Classroom Earth Success Stories

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Other teachers have had success incorporating the environment into their teaching. Want to know how? Read below.

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Gabriel Benn and the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P.)

Educator Gabriel Benn, also known as the hip-hop artist Asheru, has been with the District of Columbia Public School District for over 13 years as both a teacher and administrator. He founded the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P.), which uses hip-hop songs to create culturally relevant lesson plans, covering topics from music history to environmental conservation, for inner-cty youth.

Jeff Rennicke - Conserve School


Connecting language and landscape

Jeff Rennicke, an English teacher at Conserve School in Land O’ Lakes, Wis., wants his students to understand and experience the connection between language and landscape. Prior to becoming a teacher, he was a full-time freelance writer for 22 years, writing 10 books and contributing to more than 300 magazine articles in publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Backpacker and other adventure and travel magazines.

Rennicke emphasizes that nature isn’t limited to national parks and weekend getaways. It is everywhere, all the time. Likewise, the incorporation of English and the environment isn’t limited to certain books or authors.

Conrad Benedicto - Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative


Conrad Benedicto is a social studies teacher and executive director of the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative (WALC), a small learning community that operates within two high schools in San Francisco: Balboa High School and Downtown High School. For more than 10 years, WALC has worked with diverse, urban students in a junior-senior academic coursework that incorporates outdoor experiences to bolster academic achievement. WALC seeks to nurture within students an awareness of and connection to the different histories and heritage of their communities, as well as the ecological processes that underlie all existence.

Ocean Jones - Merced High School

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Ocean Jones is a poet, artist and educator. She has been able to combine her strengths--knowledge of cultures and nature, artistic talents, love of poetry, and a desire to teach young people--at Merced High School, where she has been a member of the Language Development Program for seventeen years.

She loves helping students discover the value of their lives and their cultures, using poetry and writing as a way to help them let their voices be heard. She has been able to help students make connections with the environment, while also strengthening their skills in language arts.