Monday, September 24, 2012

The Green Schools Movement

This video is taken from the EcoEye series, and was originally broadcast on RTE in 2009. Produced by Earth Horizon in association with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EcoEye is among Ireland's most popular television programmes, bringing news and updates on a range of environmental issues to a weekly audience of up to 400,000. For further details on the EPA and its role in protecting Ireland's environment, see http://www.epa.ie/


Saturday, September 8, 2012

Why do an action project

You will be asked to give a reason why you choose to do your particular action project. Here is a list of possible reasons.

  • To raise awareness about......
  • To inform ourselves more about......
  • To raise money to support the work of............
  • To help others by...........
  • There was an article on it in the news / newspapers / radio etc...............
  • There was much discussion on the topic in class.........
  • To understand how  xxxxx worked by doing it ourselves.
  • To be able to ask questions from someone who knew more about.......
  • To share information with our school community.
  • To find out what others think about.....
  • To find out how we could help........
  • To make a difference.....


The committee system

When doing an action project, the committee system is the best way to organise the class into groups. This make sit easy to report on who did what for the project write up.

Section 3 (b) asks you to:

Write a list and brief description of the main tasks/activities undertaken as part of the Action Project.


Below is a list of possible committees for any action project. Of course the list could include many more committees that are specific to particular action projects.

The Contact Committee
Tasks: Contacting guest speakers to arrange visits. Writing letters, making phone calls. Confirming dates / times / etc.

The Permission Committee
Tasks: Getting permission from Principal, Teachers etc to carry out a project.  Writting letters, arranging meetings with those involved in giving permission.

Room Committee
Tasks: Organising a room for a visit by a guest speaker. Moving desks, chairs, rearranging desks + chairs afterwards. Cleaning desks / chairs /rooms. Having suitable equipment available in the room ie laptop / data projector. Booking rooms for events ie, Demo Room, Hall, Art Room etc with relevant teachers.

Finance Committee
Tasks: Raise money, record money raised, count money, lodge money. Keep receipts. Report back to class on spending. Price and buy gifts etc or anything needed for project

Refreshments Committee
Tasks: Having water + glass for guest speakers in rooms. Arranging permission from Home Ec Department to borrow jugs + galsses. Returning glasses etc to Home Ec room washed and cleaned. Reporting back to Home Ec teacher that glasses etc have been returned.

Questions Committee
Tasks: Get class to suggest questions for guest speaker. Sort through questions, choose suitable questions. typing questions on slips of paper. Distribute questions among class. Coordinate the questions asking during the talk.

Publicity Committee
Tasks: Get paper / card / paints etc Make or print posters, put up posters. Write announcements in announcements book. Record event on video or photographs. Submit photos and report on event to school web committee for school website.

Thank you Committee
Tasks: Publicly thank speakers after their talk. Write letters of thanks after events.

Transport Committee
Tasks: Phone bus companies and get prices for buses. Inform class of bus prices and get agreement. Book buses. Collect bus money from class. Arrange payments to bus company.

Crowd control Committee
Tasks: To control crowds at cake sales etc. Allocate enough students to entances / exits. Make decisions regarding how many will be allowed into hall / Room at any one time. Communicate between doors. Ask additional teachers to help out on the day.

Pricing Committee
Tasks: Make decisions regarding how much cakes etc will be sold for at a cake sale. Make price tickets. Allocate enough tickets to students selling cakes. Make decision when to reduce prices at a cake sale.

The Product Committee
Tasks: To source and get products for display for a designated day project ie Fair Trade products.

Research Committee
Tasks: Research a place to visit / guest speaker. Finds out background information. Makes presentation to class about what they learned.




Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Self Help Africa

Self Help Africa is 25 years working with communities in nine African countries where they are implementing a series rural development projects.



Self Help Africa has launched a Spring campaign to promote seed production in some of the poorest countries in the world.




Africa's rural poor must produce their own food, or buy it. Read here how farming as a business can provide opportunities for millions.