Voices & Stories

  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 environmental justice 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...

  Joel Tolman           September 28, 2024

Opening Photo: Isonnette, Glow, Joel, Jessica, and Aiden wade out to remove cattails that are out-competing other wetland species. This past Friday, two dozen Common Ground students showed up after school to care for the educational wetland on our campus. Four teachers were on hand to help, but Isonnette O’Brien – who last year as a 10th grader founded our Wetland Crew – was the natural...

  Robyn Stewart   |   Joel Tolman           May 30, 2022

What if urban public schools could mobilize their cities and schoolyards as classrooms – helping city students connect to their urban environments, master high academic standards, and grow into environmental stewards? Teaching our Cities and Schoolyards was a two-year project that aimed to do just that, with support from the EPA’s Environmental Education Grant Program. Two Common Ground...

  Joel Tolman           June 14, 2019

Teaching Our Cities -- a network of urban public high schools with a shared focus on the environment and social justice -- is welcoming applications from teams of teachers, students, and others to join in a curriculum design institute, taking place August 5 to 7 at Common Ground High School in New Haven, Connecticut.  We are seeking: Teams of students, teachers, and potentially...

  Joel Tolman           February 18, 2019

Teaching Our Cities -- a network of urban public high schools with a shared focus on the environment and social justice -- is seeking proposals for presentations for our April 5th Teaching Our Cities School Summit at Connecticut River Academy in East Hartford, Connecticut.  Proposals are due by Monday, March 11. We are seeking: Teams of students and staff Sharing work...

  Joel Tolman           April 16, 2018

I am really excited to welcome you to Teaching Our Cities -- a web resource center dedicated to rooting urban public schools in their urban environments. I hope you'll explore this web site, and share it with others who care about city students and city schools. In a hundred different ways, urban public high schools can turn their backs on their cities. They can fortify themselves with fences...