We’ve partnered with the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) for more than eight years to bring together teachers, professional learning and academic standards experts, and community-based partners to integrate environmental and climate justice and knowledge-to-action solutionary teaching and learning into their curriculum.
The Environmental Solutionary Teacher Fellowship (ESTF)—formerly known as the San Mateo Environmental Collaborative (SMELC)—is built around four key elements of professional learning: knowledge, action, accountability and reflection, and connection to partners. It builds teacher capacity for designing and delivering learning experiences that are student-centered, problem/project-based, solutions-oriented, and integrate California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs). Each unit is field tested, and the journey for teachers and students is captured in a final reflective case study and presentation.
To be successful, students need to learn key skills—such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication—and meet academic goals. Teachers need access to high-quality professional learning experiences that help them keep students engaged while they impart key skills and teach state standards to mastery. Our partnership with SMCOE provides area TK–12 teachers with a unique opportunity to participate in professional learning focused on teaching the Next Generation Science Standards using project-based learning and the local environment.
Check out the following stories by participants of ESTF:
- Remote Solutionaries: A Story of Transformation from SMELC Community Partner to SMELC Facilitator
- Building Leadership Capacity in Environmental Literacy: A Coach’s Perspective
- Connecting Curriculum and Standards to Teach About Healthy Habitats (part 1)
- Connecting Curriculum and Standards to Teach About Healthy Habitats (part 2)
- Teacher Participant to Mentor: How I Got Comfortable With the NGSS
- Cultivating Future Scientists & Environmental Heroes
- My Journey Through SM ELC: Environmental Literacy in the Kindergarten Classroom
- My Journey as a Solutionary
Learn more about the fellowship here.
To learn more about the approaches taken by SMCOE on whole systems integration of environmental and climate literacy and sustainable and climate-ready schools, click here.
