Miller refuses to let that wonderful trip be the pinnacle of her teaching career, however. She returned with a renewed commitment to doing her part to improve the environment, and to provide her students with hands on learning tools.
“We have developed a service learning club this year called ‘Roots and Shoots,’ ” Miller said. “The junior high and high school students are working together to help animals and the environment.”
Hoping to venture more often “beyond the classroom walls,” Miller and her cohort at Stebbins, Julie Bartel are basing the club on a class Miller took at Walden University, where she is completing her doctoral degree.
Miller’s classes this year are continuing fundraising efforts to help Glen Helen and the Bruckner Nature Center and also are doing “symbolic adoptions” of wild animals.
With budgets tight in the schools this year, Miller also is taking advantage of Skype technology to help give her students some immersions experiences with classrooms from around the world.
“We are Skyping with a school in England and in North Carolina,” Miller said. “We hope to expand that and branch out to Ireland and Italy to help us learn more about what other countries are doing for the environment.”
To keep her technology current, Miller writes grants and has been awarded several. As for the trip to Alabama, Miller said she and her students are still feeling the effects.
“We got to see wildlife up close and personal so when we returned, the students’ artwork was much more detailed, and their writing improved significantly,” she said.
Grateful for the opportunity, Miller said she still can’t believe that someone would take a group of kids from Ohio down to the ocean.
“We want to do more now right in our own community and hope to benefit Riverside, because they have done so much for us,” she said.
Contact this writer at (937) 475-8212 or banspach@ymail.com.
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