{"id":2994,"date":"2020-07-19T17:58:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T21:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/?p=2994"},"modified":"2020-07-19T17:58:33","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T21:58:33","slug":"bittersweet-ends-and-outdoor-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/2020\/07\/19\/bittersweet-ends-and-outdoor-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Bittersweet Ends and Outdoor Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maria Caicedo<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The end<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>school year<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span>always bittersweet<\/span>. This year\u2019<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0feeling<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>EXTRA\u00a0<\/span><\/i>bittersweet<\/span>\u00a0for us as we reflect back on the effects of COVID-19<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>On\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>one\u00a0<\/span>hand<\/span>, it\u2019s sweet that remote\u00a0<\/span>learning\u00a0<\/span>made it possible for\u00a0<\/span>students\u00a0<\/span>all over the country to continue with their educational journeys\u00a0<\/span>over the virtual classroom<\/span>, and most\u00a0<\/span>importantly<\/span>, to reconnect with their teachers and classmates<\/span>. On the other end, it\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>bitter that,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>due to the digital divide exacerbated by the health crisis which hit communities of color the hardest, <\/span>many\u00a0<\/span>never<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>made\u00a0<\/span>it to clas<\/span>s\u201d<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>and only time\u00a0<\/span>will tell\u00a0<\/span>how much they have\u00a0<\/span>really\u00a0<\/span><\/i>missed<\/span>, aside from their\u00a0<\/span>own\u00a0<\/span>personal losses to\u00a0<\/span>the virus<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Donors Choose Project Proposal rendition for outdoor learning for academic year 2020-2021 @PS 42 by Selma Nu\u00f1ez, FoodCorps Service Member<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As schools prepare to reopen in September, it seems that the one solution most are considering will keep students\u00a0<\/span>indoors, wearing masks at all times<\/span>\u00a0and socially distancing<\/span>\u00a0when in the school building for half of their school time<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0and at home, remote learning the remainder of the tim<\/span>e<\/span>. But what we aren\u2019t asking is: are there any other setups for learning tha<\/span>t we can pilot to provide students with a more pleasant, calming, and reassuring\u00a0<\/span>back to school\u00a0<\/span>experience?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is yes! And it looks like outdoor classrooms!\u00a0<\/span>There is a plethora of research on the benefits of outdoor time for children and adults alike<\/a>, especially for those living in\u00a0<\/span>densely populated\u00a0<\/span>urban<\/span>\u00a0communities like NYC<\/span>. Coming from an hour of outdoor education\u00a0<\/span>helps students focus for longer periods of time<\/span>, and l<\/span>eading classes outdoors would also avoid the n<\/span>eed\u00a0<\/span>for<\/span>\u00a0constantly sanitizing surfaces<\/span>. Additionally, being outside can provide for students a\u00a0<\/span>sense of freedom and calmness not usually available to them when indoors, where they\u2019re constantly monitored and thei<\/span>r movement restricted.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With this in mind,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Selma,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>who served\u00a0<\/span><\/span>with\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Food Corps<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Community Food Action at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>New Settlement this\u00a0<\/span><\/span>past\u00a0<\/span><\/span>year,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>was\u00a0<\/span><\/span>hard at work<\/span><\/span>\u00a0even\u00a0<\/span><\/span>as her term was coming to an end<\/span><\/span>, dreaming the out<\/span><\/span>door space a<\/span><\/span>djacent to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>her school,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>PS 42<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>into a classroom<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By piloting outdoor learning, schools\u00a0<\/span><\/span>could\u00a0<\/span><\/span>maximize <\/span><\/span>the overall school\u2019s instruction space<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>bring all <\/span><\/span>students in for class, sending some outside while keeping other<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(<\/span><\/span>and switching<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and also\u00a0<\/span><\/span>begin to engage their students within a place-based educational framework. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But what happens with schools that don\u2019t have any outdoor space to utilize? This is a bigger question that we should consider<\/span><\/span>\u00a0for the future of our schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ALL\u00a0<\/span><\/span>schools should have plenty of outdoor space for children to enjoy and benefit from. If COVID-19 is teaching us something, it is to set\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ou<\/span><\/span>r<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>priorities<\/span><\/span>\u00a0straight.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>And outdoor space for all schools and all children should be on top of our list of priorities for<\/span><\/span> improving public education for all children.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maria Caicedo\u00a0 The end\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0school year\u00a0is\u00a0always bittersweet. This year\u2019s\u00a0is\u00a0feeling\u00a0EXTRA\u00a0bittersweet\u00a0for us as we reflect back on the effects of COVID-19.\u00a0On\u00a0the\u00a0one\u00a0hand, it\u2019s sweet that remote\u00a0learning\u00a0made it possible for\u00a0students\u00a0all over the country to continue with their educational journeys\u00a0over the virtual classroom, and most\u00a0importantly, to reconnect with their teachers and classmates. On the other end, it\u2019s\u00a0bitter that,\u00a0due to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":2995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2994"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3008,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions\/3008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}