Fall 2019
Cultivating Wellness Practices in Public Schools Through Garden-based Education for Youth (K-6th grades)
Course Description: This course will explore the theory and practice of garden-based education for youth grades K-6th. The capstone will be partnered with Mckinney Elementary School in the Hillsboro School District and will assist in developing a school garden program that emphasizes "trauma-informed" wellness practices in a garden setting. To support this work, students will explore the history and benefits of garden-based education in schools, develop mentorship and mindfulness skills for working with diverse youth in a garden setting, practice fundamental gardening skills to run and maintain a school garden and develop and implement standard-based garden lessons for the youth. *Spanish-speaking skills are not required but helpful! *Required service-learning hours options outside of class at the school will be held on Tuesday mornings 9am-12pm, Thursday and Fridays from 9am-3-pm.
In this course, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of grant writing. A much sought-after skill in many sectors, grant writing helps a variety of nonprofits and government agencies obtain funds for various projects they are interested in pursuing. This course will help you research/profile donors, create activity plans and set realistic budgets, all as part of the grant proposal process. At the end of the course you should have a grant proposal strong enough to benefit our community partner, as well as serve as a work sample for your job market portfolio.
In this course, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of grant writing. A much sought-after skill in many sectors, grant writing helps a variety of nonprofits and government agencies obtain funds for various projects they are interested in pursuing. For this class, our community partner will be JOIN. As they describe on their website, JOIN exists to support the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition out of homelessness into permanent housing.
This capstone is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about Spanish culture and society by means of synchronous and asynchronous discussion group forums between American and Spanish middle and high school students. The communities of students will be from: Portland, Oregon, various schools in Washington state and Zamora, Spain. These forums will be between paired classes (one USA and one Spanish) of similar grade and language level and will be facilitated and monitored by both teachers of each class. Each grouping of classes will be assigned 2 capstone students.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) programs promote the development of critical thinking, metacognition (thinking about thinking), and ethical and social responsibility through philosophical inquiry. In the P4C capstone, students will learn about best practices in P4C and discuss the practical and philosophical issues of teaching philosophy to K-12 students. Course work will include researching and developing P4C activities and materials, collaborating with Portland-area teachers, leading K-12 student discussion on philosophical themes, and documenting activities.
During this course students will grow in their cross-cultural skills and understanding. They will learn about refugee resettlement and the systemic educational obstacles that English learners face and overcome.Students completing this capstone will have a well developed sense of their civic identity as it relates to newcomers in their local communities.
Performing Arts Advocacy
The arts play a critical role in stimulating creativity and in developing vital communities. They have a crucial impact on our economy and are an important catalyst for learning, discovery and achievement in our county.
The Grant Writing for Animals: Wildlife Conservation in Africa class partners with the Kasese Wildlife Conservation Awareness Organization (http://www.kasesewildlife.org) to further its goals of creating wildlife awareness and increasing conservation efforts in Uga