Real Life Garden Heroes: How Teaching Diverse Voices Improves Literacy and SEL Skills

Our students must be able to see themselves represented in the stories and people we teach them about. In this workshop, you will learn about "Remarkable People" in the worlds of agriculture, cuisine, science, and environmental activism. This curriculum highlights more than 20 individuals that represent a diverse spectrum of accomplishments, cultures, and historical eras, including Alice Waters, Cesar Chavez, George Washington Carver, Roy Choi and many unsung heroes whose stories have traditionally not been told in educational settings. You will learn about children's books that celebrate each Remarkable Person, and learn how to teach related activities that span multiple skills and disciplines, including craft projects, science experiments, cooking lessons, and guest speaker presentations. Finally, you will learn how to develop a capstone project that allows students to build confidence in themselves as future change-makers and reflect on ways that they are already remarkable. Although this curriculum has been developed as a yearlong 2nd grade unit, it can easily be translated into different grades and timeframes, regardless of whether you teach in a garden or indoor classroom. Attendees will have a chance to discuss with one another which Remarkable People would fit best into their own curricula, as well as explore ways to invite local and regional heroes to interact with their students.

Presenters will include:
- Adam Wright, Agricultural Arts Program Coordinator at Mountain Song Community School, Colorado Springs, CO.

This live webinar is a part of the six month Growing School Garden Summit Webinar Series, featuring presentations from the March 2024 Growing School Gardens Summit, hosted by the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation in partnership with Life Lab and the SGSO Network. All presenters are compensated for sharing their expertise with our Network, generously funded by the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

This webinar will be recorded and archived on the Recording Library section of our Webinars page.