Southside Middle School is doing their part to reduce, reuse and recycle. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate school, Southside Middle focused on the environment for the first quarter IB area of interaction.
Inspired by “Tapped,” a movie documentary which examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on health, climate change and pollution, recycling education became a key aspect of the school’s curriculum.
Michael Pilch, Southside Middle’s Varying Exceptionalities, language arts and social studies teacher, created an engaging school-wide recycling project. Mr. Pilch asked students to collect any used plastic water bottles within a one-week time frame. Students were amazed at the 1,000 plus water bottles they collected in a single week.
By viewing the immense amount of landfill space that is taken up by water bottles, amongst other recyclables, students were immediately motivated to make recycling widespread at the school.
Mr. Pilch helped the ESE students create a video, instructing other students to “Get a Reusable.” The students wrote a script, made cue cards and shot the film in one day. The success of the video has encouraged the teachers at Southside Middle to include video production and interactive projects in their daily lessons.
More 'Spotlight on Education' Articles
Stay connected to the latest school news and events
