Sustainability Puzzle: Putting the Piece Together

'We will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught' Baba Dioum For me, this quote sums up what I am trying to accomplish. I believe that educators and the education industry have a wonderful opportunity to improve education for sustainability and at the same time set our students up better for the future of work with those sought after 21st-century skills. Now before we go any further it is important to acknowledge that our working understanding of what sustainability is and looks like in a modern day to day basis has a long way to go. I also want to highlight that I am not calling for a drastic or revolutionary change to schools. The point I am trying to make is we need to do a better job embedding more of an adaptive mindset in our curriculum and approaches to learning so that we can simultaneously make our schools better as sustainability and give our students experience and knowledge of what it means to make your world a better place. I also want to make sure I point out that teachers are just the right people for the job, and they are just waiting for permission from school leaders who control the schools and the education system. Teachers have the right stuff because we work and teach in a system, schools, and classrooms that change and are changing at an ever greater rate. In other words, anyone who has spent time teaching knows that to be successful you need to be able to adapt and teachers are professional adapters to students, parents, public opinion, school leadership choices, and policy decisions. If teachers are given the chance they can navigate with their students making schools more sustainable and at the same time gold mine of authentic learning experience that will expose them to 21st century skills. And I almost forgot to mention schools can save around 10% on operational costs in various areas. What teacher, school leader or student does not want to be apart of a school that saves the world, gives students an abundant exposure to 21st Century Skills, and saves the school money? I dare you to show me someone. Thank you for listening! Dan  

With 30 years of experience in education and specifically education for sustainability, my guest this week: Cameron (Cam) Dunwoody, brings a wealth of first-hand experience and knowledge navigating what it means to teach sustainability in schools. Cam has been a part of some pretty special education programs over the past 30 years. He was a key founding staff member of the MLC Marshmead Campus (The Most Sustainable School Episode oo3) and I have been fortunate to have known him for over 10 years. Any teacher or school leader that wishes to have lasting impact at their school will find his insights and perspectives about technology, funding, school infrastructure, staff engagement, school models, student involvement, and school leadership immensely valuable. Cam's experiences and story's capture both the challenges and successes educators face when they endeavour to do more good at their school. It was a pleasure to have Cam on the show, his insight and perspective is invaluable to everyone who is trying to piece together the sustainability puzzle.

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The Sustainable Squiggle is a way students can explain their own journey. Nothing goes according to plan and our students need a way to describe the twists and turns of trying to make the world a better place. Check out sustainabilitypuzzle.com for more.

Join Daniel Short in episode #3 as he shares his story of teaching in the most sustainable school he has seen. Over 10 years he has gained valuable insight into what works and what does not in teaching sustainability. Subscribe today.

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Welcome to the first episode of the Sustainability Puzzle, a podcast to help teachers and students find solutions to their sustainability issues. In this episode Daniel Short outlines what we all are up against. Subscribe to the show, lots more to come!