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This Guide contains a sample agenda for a Teach-In event, some suggested ideas for building up to the National Teach-In on February 5, and a list of resources on the web. As you develop your own ideas for your Teach-In events, please send us your ideas and we will post them on our blog!
Different scheduling formats will likely work better for different schools, with different student populations. This sample schedule is geared towards a school where you can cancel classes for the day, and have a real teach-in. If you can’t do that, then consider showing the National Teach-In webcast during an all-school assembly, and then having some of the activities listed at the end of this guide as part of a week of climate education. Or else, contact a local college or university, or participating museum, and consider taking the whole school (or the senior or junior class) to attend National Teach-In events there.
Monday, February 2nd 2008 |
7:00 pm
9:00 pm |
Plan a cool event that will get every member of your school informed and excited about February 5th: Have a poster-making session in the gym for the big day, tape he walls with blue tape to show sea level rise and attach flyers about the event, or host a dance…be creative!, (or do you want to do something with the PCAP program like the Student Agenda on Climate Change vote last year?) |
Wednesday, February 4th 2008 |
7:00 pm
9:00 pm |
Show the “Inconvenient Truth” or “The Great Warming” at your school so that anyone who has not seen it can get up to date on the facts. |
Thursday, February 5th |
8:00 am
8:15 am |
Introduction: Have the coordinators of the event talk about National Teach-In, how they learned about it, and why they decided to head this event and explain the plans for the day. |
8:15 am
9:20 pm |
Show the National Teach-In webcast, featuring youth climate leader Billy Parish, Congressman Udall, and many experts in a discussion of the President’s first 100 days in office, and what our nation could look like in 2020. |
9:30 am
10:30 am |
Presentation One: In forty-eight separate rooms, have forty-eight panels each include 2 faculty members and one student. For panel ideas, see the list at NATIONAL TEACH-IN MODEL. Students choose which panel to attend. Each panelist will present for 10 minutes on a topic, leaving ½ hour discussion |
10:40 am
11:40 am |
Presentation Two. Repeat. |
11:50 am
12:00 am |
Presentation: Food and Global Warming! |
12:00 pm-1:00 pm—Lunch |
1:15 pm
2:00 pm |
Reconvene as a group, hold an open mike style “Shout Out” Session where anyone is able to go up and say something they’ve learned or anything they want to put out there. |
2:15pm
3:15 pm |
Invite two elected officials to school, hopefully from different parties, and hold a question and answer session with them. |
3:15 pm
4:00 pm |
Wrap Up with a group pledge to take action. Possibly have snacks available afterward with a table set up where seniors can register to vote. Emphasize Powervote and link? (it might be a good idea to facilitate connections between highschoolers and Powervote staff to help these students do some effective registration during this one day) |
8:00 pm
11:00 pm |
Join in regional Focus the Nation events. |
Things to Keep in Mind
Seek Faculty Involvement Early
As an organizer, you will need faculty support to coordinate a successful event. It is never too early to start talking with faculty members about your Teach-In event. Set up a meeting as soon as possible with anyone you think will be a key player in your event (principle, dean of students, members of student government, teachers from multiple disciplines, counselors).
Keep it Personal
Have speakers and presenters speak about what global warming means to them. Your goal is to inspire in each attendee a real drive to take action, and the only way to do this is to make each person think about what this global crisis means for them personally, for their community and finally for their planet. And, Make it Fun
Building Up: 1 Really Great Event
The Focus Relay: Carry the Green Torch!
This event should be scheduled for late November, 2008. After the election results, get everyone in your school to sign a giant invitation to your Governor or US Senator, asking them to come to your school to talk with you about global warming solutions. Next, paint a compact fluorescent light bulb green, and write the words “National Teach-In” on the bulb. Then launch a relay race from your school to the state capital, to deliver the torch and the invitation. With a support van driving behind, students can run 3-4 mile legs of the relay; students from one high school could run to another and pass the torch. If you start over a hundred miles from the capital, the race will last a day or more (including running through the night), creating a wonderful media opportunity! Schedule your arrival time at the office of the Senator or Governor at noon. Deliver the torch and the invitations.
Building Up: 10 Other Great Events
 1. Sponsor an Art/ Science poster contest:
Have interested science and art classes team up and compete to see who can make the most creative and informative poster about climate change. Display these posters in the week leading up to the National Teach-In.
2. Hold an inter-school bicycle contest:
Organize a contest between schools encouraging students commute to school via bicycle and record the miles that they bike. See which school can collectively bike the most in a week and have the most student participants. Check out Environmental Society to see the benefits of alternative transportation and check out their “Campus Hike and Bike Challenge” for ideas.
 3. Produce a play
Write and produce a play that incorporates themes of action against climate change. Use the posters from the poster contest to advertise. Proceeds can go to your favorite earth friendly organization.
 4. Team up with a local College or University
Connect with a local college and invite students from the environmental science department or the environmental club to come speak at your school. Or, take the whole school (or senior class) over to participate in the Teach-In at the college.
 5. Do oral history projects
Talk with older people in the community about their perspective on climate change. Has the climate changed noticeably since their youth? If so, how?
 6. Have a Climate Friendly Dance
Sponsor a school dance and have the proceeds go to an Earth friendly organization. Make sure that all of the decorations, equipment and materials for the dance are environment friendly…
 7. Make a Pro-Climate Calendar
Take photos of students in natural places that are meaningful to them: a park, a ski slope, a river. Ask a print shop or your school to help you make the images into a calendar. Sell them and donate the proceeds or put it towards your National Teach-In event.
 8. Hold a Car Bash
Allow students to pay a few dollars to take a couple good whacks at a donated SUV or other inefficient vehicle. Spray paint the car with any messages or pictures that reflect the climate crisis. Be sure to have a climate friendly alternative—a biodiesel vehicle?
 9. Sell Energy Saving Appliances
As a fundraiser, sell energy saving light bulbs, showerheads and other household appliances.
10. Have a Movie Marathon
Hold a movie marathon night showing movies like “Inconvenient Truth” and “The Day After Tomorrow”. In between films, have students write letters to politicians about climate change.
Photo Credits:
http://www.plasticbag.org/images/extra/inconvenient_truth.jpg
http://www.pulsarlamps.com/html_en/compactfluorescentbulb_images/energy_saving_light_bulb.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/jimdoty/misc/2006Nat_pre3_wc4.jpg
http://salsadanza.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/swingoutphoto.gif
http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/pics/rockwellgossips.JPG
http://www.qualityflags.com/images/products/10420265S.jpg
http://static.fotolia.com/photos_mini/2005-42/110_F_91506_CVACLVfO3ISc801tQist345SyU91uQ.jpg
http://webgifs.net/free-gif/leisure/bicycle.gif
http://www.northlandposter.com/img/p820.jpg
http://www.letu.edu/opencms/export/pics/student-life/DSC_7689.jpg
WHERE TO GO ON THE WEB
www.campusclimatechallenge.org
This is the premier site for young people interested in working for global warming solutions. Check out their blog: www.itsgettinghotinehere.org
http://www.climatechangeeducation.org
This comprehensive website contains helpful information on the whole spectrum of global warming education from teacher training, to finding funding, to fun field trips and fairs. Some examples of the possibilities detailed on the site include:
- The San Diego Environment Foundation: www.sdecocenter.org
Founded in 1977, this organization is dedicated to educating young people about the threat to the environment and how to reduce impact. They hold an outreach education program at the San Diego EcoCenter including interactive, science based exhibits.
- The Solar Schoolhouse: www.solarschoolhouse.org
This program uses solar energy as the focus of a curriculum about maintaining a sustainable climate. As a part of the curriculum, students learn the basics of a solar powered home design and then build a model home, compete in the solar schoolhouse Olympics with their various projects and build solar powered fountains.
- Cool Schools Project: www.skymetrics.us/sonomaccp/coolschools.php
Cool Schools is a network of schools that educates students about reducing GHG emissions and sustainable energy. In a time of increasing budget cuts for schools, Cool Schools teaches on the financial benefits of alternative energy.
- Energy Quest: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html
For a younger student audience, Energy Quest Classroom allows students to click on various pictures to access different parts of the website such as an energy timeline, super scientists, solar facts and energy news.
- Global Systems Science: http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/GSS/
Global systems science is an integrated science curriculum for high schoolers, with a focus on environmental science. The curriculum is divided into nine books, teacher guides and software. Each GSS confronts a societal issue that requires science for full understanding.
Thanks to Acacia Dowsett-White who researched and wrote the first draft of this guide.
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