Pollinating Hope Using a pollinator garden to galvanize an environmental club
By Aislinn Benfield T
HE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR brings the familiar flood of emotions: hope, anxiety, excite- ment, and anticipation. From early August, my brain
swirls with questions about the upcoming year. Even in a small school where I already know most of my future stu- dents, there are unknowns. But this year is a little different. Unlike the last few school years, which began with a try-try again approach to an environmental club, this fall the club has continued on the high note that ended the last school year. Now, the club is small, but firmly rooted, with a successful project implemented and plans underway for more. I decided to form an environmental club a few years ago,
while I was teaching in a large urban district. Since that time, I have moved to a rural area where I teach in a very small school district. While the student demographics of these schools may be different in many ways, there are actually many commonalities, and I have found the challenges in forming an environmental club to be similar at both locations. I teach middle and high school, and I think the struggles in reaching adolescents are universal. Obviously, I can’t speak to every location and student climate, but there are strategies that have worked for me with many different students, both in forming an environmental club, and as a teacher overall. The two most important are perseverance and the willingness to be flexible.
Although I have experienced setbacks, the idea of con-
necting students with nature and inspiring a love of conser- vation has kept me from giving up. The research on children and nature is abundant, clear, and disheartening. Children spend less time interacting with nature1 acting with screens.2
nature, missing out on its benefits3
Thus, kids are not connecting with and the emotional bond
that can lead to future protective action.4 As a science teacher in Pennsylvania, the density of the required curriculum stretches my time to the limit, and I find that environmen- tal education does not get the attention I feel it deserves. A few years ago, I decided it was time for me to take action. As I have alluded to, my first few attempts at forming an environmental club didn’t exactly take off, but persistence and open-mindedness have led to eventual success. Below are some suggestions, based on my personal experience, for establishing and meaningful and lasting environmental club with middle and high school students.
Student-led, but teacher-inspired My research suggests that environmental clubs should be directed by students exclusively, but my own experience has been slightly different. The first few times I formed an envi- ronmental club, I left the activities and the clubs’ over-arch- ing purposes completely open to student planning and direction. As a result, the club meetings often devolved into watching videos or drawing pictures. While these activities
Green Teacher 121 Page 25 and more time inter-
Photos by Aislinn Benfield
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