In Focus
Turning Off the Lights--and Seeing

What would you do if a bunch a students sauntered into your classroom in broad daylight and confiscated your coffee pot, that personal fridge of yours--and, oh, your radio, too?

At Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California, a group of students actually did the dirty deed--but the result was not a suspension or fine, or even mass breakdowns among teachers.

It was a prestigious award for saving energy.

It all started last fall when NEA member Terry Blanke and 50 students from her virtual tech classes decided to enter The Green Schools Program, a national initiative that encourages schools to be energy conscious and earth friendly. After six months of meticulous conservation, the students helped their school save a whopping $20,000 in energy and gas. The key, it turned out, was in the planning.

Blanke and her students first did an energy audit of the school, charting the school's energy usage with a physicist and identifying costly energy expenses. One of the biggest culprits, they discovered, were the teachers' personal luxuries--coffee pots, refrigerators, microwaves, and radios. The students decided hands-down those had to go. "A few teachers complained at first," Blanke admits sheepishly, "but then they realized that they could live without them." (And nobody wanted to look like an energy-sapping ogre, either.)

After firing up that first round of bright ideas, the school's power was shut down between 4 p.m. and 7 a.m. The students also developed websites, taught elementary students about energy conservation, wrote songs, and even talked with local leaders about energy efficiency. By the end of the year, all contraband coffee pots had been captured and the school tallied savings of $18,000 for energy and $2,000 for gas. Although some teachers missed their caffeine fixes, all the money saved in energy was reinvested into the school. And, Blanke says, everybody is now more conscientious of small energy saving moves like turning off lights and spending less time with the fridge door open. "It was great to see that the kids realized they can really make a difference," she says. Their efforts paid off in another way, too, because Blanke and her students won this year's Earth Apple Award from Green Schools, along with a trip to the Smart Design Forum in Washington, D.C. Now the students are continuing the energy-conscious efforts by educating their fellow students and parents and conducting energy audits in their own homes.

Blanke says although her students were the biggest winners in this effort, she learned some "illuminating" lessons of her own. "Kids are absolutely wonderful," she says. "If you just let them, they will attempt anything."

--Leah Lakins

For More:
Contact the Green Schools Project at www.ase.org/greenschools or 202/857-0666.

We Hold These Truths...

Imagine standing, say, outside your local post office and being approached by a kid who wants to know if you know the answers to questions like, "What's the Fifth Amendment?" or "What truths are self-evident in the Declaration of Independence?"

Would you be ready?

Throughout Colorado, kids are doing exactly that and having plenty of fun. It's all part of a growing movement across the country to help students understand the importance of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence--and to celebrate Liberty Day.

You may not have heard about it yet, but the day was actually started six years ago by the Lions Club of Denver, after members realized that these two national documents were missing from many area classrooms. Determined to do something, they began taking donations to print and distribute a pocket-sized booklet with the two treasures in them. The free books helped, but to really excite kids, teachers began urging a day devoted solely to the teaching of the documents. So the Lions Club chose March 16, the birthday of James Madison, widely considered the "father of the Constitution."

Soon after, says Andy McKean, national coordinator for Liberty Day, teachers began coming up with all kinds of creative ways to use the book to supplement their teaching--including sending kids out to quiz the public. That fun exercise, he says, helps reinforce what students learn in the classroom and also lays the groundwork for civic activism.

So far Liberty Day has been officially recognized by 15 governors, and McKean thinks the numbers will grow. The books are already being used in schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. "I've heard numerous stories from teachers about how they use the books to help teach the material," McKean says. Students like them, too, because they fit handily in their pockets. "They don't have to worry about lugging around a big heavy textbook," McKean says.

McKean notes that while he hopes Liberty Day becomes a truly national event, people don't have to wait for it to become official where they are. "The lessons of Liberty Day can be taught any day of the year," he says.

--Jozen Cummings

For More:
To get copies of the books, contact Andy McKean at 303/333-3434 or visit www.libertyday.org.

Space Race

Last May, instead of counting down the days until school would be out, seventh graders at Russell Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska, were counting down the seconds until liftoff.

As part of an innovative curriculum developed by science teacher David Hemphill, the students launched personally constructed air-and-water-powered rockets--and the project was, well, a booming success. Not only did students learn about Newton's laws, but they also learned about scientific method, mathematics, and computers.

"Summer was just around the corner," recalls Hemphill, who funded the project with grants awarded by The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education and his local school district, "but these kids were excited about coming to school, and excited about what they were learning."

Hemphill conceived of the project because rocketry seemed the perfect way to roll together a broad interdisciplinary course of study in science and math. It's no small concern now that the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act calls for annual testing in math for grades 3-8 beginning in 2005. That year states must also adopt standards in science, and annual testing in that subject will begin two years later. Hemphill figures it's better to get students energized and connected now than later.

"Students built their own rockets out of 2-liter soda bottles," he explains. "They learned about scientific method by conducting repeated tests on things like fin design and what mixture of compressed air and water in the rocket was ideal." Russell Middle, he says, incorporates an entire seventh-grade module on Newton's laws into its curriculum, and water rockets are great for the study of gravity and motion. Students filmed their rockets digitally and viewed their launches frame by frame on computers. "This enabled them to conduct mathematical data analysis about acceleration and velocity using spreadsheet software," Hemphill says. "So it sharpened their computer skills as well."

Hemphill teamed up with fellow Russell science teacher Alan Koebel to conduct the project. Altogether, 50 groups of four students each designed and built rockets. Using an air compressor and a specially built launch pad, each group launched its rocket three times.

"It was quite an event," says Hemphill. "Some of the rockets topped out at more than 200 feet. But the most impressive thing was how much fun they had with a project that effectively taught them the principles behind making their rockets fly."

--Matt Simon

For More:
E-mail David Hemphill at dchemphill@mpsomaha.org. Apply for a grant today from The NEA Foundation at www.nfie.org.

Reading Research: There's More--Really

When it comes to reading instruction programs, one could easily march into a new century waiting for educators and researchers to agree on which ones work. That's because some show spectacular results for some students, yet are dismal failures for others. It's the nature of the beast--which is why when the National Reading Panel (NRP) last year issued a report that showcased findings from a limited set of reading research studies, the protests from educators declaring that there's got to be more did not come in a whimper. It was a bonafide hue and cry.

That's, in part, because the Bush Administration is now only giving reading grants to school districts with programs based on the so-called "scientific research" model used by researchers highlighted in that NRP report.

Does that mean other programs are inferior? What else should educators know?

These are questions NEA's Student Achievement Department is now trying to help answer in a series of concise, easy-to-read publications. The five pamphlets, says Barbara Kapinus, NEA's reading specialist, offer educators and policy makers a glimpse of the wealth of other research widely considered acceptable for building strong reading programs. The research featured covers many reading-related topics actually omitted in the NRP report. And though some of this research was not conducted using the NRP's narrow--some say overly stringent--methodology requirements, it is still "widely accepted by the community of researchers," says Kapinus. And that acceptance, according to a recent National Research Council report, is what matters most.

Four of the booklets are written by nationally recognized reading experts and are based on rigorous research studies. One looks at research on beginning reading instruction; three others tout the characteristics of teachers and schools that are effective in teaching kids to read and that promote reading achievement. The fifth is based on the report of the NEA's Task Force on Reading, and celebrates what teachers themselves have come to know from experience. As Becky Pringle, an NEA Executive Board member and chair of the task force, puts it, "Teachers really are the experts. So a lot of the research simply supports what many of them have been saying and successfully implementing to address the very diverse needs of their students."

"We just wanted educators to have access to the widest possible research," explains Kapinus. "It's not a hostile message. It just says, 'There's more to what's out there than what some folks say is available.' Educators can use these in program planning, teachers can use them to inform policy makers, even parents can use them."

--Marilyn Milloy

For More:
E-mail Montré Dupree at mdupree@nea.org for details about the booklets and to order copies.