By Dave Kramer, Director of Green Programs & Partnerships at Boston Green Academy with support and inspiration from Chris Donnelly, Jessie Zeng, and Jen Doyle. To accompany People, Parks, and Possibilities - A Public Spaces Environmental Problem-Solving Toolkit A parcel of land can look pretty simple on a map. But spend a little time there, ask a few questions, and...
Voices & Stories
Jeremy Stone June 15, 2026
Photo Caption: A.P. U.S. Government Students -- who provided input on our Clean Air, Water & Land Resource Guide -- lead a workshop for other Common Ground students. Schools across Connecticut and the country teach civics courses – building students’ understanding of U.S. Government, and their capacity to engage as active citizens. Everything that's taught in a typical civics course...
Joel Tolman May 1, 2026
TLDR: Invite your seniors to a high school faculty meeting – maybe on Earth Day. Hold a fishbowl conversation, where you ask them about how your school has supported their growth as environmental leaders – and how you could do better. Then, work in teams of students and staff to fill big sheets of butcher paper, one for each grade – creating a map of the specific ways your school...
Joel Tolman July 17, 2025
Wearing bright yellow safety vests, Aurelio, Claire, and Adriana lead their classmates across the narrow bridge that connects Common Ground High School's campus to the rest of the West Rock neighborhood. Hugging the guardrail, they are equipped with the tools they've assembled for the day's work: chalk, garbage pickers and bags, and homemade traffic signs sporting messages like "...
by Larry Dome, Evan Green, Shannon Raider Ginsberg, Sarah Tracy-Wanck, and Joel Tolman This blog post was originally written as part of a potential book project on urban farming and STEM learning, but never published. In 2024, it was brought back to life and published at teachcity.org with support from a USDA NIFA grant. Explore the full toolkit on urban farming and math learning here....
Joel Tolman November 3, 2024
Teaching Our Cities -- a project of Common Ground High School, Urban Farm & Environmental Education Center -- is seeking applications from high schools and nonprofit environment organizations interested in joining in a year-long collaborative effort. The goal: To develop, test, improve and share resources and tools that will help young people across New England (and beyond) build...