Blog 6

GROUP!

     As a group we have had a little trouble getting in touch with groups for ocean clean up and pollution in our area. We have contacted many different groups and we did not get a response from any of them. Many of these groups do a lot of things during the spring and summer time because of the weather and because the weather is changing drastically there is not much going on in our communities. We have chosen to do our own clean up! Colleen is from Lynn, MA and the city has had many issues with the beaches there. We are going to head out one weekend soon and do our own clean up for a few hours. We are looking forward to seeing how bad it really is, considering there are not many clean ups in Lynn, especially in the fall. There will be pictures posted soon of our findings and comments!

COLLEEN!

As I was looking around for any new information posted on polluted water I found this article from 2011. This article shows that there are 716 or so polluted waters in Massachusetts alone. It also goes into our drinking water and how it is affecting our heath personally. They show a picture of a little boy who is from West Virginia who has caps on his teeth. His doctor said that the pollutants in drinking water are causing damage to our teeth. With this article is makes me thing, not only are our oceans polluted, but what about the drinking water? How is this affecting not only our teeth, but also our general health? We need to make sure that what we are drinking will not affect our future and that our oceans are not having bad side effects. (http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/polluters/massachusetts)

I definitely think that social issues around the world and in our communities should be brought into the elementary classrooms today. When I was younger we did not learn much about what was going on in the world other than when there was not choice, for example when 9/11 happened. Prior to that I didn’t really know what a terrorist was and what was going on with the war and other countries, but because something bad happened we learned more about it. I don’t think it should get to that point where something bad has to happen for children to be introduced to current events, I think it should be a part of our years in elementary school. I also think it is important to talk about what the students are interested in. I think that the way I personally would find out is handing out some sort of worksheet with words like politics and entertainment with check boxes. After collecting them all see what topics are the most popular and try to figure out some fun ways of teacher current even topics.

I hardly see any social studies in my placement school. I saw my cooperating teacher do one lesson and I did my social studies lesson but it is hardly ever part of the daily schedule. I find this extremely odd because when I was in elementary school I had every subject every day. I think in today’s schooling system subjects like science and social studies are not as “important” because many schools are mainly focused on the MCAS and preparing the students for the tests starting in 3^rd grade. I think that current event projects are the right way to start getting involved in more social studies in the classrooms. I think our project has showed me that it is important to be on top of subjects like this because it is something that is important and can affect everyone in our communities.

LAUREN!

I started to research more in depth on the internet about any current issues or events surrounding our topic and came across a very interesting website. This website it directly related to the Salem and Beverly area, providing just about every detail around the process and concerns of our public drinking water. This shows the water quality reports from 2005-2010. I found it interesting that it stopped at 2010 and wondered why they didn’t continue up until present year, but hopefully they will post that soon as the year is coming to an end. http://www.salem.com/Pages/SalemMA_Water/2009waterqualreport.pdf This is the link to the 2009 update, which shows a lot on the process of how water becomes eligible to drink. It expresses the different contaminations and inorganic chemicals, which can be a little overwhelming when you first look at it. This website is a good resource because it goes into depth about all the substances found in drinking water and what they actually are in case someone is not familiar with the names.

I believe citizenship is an important concept for everyone to understand as well as obtain starting at an early age. As Colleen pointed out, I too believe children should not be so vulnerable and naïve about important current issues. They need to be addressed and understood incase an emergency arises and they know how to handle it as well as hold an opinion on it. I would make space for this important topic because I find it to be very useful and worth being discussed. I would let the children have their own voices and be able to freely express their opinions and values so no one will feel alienated. Everyone has the right to free speech, including my future students. I would definitely do a theme of culture in my classroom so the children get exposed to diversity at a young age. I grew up in a very analogous community so I was very naïve to different cultures and ethnicities up until high school. It is a very important concept to understand, accept, and appreciate early on.

In my classroom I have yet to observe a social studies lesson. I expressed my concern with my teacher and she too feels it is unfair and not right that the students aren’t being exposed to more social studies. She explained that the curriculum just doesn’t give them the time and space for it. I think this is so sad, I remember having social studies when I was in elementary school, but only in the higher grades like fifth. I believe that the NCSS framework’s ten themes are effective and should be incorporated in the classroom. All ten of these would make for a very effective social studies program and I just wish I was able to see that happening in my classroom now.

MAGGIE!

In searching for new news on polluted waters, I found an article about this topic on The New York Time’s Website. The article was about how the tsunami in Japan that happened earlier this year is pushing more debris inland towards the harbors of California. There was a passage in the article that really spoke to me in the article. It stated, “Maybe 5 percent to 10 percent, of the tsunami debris will wash up on shore. These objects of metal, plastic, wood and rubber — all sea-changed and barnacled — will be a reminder that the vastness of the planet is easily matched by the human capacity to generate indestructible waste. And they will be an echo of a tragedy, for many years to come.” This article made me think about how natural disasters can affect the oceans by bringing more of the debris to the surface and closer inland. It made me imagine how much is actually out there. But I also feel that more people should do their part in quickly cleaning up the mess that actually comes to the surface before it harms wild life!

In the first grade curriculum, I found two places where citizenship can be found. Under concepts and skills 10 and 11 of Economics:

10. Give examples of services that people do for each other. (E)

11. Give examples of the choices people have to make about the goods and services they buy (e.g. a new coat, a tie, or a pair of shoes) and why they have to make choices (e.g., because they have a limited amount of money). (E)

^ I as a teacher would work with these standards in teaching about citizenship and services we do for one another. Is keeping our oceans safer and cleaner a service we could provide for our community? The answer is yes, and it starts with each and every one of us. This is a lesson I would be proud to teach my students. I would engage them with images and statistics. Some of them are quite alarming.

I am sadly not there during the Social Studies lesson time in my first grade field placement. I think that Witchcrafts Heights as whole definitely gets involved in civic values and support. A recent example I can provide is that for the past few weeks during snack time, the students have been recycling and donating their discarded snack bags and juice boxes for a recycling project that will be a surprise as to what the items have been made into. The students had a fundraiser for Boston Children’s Hospital, which I personally believed was a great charity for students to donate to and be involved with. There have been a lot of charities that Witchcraft has been involved with, they were involved in Pantene’s Beautiful Length’s hair donation for cancer patients in which many of the students donated their hair. I think that these are all example of getting students aware and involved. I think that they can take such great lifelong lessons out of being involved. This all relates to our project in that taking care of the environment and in particular our oceans are better for humanity and for all of us. We shouldn’t take the oceans for granted because contamination of them has a detrimental impact!

Discussion Questions

Four Kinds of approaches to discussion:
1. Responding to a problem.
2. Responding to an observation.
3. Responding to a narrative.
4. Reflecting on classroom activities.

Our approach is: Responding to a problem.
-How can states, cites, and communities allow our oceans to succumb to such a bad state it is currently in?
- How can we get these people more interested and involved with helping out to improve the water overall?

Best Practices:
-Create a stimulus to begin the discussion.

->Question: "If everyone in the world stopped littering, do you think that would eventually stop pollution in waters? It would just slowly diminish if no one was adding to it?

-Plan the discussion. What topics do you want covered?

->Question: "What physically causes water pollution, who helps prevent it and why?"

-Instead of responding, ask another student what he or she thinks

->Question: "Why would anyone want to help clean and stop pollution? Specifically in oceans where we don't come in contact with on a day to day basis?"

-To prepare students for general discussion, at the beginning of the year have students discuss the nature of a good discussion

->Question: "What do you think are some characteristics of a good discussion? Is it something you can debate? It is important to work together as a group, but what if no one wants to help?


Our Service Learning Project:
-Currently we have contacted the beach clean up in Beverly MA (Coastsweep2011) and the Boston Aquarium to see if we could contribute in any way. They both have yet to respond so we are looking up new places to contact as back-ups.

Service Projects

    Critical attributes is a teaching strategy that focuses on transmitting procedural knowledge of identifying the essential elements of a concept so that students do not form inaccurate concepts and ultimately inadequate ideas and insufficient beliefs that are necessary to be effective citizens. (42) Basically critical attributes is being able to back up their information with facts and statistics so people do not form incorrect opinions and concepts on the matter. The critical attributes of our issue is the facts that all of our beaches have become more polluted over the past years. Beaches all over the North Shore have been closed down due to contamination. For example the beach in Lynn has had several issues over the years and has been closed a couple of times over the past few summers. We need to keep our oceans clean and the marine life safe and the only way to do this is to prevent contamination by monitoring our beaches and oceans. There is a ton of information on the pollution and contamination of our oceans and there are organizations all around the world that work with this issue so we can change it!

   We could break the problem up into informational knowledge and procedural knowledge by listing the statistics and facts of the damage done to our oceans annually from dumping and waste. With the procedural knowledge we could provide the petition we think will help take action and call to the government's attention the problem the oceans are facing. This problem definitely affects us!

First we need to teach everyone about the importance of our issue and why we are even looking at it in the first place. Next we should focus on how this is affecting us personally so the people reading about it will have some form of self-connection. Lastly we need to address the ways in which everyone can attribute to the improvement in a costless effective manner. 1. The oceans and Boston Harbor is polluted and is still being polluted, leading to the decrease in clean available beaches and shut downs of the local beaches around us. 2. This pollution issue is costing us and families the ability to use these public places and hurting sea animals that could eventually become instinct. 3. Sign the petition. It costs nothing and takes a few minutes. This is the first step you can take towards helping and if you feel as strongly as we do about taking action, you can join us to helping clean up all the pollution.

   Maggie, Lauren and I have been researching organizations and learning projects for our topic of ocean pollution. We recently have contacted a group that is called COAST SWEEP 2011. This organization is a part of an annual event to create awareness of pollution in our waters. People all over Massachusetts have been getting together to clean up beaches since 1987. This organizations website is very insightful with why they do this every year, their success and even a list of the top 10 debris they found last year in 2010. This is a great local organization that helps with pollution every year. The website is easy to access and it is easy to sign up to become a volunteer. We also found a petition that has a goal of 1,000 signatures. This petition is to tell Congress to clean up our oceans. There are currently 244 signatures, the last dating in late September. We thought this was a great way to get people to sign it and take the petition to the next level closer to its goal. We would all love for you guys to sign it if you are interested. If you go to the website, on the right hand side you can sign the petition electronically.

   Colleen: When I first started researching this topic and possible organizations to work with I was a bit hesitant that we would find something in our area and during the right time. After looking around I found that there are several things going on during this time for the pollution of oceans. When we first found this petition I did not know how old it was or if it was really something that would make a difference. After reading about it and finding how easy it was be to sign I thought it was a great idea. I signed and you should too! This petition will make a difference and we all know that the North Shore needs it!

   Maggie: I signed the petition to Congress to clean up our oceans. I think it completely goes with our mission and what we believe for the cleanliness and health of Boston Harbor and all oceans alike. I signed the petition and am very proud I did. I think that every little bit helps, and if we all take action it will make such a difference. On the petition site, I found many alarming facts about the oceans:

• Marine debris, especially plastic, kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles every year
• Researchers found that in the middle of the North Pacific there are six pounds of plastic for every one pound of algae
• In the 1970's, 17 million tons of industrial waste were legally dumped in the oceans. In the 1980's, this number was reduced to eight millions pounds of industrial waste, but still contained acids, alkaline waste, scrap metals and coal ash (Note that millions of pounds of industrial waste is still being dumped into the oceans)
• 300,000 dolphins, whales and porpoises die each year after becoming entangled in fishing nets .
   

-I believe that for the safety of our oceans and ocean life, it's important to take action and clean the oceans!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/35/tell-congress-to-clean-up-our-oceans/

Lauren- Hey guys I too have signed this petition and I really hope you take the time to read about it and decide to take action with us! It would really help better our cause and I know that if you take the time to learn about it, you will want to support it as much as we do. As a classroom if we all work together to find out more information about the local issues we can work as a team to help improve them. By signing this petition you are taking us one step closer to our goals and the notion would be much appreciated. Even if you just look it up and read about it that is progress, anything to get the word out and get people knowing about it is a small but great achievement.

 

Interviews

 Maggie's interview:
  I interviewed my roommate, Erica Diodati about the subject of keeping Boston Harbor clean. Erica is a 21 year old Nursing Major at Salem State. I talked with her about how Boston Harbor is polluted with all types of debris from plastic bottles, paper and styrofoam cups, plastic wrappers, and cigarette butts. The Boston Harbor Association is working to fix the issue.
  I asked Erica, "Is this a problem you think is important?" She answered, "I definitely think this is an important problem. With things such as the 'Go Green Movement', I think it's important that we all address pollution and do our part to keep the land and oceans a clean and healthy environment for all." I asked her if in our own community this is an important issue. She responded, "Yes. In Boston, we are known for our "dirty water". We should clean it up!"
  I informed Erica about the Boston Harbor Association and how it works to clean up the Harbor and remove debris. They distribute a "Boater's Guide" which provides a list of pump-out facilities for boaters to use in complying with staying away from designated "No Discharge Areas" of Boston Harbor. Erica believed there are many advantages to this policy and had no opinion on it's disadvantages, other than suggesting it could be updated. There is so much information about the topic of the Boston Harbor clean up  at The Boston Harbor Association's website.


Lauren's interview:
I interviewed my father, Mark  Helinski, to find out what he knows about the Boston Harbor and local ocean pollution and to see where he stands on the issue. He believes that this problem is very important and everyone should become aware of it if they aren't already. The community thinks this is a problem because they are in the process of helping make it better. He then continued to explain the Deer Island policy to me and how it is a major step in the process of cleaning up all the oceans. The government understands the importance of cleaning the Boston Harbor and other oceans so they have responded by setting up Deer Island which has already showed signs of improvement. It has already helped clean and reopen local oceans such as Wollaston Beach in Quincy and Carson Beach in South Boston. The only disadvantage to this policy is the expense, which has already cost millions of tax payers dollars. The policy is working well and is helping shape the pollution problem we are experiencing. Below is a picture of Wollaston Beach.

Colleens Interview!

I interviewed one of my good friends from high school Jon Luongo. He was a marine biology major at Hawaii Pacific a few years ago and has a lot of interest with our waters, marine life and oceans. I introduced him to the topic of the Boston harbor being pollutied and how we are working on a blog to help find ways to clean up our waters. I showed him the Boston Habor Association website and told him I had a few questions to ask him.

"Is this a problem you think is important? Why or Why not?"

Yes this is a problem I think is important. Pollution in our waters does not just effect the obvious sea life but it also threatans peoples jobs and touring. Fisherman local to Boston will no longer be able to meet their quotas because the water is so polluted. Tourists will no longer want to visit because of the pollution and our economy has the potential to plummet.

"Do you think others in our community think this is an important problem? Why/Why not?"

I do not think that everybody feels the same. Some people believe that our enviornment is something to be cherished and some people dont care. I think there has to be more done so that more people are aware of the problem.

"What are the advantages and disadvantages of this policy"

The advantages of this policy are healthier ecosystems overall for Boston and the surrounding areas. The less poullution there is the more attractive Boston will be for tourists. Hoever because this organization will require a little bit more effort/less space for the fish and more rules to follow it will make it a bit hard for fisheries and restaurants to acquire to certain seafoods which would mean another raise in seafood will happen.

"How much the policy be improved?"

I think that this organization is pretty straight forward, other than maybe trying to figure out how to incorporate less rules and more space for fishing so there is no increase in the price of seafood, I think this policy is spot on.

"Does this policy need to be replaced? Why?"

No I do not think that the policy needs to be replaced.

"What disagreements, if any, about the policy exist in the community?"

Many people in Boston do not seem to care about the enviornment and pollution. There are large businesses running out of dumping places so they think it is okay to dump in the harbore. I think these businesses are probably the only people who may fight against this policy.

"Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?"

There are several organization all around the world. You can find any on the internet to research and better benefit our community