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Growing Our Online Community
Link to Us
 Would you like to share Facing the Future with other educators? Here is an easy way for you and your school
or organization to
link to us from your website.
Become a Facebook Fan
 Another fun way to show your support and help others learn about our resources is by becoming a
Facing the Future Facebook fan. In addition to finding latest
updates and seeing who else is a fan, you'll be able to make comments on
our message boards and connect with other educators who are using Facing the
Future materials.
To become a fan, sign in to your Facebook account and then
click on this link. Once the page has loaded, select
"become a fan" on the top right hand side.
Subscribe to Our RSS Feed
 If you want your web browser to let you know when there is an update from Facing the Future – such as an announcement
about a new curriculum resource or event – you can now receive an
RSS Feed on your topics of interest.
This is a convenient way to make sure you stay in the loop without having to keep checking our site or your email inbox.
Thanks for letting your network know about our free and low-cost
resources!
Pilot New Conservation Lessons
Facing the Future is developing a series of interdisciplinary lessons in collaboration with
Snow Leopard Trust. The lessons will include teaching ideas on snow leopard characteristics
and behaviors, food webs, ecosystems, community-based conservation, and student involvement in solutions, including a comprehensive
service learning project.
We are looking for teachers to pilot these lessons with students in March or April. If you teach grades 5-8 and would like to pilot
one or more of these activity-based lessons in your classroom during
this time frame, please contact
laura@facingthefuture.org. Pilot testers will be acknowledged
in the final curriculum, which will be published on the Facing the Future and Snow Leopard Trust websites.
Coming Soon: Facing the Future Math Book
 Spread the word to your math colleagues! In May, Facing the Future will release
Real World Math: Engaging Students through Global Issues.
Focusing on foundational algebra and geometry, this resource builds math knowledge along with other 21st century skills such as
critical thinking, collaboration, and global perspective. Classroom activities, worksheets using real data sets, topical readings, and action
projects engage students in contextual math explorations around issues like climate change, finances, and global health.
The teacher's guide and student workbook include 15 NCTM-aligned lessons, each of which has also been aligned with introductory algebra and
geometry concepts taught in widely used textbooks. The lessons can be used as hooks to introduce a unit of study, as reinforcement for
previously learned concepts, or as real-world assessments of learning.
Learn more about this new resource.
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Lesson and Action Highlight: "Every Drop Counts!"
 Facing the Future has a multipart lesson to help you and your students recognize
World Water Day on March 22. "Every Drop Counts!" starts with a water
trivia game and a demonstration of how much of the earth's water is available to support human needs. Through a "water walk," students
simulate having to spend their time fetching water for their families, as more than a billion people in the world do every day. Students then
complete a personal water use audit to keep track of all the water they use during a day. As a lesson extension, students can research and
diagram the source of their community's fresh water.
This lesson inspired Facing the Future
Peer Educator
Jennifer Syrota's 11th grade students at MacLachlan College in Oakville, Ontario to raise awareness and funds to help the
world water crisis by organizing a World Water Week at their school. The week will include daily school-wide announcements of water-related
facts, a special assembly featuring a presentation and selected clips from the documentary FLOW,
and a fundraiser in which students can buy water drops to be displayed in the school. Proceeds will go to
Play Pumps International, a charity that builds pumps in rural Africa that are powered by children's playground equipment.
Download "Every Drop Counts!" and other
Facing the Future lessons for free.
Additional Resources: New Website Section
 Themed "Shared Water – Shared Opportunities," this year's
World Water Day
on March 22 calls attention to the waters that cross borders and link us together.
From March 22 until the end of the year, you and your students can participate in
World Water Monitoring Day by testing the quality of your local water bodies.
 Water is also the theme of this year's
National Environmental Education Week, April 12-18. Find lessons, resources, and ways to participate.
Water 1st International offers additional teaching and fundraising ideas, such as
Drink Water Day, during which students and faculty donate the money they would otherwise have spent on tea, coffee, or carbonated drinks
to water projects.
For more resources to help you teach and learn about water and a range of other global issues, check out the
new resource pages on
Facing the Future's site. Featured resources include videos, books, websites, and interactive technology, organized by topic and by grade level.
Resources have been selected based on a number of criteria such as the degree to which they impart global perspective, foster critical thinking,
employ best teaching practices, and provide well-referenced information.
Please
email us if you have any comments or resources to recommend.
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Featured Partner: Chief Sealth High School
Facing the Future Classroom Partner Noah Zeichner is a leader in bringing global issues and sustainability to Chief Sealth High School
in Seattle. In partnership with Global Visionaries, Noah teaches a semester-long Global Leadership
class which is offered as a 10th grade elective and credit retrieval class in the social studies department. The course integrates
activities and techniques that motivate students to take ownership of the class and feel responsibility for the entire group's learning and success.
As part of his units on water and climate change, Noah uses Facing the Future's
"Every Drop Counts!" lesson and
Climate Change: Connections and Solutions two-week unit (both available to download for free by clicking on the links). He finds that the
hands-on activities engage a wide mix of students – from high-achieving IB students to those far below reading level – to think critically and feel
a personal connection to what they are learning. As one student says, "This unit helped me become more conscious that I can change things I do to
better things in the world."
 To develop leadership and conflict resolution skills, students take on rotating class jobs such as facilitating class meetings, reminding classmates
about assignments, shaping attendance policies, and creating a recycling system. Students extend their learning beyond the classroom through an
adopt-the-school program, teaching what they have learned to elementary students using lessons such as Facing the Future's
"Map of Myself: Identity and Culture"
(also free to download). It is by teaching others that some of the greatest learning takes place for Noah's students.
Call for Classroom Examples
In response to your requests, we are creating a web resource featuring examples of how teachers are using Facing the Future resources.
Whether you teach science, social studies, AP, special needs, ELL, or IB, we are eager to hear about how you have used and adapted our materials
to your particular situation. How do Facing the Future resources meet your needs? Do they help you to overcome any particular challenges?
What other resources do you use in combination with those from Facing the Future?
Please email
cecilia@facingthefuture.org if you would like to share your experience
and/or provide input on the development of this new resource.
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Professional Development Opportunities
In the next months Facing the Future staff and Peer Educators will be presenting workshops in California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, New York, and Washington. Visit our online
workshop calendar
for up-to-date conference details.
 Facing the Future staff are also available to come to your school or district to present a professional development
session for teachers. We offer hands-on workshops on a wide range of topics such as sustainability, climate change,
or closing the achievement gap.
Learn more on our website.
If you have questions or would like to schedule a workshop, please email
kim@facingthefuture.org
or call 206-264-1503.
"Having enjoyed all of the activities during the workshop, I know my students will have fun while learning."
- Middle School Science Teacher, Morton, WA
If you would like to take your professional development one step further and share your good ideas with other teachers
by presenting workshops about Facing the Future at conferences and other venues, we invite you to learn about our
Peer Educator Program.
Summer Institutes
Learning Net Summer Institute for Educators
We'd love to see you in Boulder, Colorado on July 7-10 for a summer institute on "Signs of a Changing Planet."
Facing the Future will be presenting a day-long pre-conference workshop on teaching about climate change on July 7 and a
2-3 hour session on July 9. Institute participants will have opportunities to access scientists, take home classroom resources, and
explore solutions-based programs for students. Check back on this site to learn more.
Sustainability Education Summer Institute
Join a community of educators and national leaders to develop specific strategies for integrating education for and about sustainability
into your curriculum, programs, policies, and operations. With focused learning strands for teacher educators and administrators from
colleges of education, PreK-12 teachers, and school administrators, sessions will emphasize practical materials and tactics you can implement.
The institute will be held at IslandWood on Bainbridge Island,
Washington on July 27-29.
Find out more about the event and how to register.
Teacher Trip to Uganda
This summer you can travel to Uganda for a two-week, hands-on learning
experience on "Teaching
Global Issues" from July 11 to 24. Co-led by Facing the Future
Peer Educator Wendy Ewbank, this opportunity is for teachers who seek an authentic
experience and would like to connect one-on-one with Ugandans about how issues such as
poverty, wildlife conservation, and HIV/AIDS impact their lives. The trip
includes visits to schools to spend time with Ugandan teachers as well as visits to an AIDS clinic, the
BeadforLife village, and a
4-day safari in Murchison Falls National Park. There will be time devoted to developing curriculum you can use and share when you return.
Learn more
about this opportunity.
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