For the first time, CAP class at AXL Academy has been offered as a yearlong elective, allowing students to dig deeper into environmental topics and issues specific to their community. CAP Instructor Katie Morton shared some reflections on the first two trimesters as her class moves into spring: In the last year, the words “unprecedented,”… Read more »
The fall CAP class at Angevine Middle School was one of the more unusual in recent memory, shifting from online to in-person and back over just nine weeks. In spite of all the disruptions, students had the chance to build outdoor skills, develop a connection to the natural world, and make critical connections. One of… Read more »
So much has happened to high school students this year. During a time in life where they are supposed to be seeking out new opportunities and finding themselves, their wings have been clipped and they are stuck in the nest, disengaged from the world around them. So much change is happening in the world that… Read more »
Imagine that you are trying to give a sales presentation and you are in a video meeting staring at twenty-three icons. You make a joke—trying to break the ice, get a reaction. The icons are unwavering. This is virtual teaching in a COVID autumn. What you are selling is engagement with peers, connection to each… Read more »
Any student that’s taken a CAP Class with Cottonwood Institute can tell you that Action Projects are of the highlights of their experience. Typically, students choose an issue that they want to tackle as a whole class. Together, they find solutions and work to plan an action in their community; classes in the past have… Read more »
At Cottonwood Institute, we’ve got reasons to love every time of year. Winter means plenty of snow for building quinzhees, spring is time for projects in the garden (or more quinzhees if the snow decides to stick around), and summer brings us down to Westcliffe for adventures at Mission: Wolf. But our favorite time of… Read more »
The beginning of March is an exciting time for Cottonwood Institute (CI) CAP Programs at Centaurus High School (CHS) and Angevine Middle School (AMS). We play creative games and brainstorming games as we come up with ideas for how to solve problems in our communities. Students form coalitions to lobby other students on their… Read more »
As so many of us have done these last 8 weeks or so, Cottonwood Institute needed to pivot and change how we do things in this age of physical distancing. The biggest concern for our instructors was: how do you turn an outdoor, environmental service learning class into a virtual experience? Lucky for CI, experiential… Read more »
Earth Day Stay-At-Home Challenge Just because you are stuck at home doesn’t mean you can’t do something to save the planet. Here are some great activities collected by the CAP Class at Angevine Middle School, and CAP instructor Erin Angel! Choose at least one challenge from each category and complete it. Each category contains some… Read more »
With schools transitioning to distance learning and students spending (understandably) less time outside, Cottonwood Institute has been faced with the tough question of how to make environmental education accessible and relevant in a time when we can’t do many of the things that normally make up a CAP Class. Fortunately, our team has quite a… Read more »
