Background Environment
Hearne is in central Texas, a small community of approximately 4,000 people, known as the crossroads of Texas. There are three schools in Hearne and the district; Hearne Elementary, Hearne Junior High, and Hearne High. According to data from the US census bureau, a news article recently stated that Hispanics officially make up the most significant share of Texas's population as of 2022.
Because I began my teaching career with this district as a first-grade teacher and eventually went on to teach second, third, and fourth grades successively, most of my current junior high and high school students had or remember me from elementary school, as do their parents. Not only have I worked in the district for the past decade, but I graduated from there as well. My students' parents are classmates of mine or went to school with me at some point. I plan to capitalize on that when having students and their parents share their stories orally to the class regarding their experiences with nature and what nature means to them. I teach, specifically, students whose first language is not English.
When questioned about nature and whether my students experience it, this curriculum unit will address their need for more experience in that area. Some stated they were too busy, and some were not interested in doing so. This unit will marry nature and storytelling to enhance student learning in the areas of writing, listening, and speaking. By bringing fine arts into this curriculum unit through painting, students can highlight before and after portraits of what nature means to them. While my students are proud of who they are and who they have become, some hold insecurities about their relatives and ancestry.
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