Last Thursday I had the opportunity to visit the high school's Global Academy classroom as the students held a Skype conversation with the authors of Vapor Trails, a fictional book with a focus on the oil industry and sustainability. One of the authors said the decision to write a fictional book was an attempt to reach a different audience than the normal demographic for a book on sustainability. The book will now become a movie and there is a second book to follow. I know I am getting a copy to read about an oil company executive who begins to struggle with the impact on the earth of his financial success.
The kids did a great job of asking the authors questions and the authors, R.P. Siegal and Roger Sallient, showed interest in the questions and shared their experience in writing the book and the message that they wanted to deliver. I learned that the conversation was possible because two of the teachers, Clare Nance and Matt Tucker, met Roger two summers ago at the SOL Ed. conference in New York. The book was being completed at the time and Matt maintained contact with Roger that resulted in this opportunity for our students.
This was a wonderful opportunity for students to interact directly with people making a difference in the world. They learned things about their personal and professional lives, about writing, about making movies, about doing business in today's world, and about the impact of doing business on the world. This was possible because of relationship and having a computer with internet access. It was the kind of learning experience that is possible because of our focus on Classroom 10 and our focus on the environment.
1 comment:
This is really neat and I'm so proud of Tahoma teachers for being so fluent with technology and impacting students like this. Having wonderful students and changing lives is part of what makes me want to come to work in the mornings, but being surrounded by excellent teachers who push everyone to be better is also a reason!
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