.