Tips and Ideas

Tips & Ideas provided by 2009 National Teacher Winner, Marilyn Hamot-Ryan

What steps should educators do to engage their students?

Tips for Teachers
Teachers, you are probably wondering how you can squeeze energy education into an already jam-packed teaching day! I thought the same thing, but I realized that current events, such as the Copenhagen Conference and environmental issues, lend themselves to great classroom dialogue and demonstrations without taking away from our required curriculum. The Igniting Creative Energy (ICE) challenge provides the perfect venue to prepare your students to be citizens of the world. Here are some easy tips to get your students excited about energy education through the ICE program:

• Take 10: Start your day with 10 minutes of current environmental issues. Have your students bring in newspaper articles to read and discuss in small groups. Students can write down the issue they found most important, explain why, and brainstorm possible future solutions.

• Demo Day: Take a break from current events and utilize those precious 10 minutes with a short demonstration that features an alternative energy source. For instance, pinwheels are fast and easy to make, and provide kids with a great example for wind energy.

• Tally Ho: Design an interactive bulletin board that students can manage. I suggest using this headline: How I Was Energy Efficient Today. Use a piggy bank image with various labels such as, turned down the thermostat, shut off the lights, walked to school, etc. Students then keep a tally of their modified energy behaviors.

By modeling energy efficient behaviors for our students, we generate interest in positive energy habits. I carry my materials to each class in recyclable bags and use a reusable water bottle so my students see that I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk too. These tips provide a great opportunity to inspire your students to think about projects for the ICE competition.
What tips would you have them give their students on entering?

Tips for Students
Teachers, here are some tips that you may find useful to help students entering the ICE competition:

• Carefully discuss the requirements of the competition, including: the type of project, one page written response, and completed entry form. Distribute the competition requirement page found on www.ignitingcreativeenergy.com and have students highlight the most important components.

• Suggest that each student select a project topic that he/she is passionate about pursuing.

• Create a timeline for completion. Help your students stay excited and focused on their project work with regular check-ins.

• Suggest that the project be unique. Have them think outside the box and help them expand upon their original ideas.

• Ask them to survey peers, family members and neighbors for project ideas. This will help them get a better picture of what’s going on in the world that may lend itself well to a project topic.

• If you can, provide materials to those students who may not have access to crayons, paint, computers, etc. If budgets and resources allow, this assistance can greatly impact the entire experience.

Marilyn Hamot Ryan - ICE Teacher Winner 2009

What types of projects would you recommend?

Because the ICE competition applies to grades kindergarten through 12th grade, and each student has individual talents and proficiencies, I recommend project ideas based on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Gardner believes that people can learn best by activities for which they are especially talented. There are eight intelligences that he theorized:

• Verbal/Linguistic
• Mathematical/Logical
• Musical/Rhythmic
• Visual/Spatial
• Bodily/Kinesthetic
• Naturalist
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal

Let your students decide which way they learn best to produce a project about creative energy usage or environmental stewardship with that talent in mind. Word smart (verbal/linguistic) learners may opt to write poetry, create magazines, newspapers or books and develop posters; while nature inclined (naturalist) students may complete a riverbed clean-up campaign or visit a wind farm. Selecting a meaningful project empowers students to take ownership of their own ideas.

Marilyn Hamot Ryan - ICE Teacher Winner 2009

How do you motivate students to participate?

On the one hand, many students are simply motivated by the prizes! On the other hand, some students are truly passionate about the state of the environment, energy usage, and their futures. These self-motivated kids take the ICE competition to heart and set out to improve their communities by handing out energy efficient light bulbs or planting trees.

How do I motivate the kids in between? When I introduce the competition to my students, grades K-8, I get the parents on board with a letter detailing the requirements of the ICE project. In essence, I recruit the parents to help me collect and package the projects, while encouraging them to participate in their children’s creative energy ideas. This makes the kids feel special. With the support of families and teachers, students are generally more motivated to enter and do their best.

I also provide a simple reward to each student for completing an entry. Some good choices I suggest include a certificate of completion, a sticker or an earth friendly item. Since ICE projects may take time above and beyond their regular homework assignments, it’s a good idea to reward them for achieving more. Your students and their parents will appreciate that you went the extra step as well.

Marilyn Hamot Ryan - ICE Teacher Winner 2009