Lesson 4

Lesson Four: How Do Other Countries Recycle?

Grade: 4th/5th                          Time Needed: 45 minutes                Unit: From Trash to Treasure

Essential Questions addressed in this lesson:
·      What recycling program does our city of Madison, WI have?
·      What recycling programs do other countries have?

Standards addressed in this lesson:
NCSS Standards-
·      II. Time, Continuity and Change
·      III. People, Places and the Environment
·      VII. Production, Distribution and Consumption
·      IX. Global Connections
MMSD Standards-
·      B.4.9 (History) Describe examples of cooperation and interdependence among individuals, groups, and nations.
·      D.4.7 (Economics) Describe how personal economic decisions, such as deciding what to buy, what to recycle, or how much to contribute to people in need, can affect the lives of people in Wisconsin, the United States, and the world.
·      E.4.12 (Behavioral Science) Give examples of important contributions made by Wisconsin citizens, United States citizens, and world citizens.
UW-Madison Teacher/School of Education Standards-
·      Standard 2: Understands social context of schooling. This lesson demonstrates my understanding of how local, state, national, and global social and political contexts differentially affect aspects for students. For example, through this lesson students will learn that other children their age are in very different circumstances because of their environment and country that they live in, thus revealing a context of schooling that is different than their own.
·      Standard 11: Uses technology. This lesson gives me the opportunity to use YouTube and a computer and projector. This demonstrates my incorporation of new and proven technologies into instructional practices.

Materials Needed:
·      YouTube video about cartoneras and the recycling program in Argentina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIBb2VJ5l4U&feature=related)
·      Computer and projector
·      Chart paper or board with writing utensil (to make Venn Diagram)

Objectives:
·      Students will compare and contrast the recycling program in our city of Madison with the recycling program in another country, particularly Argentina.
·      Students will learn the definition(s) of “cartonera”.

Lesson Context:
            This will be the fourth lesson in a unit composed of 5 lessons. Previously, students have explored how much trash we produce in our city and how Madison is attempting to implement programs to reduce and recycle waste. In this lesson, students will learn about how other countries, particularly Argentina, deal with their trash and recyclables.

Lesson Opening:
            Yesterday, we learned about the recycling program that our city of Madison has in place and what items we can put in the recycling bin and which items we have to put in the trash. Today, we are going to learn about how a different country of Argentina deals with their trash and recycling.

Procedures:
1. Begin this lesson by asking students about the recycling program in Madison (if students don’t come up with it on their own, remind them that in Madison we have a designated program where we put our recyclables in a bin and put it on the curb, then it gets sorted and recycled through a government program).
2. Ask students if they think that other cities in America have the same recycling program as we do in Madison (encourage them to think about places they’ve been or if they have families who live elsewhere that they could think about).
3. Ask students if they think that other countries have the same recycling programs as we do in Madison.
4. Tell students that we are going to see a short video clip about the recycling program in Argentina, and ask them to think about how it is similar to or different than ours while they watch it.
5. Show the YouTube video of Eloisa Cartonera.
6. Ask students what they learned about the recycling process in Argentina or if they have any questions about the video clip that they saw. Answer any questions or give background knowledge for any part of the video that may have been confusing.
7. Make a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the recycling program that is in place in Argentina (from the YouTube video) and our recycling program in Madison.
   -Make sure to remind students to think about the ages of the people who collect the garbage in Argentina. Because there is no government issued recycling program set up in Argentina, children as young as 10 work 12 to 15 hour days collecting garbage on the streets. This is comparable to the age of the students in the class, so this is an important connection for students to understand.
   -If students don’t come up with it during the creation of the Venn Diagram, add the word “cartonera” to the section that is for the recycling program in Argentina.
8. Ask students if they remember what “cartonera” means (from the video). This can have two correct answers. First, it is a person that cannot find any work except for going around collecting the trash and recyclables from the dumps in Argentina. These workers especially look for and collect cardboard, which is where their name comes from. Second, cartonera is the name of the books that are made out of fully recycled materials.
9. Ask students who benefits from the cartonera books.
   -The cartoneras (cardboard collectors) - get paid more money for their cardboard
   -The authors- have a way to publish their books
   -The makers of the books- have a way to earn money in an artistic way
   -The readers- can buy books for less money than through other publishers
10. Remind students that, although there is not a government issued recycling program in Argentina, the citizens there are creating their own ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials as a way to improve their community and conditions.
11. To wrap up this lesson and to review the Venn Diagram, have the class form a large circle with everyone facing the inside. Create a rhythm (slap thighs, clap hands, slap thighs, clap hands, etc.) and go around the circle and have everyone share one thing that is either similar or different between our recycling program and the one in Argentina.
   -It is alright if students repeat answers that have already been said, as long as it is in their own words and it is clear that they were thinking about it before. (Although it may be hard to tell, whenever I have used this review strategy in classrooms before it has been very successful and it is usually obvious when students are just copying answers versus repeating an answer that they were already thinking of.)

Lesson Closing:
            Today, we learned about the way that Argentina deals with their trash and recycling. We learned about cartoneras, that they are books made out of fully recycled materials, and next lesson we are going to be making our own cartoneras.

Assessment:
·      Students will be informally assessed based on their ability to compare and contrast the Madison recycling program with the recycling process in Argentina during the class discussion.
·      Students will be more formally assessed based on their participation and ability to produce a similarity or difference between the recycling program in Madison and that in Argentina during the wrap up review.

Special Considerations:
·      If students are not literate enough to read the subtitles on the YouTube clip, read them aloud.
·      If any students have ever traveled to other countries, encourage them to think about the recycling programs that were there (if they noticed it).

Sources Used:
            Gilbert, S. and Tagle, S. (2008). Eloise cartonera. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIBb2VJ5l4U&feature=related