Journalism Lesson Plan

Overview:The U.S. Green Buildings Council, according to its Web site, "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a community of more than 8,500 organizations from every sector of the building industry united by a common purpose: to transform the building marketplace to sustainability." Recently it gave the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., its top honor by naming it a Platinum-rated building. This Quaker-affiliated school's new building was designed to be environmentally friendly.

Suggested time allotment: Students can read about Sidwell Friends School and other information about Green Schools (2 days) and then plan a reporting package for their paper. (Time varies)

Objectives

Students will:
•  Read about Sidwell Friends School and the Green School concept
•  Develop coverage for their student media. This could include
1.   An audit of how environmentally wise the school is
2.  A sidebar in Sidwell Friends School, including an interview with someone at the school via phone.
3.  An assessment of what their school might be planning in the future for the environment
4.  Other ideas?
•  Interview administrators, janitors, teachers and students. Be sure the news/feature coverage is fair and balanced.
•  Write an editorial if the staff believes there are things the school could do to make the environment more "green."

Standards: National Council of Teachers of English and International Reading Association Standards for English Language Arts:

4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language (e.g.,conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12. Students use spoken, written and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion and the exchange of information).

Resources and materials:
Web sites with information:
· Find out more about the Sidwell Friends School - the middle school building in particular - in the U.S. Green Building Council press release about the award, released March 21, 2007.
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· The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Waste Management Research Center also have a Web site entitled, "Greening Schools." From here, the site includes tipcs on "greening your lesson plans," largely in science courses, and greening your building."
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· Available in downloadable pdf, is   "National Review of Green Schools: Costs, Benefits, and Implications for Massachusetts," for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, November 2005, principal author: Greg Kats.
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· See what the schools says about the Green Building on its own Web site. This also includes links to Kieran Timberlake Associates, LLP.
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· Also available is a Fox News video of a visit to the site for Earth Day.
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