Tl;dr (Too long; didn't read -- newsletter cliff notes) 1) We're declaring our EARTHSHOT AUDACITY goal! 👆🏻 2) We're INTERNATIONAL 🌍! Just launched our first Kenya cohort of the Good Natured Learning Fellowship 3) Amazing Fellows in Colorado are INNOVATING 🍎-a-day nature connections with their students. Call-to-Action: Donate to Good Natured Learning. SHOP @ Galena Mountain Projects November 21-28. |
|
|
I was listening to the We Are For Good podcast the other day with guest Dan Pallotta. Dan asked why those of us in the non-profit sector find ourselves scared to have big dreams. Maybe we're scared of failure. The stakes are so high. Ironically, our inability to be AUDACIOUS dreamers is our primary failure. It was timely. I was already thinking expansively since Good Natured Learning just became an international force with the launch of our first Fellowship Cohort in Kenya! So I wrote this: By 2049, 81 MILLION teachers in schools across the globe ensure equitable access to nature’s benefits for their students through the way they teach. |
|
|
81 million is a big scary number. In fact, it is all of the primary and secondary school teachers in the world. But we have plans to make it real that we'll keep rolling out with your help. We're calling this "Earthshot Audacity" - a play on the idea of "moonshot" goals. If SpaceX plans to land on Mars by 2026, we sure as heck can connect with the nature all around us through the way teaching and learning happen in schools. 🦋 Be well, Becca P.S. Why 2049? It's 26 years from now, and that's my favorite number 🤷🏻♀️. Also, I am a student of how lasting change happens in education and that's what we're after as we grow nature-connected schools everywhere. |
|
|
On November 11th, we hosted a Meet & Greet + Q&A Breakfast for the first-ever Good Natured Learning Fellows on the African continent. In collaboration with Kenyan education maven Mildred Obuya and Matters Childhood (K) Ltd., we welcomed 15 teachers from 9 Kenyan public and private schools and 1 International School in and near Nairobi. Our first meeting was filled with laughs and beautiful spirit for our collaboration and innovation. Next up, we'll grow together as a close-knit cohort and develop our knowledge, skills, and will for nature-based learning during our Nature Retreat from December 11-15th at Brackenhurst Conference & Retreat Centre. More photos, Fellow profiles, and website updates coming soon... |
|
|
Our Colorado cohort is innovating awesome 🍎-a-day nature connections with their students. Whether they are writing opinion papers on the non-windy side of the building, finding nature objects to show factors of 24, delivering physics presentations or playing vocabulary games in a park, acting out planets orbiting the sun, nature journaling, or observing a full caterpillar-to-butterfly metamorphosis before releasing monarchs into the wild, Fellows are embedding nature-based learning practices in the way they teach! And it's working. As Fellows and their students undergo their own metamorphoses 🦋, the research about nature’s benefits is coming alive. Renee Atencio, GNL Fellow and fourth grade teacher at Johnson Elementary School in Montrose says her students love being outside and, just like the research tells us, “They’re more on task outdoors than indoors.” |
|
|
Exit Ticket - DONATE TO GOOD NATURED LEARNING |
|
|
This year, we're especially trying to drive recurring donations on NOVEMBER 20th because Colorado Gives Foundation is matching new recurring donations up to $100 until their pot of $250,000 runs out. The early bird gets the worm. Double your recurring donation up to $100 by making it EARLY on November 20th. The match will run out... Here's how: Have your credit card handy. Set an alarm for 12:01am* on November 20th (or just do it first thing after you wake up 😉 ) Go to Good Natured Learning's campaign site. Click: "make a donation" Select "MONTHLY DONATION" Enter how much you want to donate each month.
If you prefer to have more flexibility in your payment method, please visit our Givebutter Campaign site where we accept Venmo, Paypal, credit card, and checks. And hopefully ACH soon. |
|
|
Exit Ticket Part II: SHOP GALENA |
|
|
Our Friends, Galena Mountain Works proprietors Dave Clark-Barol & Justin Talbot, run what they call a "for-non-profit." This small business in Leadville, CO sells rad gear and they support a bunch of local organizations. They're generously giving 6% of their sales to Good Natured Learning from November 21-28th. Make 6% be BIG -- Do your holiday shopping @ Galena from NOVEMBER 21-28th! SHOP HERE |
|
|
Our Mission Good Natured Learning builds educators’ capacity to implement nature-based learning instructional and classroom-design practices in school, activates nature near schools for learning, and grows the broader nature-connected learning movement. |
|
|
Extra, extra! GNL in the news... |
|
|
|
|
