The goal of the Comprehensive Environmental Education program is to help East Chicago students to become more environmentally-conscious and to open up their world to new career opportunities. However, none of this could be done without teachers.
Teachers in the School City of East Chicago must participate in the program so their students can be involved. While the program includes some trips to areas where on-site instructors teach the classes, most of the curricula for the program is taught by the regular classroom teachers.
To teach the Comprehensive Environmental Education program, teachers must first be educated by the program creators. This ensures that the teachers have all of the tools and knowledge that they need to properly teach the program.
Approximately 14 teachers were involved in the professional development program with the collaboration this past year. They were not only trained on how to deliver the curriculum of the program, but were also provided with compensation for paying their substitute for the day and transportation.
Each teacher is trained in the specific phase of the program that they will be teaching. Third through fifth grade teachers are trained in the Mighty Acorns curriculum, sixth through eighth grade teachers are trained for Earth Force and high school teachers are trained for Calumet Is My Backyard (CIMBY).
For more information on the collaboration or the professional development program, visit foundationsec.org.
