Locust Fork High School Becomes Pilot School for PROJECT COMMUNITY

Photo Album of the LFHS Teacher's Project Community retreat.

Fourteen LFHS faculty members recently attended a retreat where they learned various ways to bring the outdoors into the teaching of math, science, social studies and language arts.  When you are walking around the campus holding a GPS in your hand measuring a plot of land or playing “Oh Deer” on the lawn of the school learning about wildlife habitats, you will be experiencing some of the activities your teachers were participating in at “Lanark”, headquarters of the Alabama Wildlife Federation.  We have been chosen by the Emmy award winning program Discovering Alabama’s host and producer, Dr. Doug Phillips, to be the statewide pilot school for Project Community.   Dr. Phillips was born and reared just up the road from us on the banks of the Locust Fork River.  He hunted and fished in some of the same places you have, so he thought it fitting to make LFHS the pilot school for the program.  Your teachers spent 12 hour days, seining ponds, fly fishing, listening to the state archaeologist talk about Indian artifacts and learning deductive reasoning skills by using a dichotomus key.  They also spent many hours listening to speakers talk about integrating the outdoors into each subject.  Executive Director of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Tim Gothard, spoke of the AWF’s support for you as well as Doug Darr of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.  Commissioner Barnett Lawley, also from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, has planned a trip to LFHS bringing with him other state agency heads.  They are partners in supporting Project Community.  Also on board as partners are the Cooperative Extension System and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  Our own Soil and Conservation District has donated topographic maps of our area for you to use in studying science and social studies.  Many of the activity leaders and speakers want to visit LFHS to speak and/or lead activities with you as well.

In addition to training, we were awarded a resource kit containing a GPS, sets of field guides, compasses and many other pieces of equipment.  We also received the 64 volume set of Discovering Alabama videos which will be used extensively in teaching subject matter and making it locally relevant.  LFHS students and faculty have a big role to play this year in getting this program to catch on statewide.  Eleven other schools will be implementing Project Community next year (2008-09) and will be visiting our classrooms this year to learn from you.  LFHS students have become statewide ambassadors to these schools and will be asked for your input so both students and faculty must exhibit their best qualities and help them.  Discovering Alabama film crews will be filming periodically so on any given day you may have to become “camera ready.”  Are we up to it?  Of course we are!

Link: Learn more about Project Community.

By Marsha Butler