6th Grade Crew // Our March for Environmental Justice
Last spring, in the 3rd module of the year, our 6th grade students learned how environmental issues can impact the health of communities across our region. Bringing local relevance to our learning allowed students to become truly invested in their work. It also motivated them to increase civic engagement in our school community to combat issues that impact our community. In Unit 1, students kicked off their study by reading portions of The Detroit School Bussing Case: Milliken v. Bradley and the Controversy Over Desegregation, they conducted research about discriminatory housing practices that led to segregation throughout Metro Detroit. They even had the opportunity to visit the Black Bottom Street View exhibit at the Detroit Public Library to learn about a neighborhood that was demolished for the sake of Urban Renewal. They also analyzed a speech given by Mayor Mike Duggan at the Mackinac Policy Conference in 2017, in which he discusses the impacts of those practices on present-day Detroit. They took this knowledge of Detroit history and applied it to current events. They broke out into expert groups and investigated 2 community health issues that impact Detroit today, access to healthy food and air quality. Students read many articles, interviewed community members and got out into the neighborhoods to see the impact of environmental issues first hand. After conducting a lot of authentic research, students shared their learning by writing, directing and producing a documentary film, Environmental Justice: Past, Present and Future.
Our crew’s original plan was to simply share the documentary in the community to raise awareness of environmental injustice in our community, but after extensive research they came to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t enough. So students proposed that we organize an event for the whole school to be carried out on Better World Day with EL Education!
Leading up to the big day, students thoughtfully planned ways they could involve our whole DAA crew. They learned a little about what each crew has been studying, and eventually decided that the best way to include everyone was to plan a day full of activities that included a march, collecting litter, making recycled art and planting apple trees. They reached out to community organizations to get donations, and they made an agenda for the day. They practiced how they would introduce each part of the day, and they set up technology and materials to prepare. When the Better World Day came it was amazing to see all of our DAA kids so invested in making our world a better place!
Update: Our student’s documentary Environmental Justice in Southeast Michigan was recently accepted into the EL Education’s Models of Excellence collection, an amazing and very selective resource of exemplary student work open to educators across the country. Take a look at the work created by our students that will be used as a model to raise questions, provoke thinking, and inspire excellence!