Eefje Hendriks (#1 HBO)
Eefje Hendriks is an architecture professor at Avans University of Applied Sciences and coordinates the Disruptive Events minor. In this minor she takes students to refugee camps throughout Europe every year.
What has the election brought you as a Sustainable Teacher?
"It was very nice to become a Sustainable Teacher. I was approached by different media for a piece (look at the bottom of this blog for the overview of media output by Eefje). The best contact was as a result of the piece in Trouw newspaper. I was approached by a former professor of the TU Delft, Jan Bredenoord. I had read a lot of his work before. As a result of this article, we are now jointly supervising students with a case in Lombok."
"The most beautiful contact is as a result of the piece in Dagblad Trouw"
"From my school I received appreciation from many colleagues and a bunch of flowers. There are several developments going on at my school around SDGs and I am now seen and asked to think along with them. My strength is to connect content to different parties and to match the learning needs of our students. I also plan to submit several applications for funding for follow-up research and continued educational development. I think this title will give my profile additional strength in these types of applications."
Do you have any future plans regarding sustainable teaching and what do they look like? Or, if you don't, do you have any tips for other teachers?
"We have a new course at Avans that will start next year around the use of sustainable materials in construction. We're going to take that a step further in student awareness by going into climate change and its relationships in construction choices at length. It's going to be a great content subject."
"We have a new course at Avans that will start next year around the use of sustainable materials in construction."
"I am now working with colleagues from 5 other Avans academies on a pilot, an elective for 5 credits. We are thinking about "blue zones"(Zones where people live longer than average) in the city and look at that from the point of view of architecture, economics, business administration, public administration, environmental studies. We give the students a lot of freedom in that project to develop their own plan in a large multidisciplinary group."
"Something else we are working on is a digital collaboration with refugees. Our plan to go to the refugee camp unfortunately fell through due to Covid-19, but we started an online collaboration instead. We paired each student with a refugee in the Netherlands to get a better understanding.There we are pairing students with humanitarian and development issues; a type of global sustainability that I think is now underexplored."
"A tip I have for other teachers is to not be indifferent. It's easy to close your eyes to tomorrow. But our students see the future that is outlined for them and are increasingly aware of global issues. They want to! We just need to facilitate and shape it. It gives our students the opportunity to shape the future. I am in favor of working with students from different fields of study because it produces outcomes that are truly innovative!"
"A tip I have for other teachers is to not be indifferent. It's easy to close your eyes to tomorrow. But our students see the future that is outlined for them and are increasingly aware of global issues."
Would you recommend other teachers to sign up themselves or someone else for the Sustainable Teacher of 2021?
"Yes I can definitely recommend it!"
Shanna Hummeling (#2 MBO)
Shanna Hummeling is an animal care teacher/instructor of the courses Animal Care/Paraveterinary (Veterinary Assistant) at Wellantcollege in Aalsmeer. Here she has been integrating sustainability into all her animal care classes for three years.
What has the election brought you as a Sustainable Teacher?
"What I have experienced is that plans that I mentioned during my participation have already been largely implemented or are in the planning stages. The terrariums have been ordered and will be delivered soon, this is already a huge sustainable step for our location. In addition, the plastic water bottles for animals are being replaced with glass bottles and a number of other sustainable ideas are being developed. I think all of this is largely due to the participation in the ''Sustainable Teacher 2020''.
"Within Wellantcollege there is also a lot of attention, for example articles have appeared in social media and on the intranet page. We expect even more articles once the biggest project with the terrariums has been carried out."
"Outside of Wellant, I have been approached by various organizations for an interview. I noticed that companies in the animal sector also approached me from time to time, because they had seen it pass by. My colleagues, acquaintances and family have clearly shown their pride in the result and that is of course very nice to hear."
"My colleagues, acquaintances and family have clearly shown their pride in the result and that is of course very nice to hear."
Do you have any future plans regarding sustainable teaching and what do they look like? Or, if you don't, do you have any tips for other teachers?
"Meanwhile, at our location, the sea aquarium is running well. I would like to make more use of it in the future in lessons/courses and projects. Besides the aquarium there is also a scaffold running along in the circular system here are also some very nice ideas for, but that is a secret for now."
"A tip I have for other teachers would be to not want to think too big. What may seem like a small change to you, can actually have a big impact and can inspire others to make other changes. For example, the transition from plastic water bottles for animals to glass bottles at the Wellant College. We were able to throw away several bottles a month because they were being chewed to pieces. The glass bottles last much longer. On a monthly basis this saves a lot of waste, and also money despite the initial investment being larger. A nice next step would be to inspire other locations or companies to make this change as well."
Would you recommend other teachers to sign up themselves or someone else for the Sustainable Teacher of 2021?
"I would definitely recommend other teachers to participate. The attention that follows after participating can be just the step to get more people on board with your changes. Your sustainable lessons/projects/changes etc. can inspire others or they can also implement your ideas. In the end, we all want only 1 thing and that is to become more sustainable."
"I would definitely recommend other teachers to participate. The attention that follows after participation can be just the step to get more people on board with your changes."
Desiree Kootstra (#2 PO)
Desiree works at the Beatrix School in Haarlem. As a technology teacher she teaches classes on energy, design-based learning, product research and 3D printing and much more!
What has the election brought you as a Sustainable Teacher?
"Winning the second prize was an honor. My colleagues at school were very proud of me, which was nice. A teacher from the Pabo asked me to motivate online students for sustainable lessons, I enjoyed doing that."
"Winning the second prize was an honor."
Do you have any future plans regarding sustainable teaching and what do they look like? Or, if you don't, do you have any tips for other teachers?
"Our school has an experience garden and I am developing more and more lessons to teach outside. I also design lessons for outdoors because the corona makes me want to be indoors as little as possible. This leads to fun experiments. For example, I teach the microscope lessons outside and the kids love that. Also, many organizations have websites with ideas for outdoor lessons that tie in with subjects like language and math."
Would you recommend other teachers to sign up themselves or someone else for the Sustainable Teacher of 2021?
"Yes, I think the focus on sustainability lessons is good. Not all children are exposed to sustainability topics from their home situation. For the school, it can be an opportunity to teach outdoors more often or to teach lessons that appeal to different interests and skills than those usually taught."
