The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

Created by Alice Waters, The Edible Schoolyard is an excellent educational tool which teaches middle school students very much. Parts of each core subject are learned through farming and cooking. The students plant, water, and harvest a garden in their schoolyard, and once the foods are harvested, they get to learn how to cook recipes using those foods.

A Night In The Global Village is another excellent teaching tool. This program allows students to experience a day in the life of people who struggle to survive. The students are divided into groups and given a very limited amount of supplies. One group starts out with nothing to trade since they are living as refugees. The students have to learn to negotiate with other groups without using a common language.

I think these are excellent programs for all students. However, I don't think I'll ever be able to use them as a teacher besides allowing my students to view these podcasts and others like them. Since I never knew such programs existed until today, I think it would be a great opporunity to get involved in one of those programs as a teacher with my students. These programs are excellent because the students are learning in a way that keeps their interests, and they are much more productive than lecturing.