Hands On, Feet Wet: The Story of River Crossing Environmental Charter School
Rydberg, Victoria (2007).
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; 233 pages.
Recent scholarly articles and popular media have drawn attention to a national crisis in the United States: youths’ disconnection from nature. Nature Deficit Disorder has become a popular diagnosis to describe the “de-natured” child who, as Rich Louv (2005) depicts, spends more time “plugged-in” to various media outlets or in front of the television than playing outside. This reflects the trend that children living in the United States spend, on average, 30 minutes of unstructured time outdoors each week, compared to 13.5 hours of watching television, playing video games and using their computers (Hofferth and Sandberg 2001). Hofferth, a family studies professor at the University of Maryland, also found that at the proportion of children ages 9 to 12 who spent time hiking, walking, fishing, playing on the beach or gardening declined 50 percent between 1997 and 2003 (St. George 2007). Thus, during a time when emphasis has been placed on our de-natured, de-sensitized and indoor-bound youth, the book Hands on, Feet Wet is timely, relevant and refreshing.
Hands on, Feet Wet is a story of the creation and evolution of River Crossing Environmental Charter School in Portage, Wisconsin. The book weaves the personal challenges and successes of the author, Victoria Rydberg, with vignettes from students, parents, local professionals, other educators to create a River Crossing anthology. Full of photos, media coverage, student poems and journal entries, the book has a photo-album feel. Yet, these personal struggles and triumphs are the very hook that keeps the reader engaged. In fact, the book resurrects the localness in the reader, possibly inspiring them to take a walk to a local creek and look inside.
Rydberg’s personal story as a young, environmentally zealous educator parallels the creation of River Crossing School. The book begins at year one, day one of the creation of the school—as well as at the start of Rydberg’s career as the only teacher at River Crossing. Later in the book, the reader begins to understand that being a teacher at River Crossing also means being a teacher, mom, friend, disciplinarian and community instigator. Taking on the role as head educator, instigator, curriculum planner and life coach is no small feat for Rydberg, who is fresh out of college, wide-eyed and passionate for change. Yet, it is because of these very qualities that both River Crossing and Rydberg grow into their respected positions for middle school students in Portage, WI.
Based on a one-room schoolhouse model, River Crossing Charter School extends education beyond the walls of the traditional classroom and into nearby ponds, fields, and marshes. The environmental restoration-based curriculum is integrated, and subjects cross-pollinate through the individual projects that students complete during the school year. For example, this year, River Crossing students designed and created a 1800 square foot rain garden for the new International Aldo Leopold Foundation Legacy Center, which helped students learn and apply important science and math concepts, as well as taught them teamwork and communication skills necessary for work in the real world. In a student essay, Kate Wolf captures the type of learning that takes place at River Crossing, sharing, “We learned more doing things hands-on in the field and classroom than we did sitting in one place taking notes, because we got to feel it, understand it, get it under our fingernails” (63). Such personal vindications verify that River Crossing’s approach walks the talk of environmental education: learning about the environment through being in the environment.
Like any new school, the growing pains are tough, yet every success is seen as a step forward to the creation of a solid and well-respected school. One example of the tangible successes the students have achieved are their high test scores in reading, math, science and social studies. Since River Crossing students have to fulfill the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, they have to take the same standardized tests as all other public schools. Rydberg graphs the continual increase in test scores among the River Crossing Students compared to the local junior high and Wisconsin’s junior high schools overall, revealing that untraditional educational approaches really can work. While higher test scores are one way of measuring River Crossing’s successes, another, less conventional way is voicing the students’ own achievements. Students keep both a classroom and a field journal to assess their own lessons learned and personal triumphs, creating a sense of personal motivation through reflection and evaluation. Throughout the book, the reader quickly learns that both students and the school grow with and for each other.
Ultimately, the book’s grassroots, local and environmental feel makes the reader question why all middle schools aren’t going in the same direction. In a time when sustainability is the new hot work, and a “go green” consciousness is spreading throughout the United States, it seems that the most important place to start is with the next generation of curious, open-minded and passionate students. Rydberg shows us that with hard work, dedication, and an open field, anything can be done.
Hofferth, S.L. and J.F. Sandberg (2001). “How American Children Spend Their Time.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 63(2): 295-308.
Louv, Richard (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.
St. George, Donna (2007). “Lost in the Great Indoors.” The Washington Post, June 19.
Reviewer Information
Susie Strife received her Master’s of Science in environmental studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder where is currently a Ph.D. candidate conducting research on youth experiences of nature and environmental perceptions. Her research interests broadly include children’s environmental health, environmental inequality and environmental education. She loves climbing rocks, hiking mountains and catching crawdads with her nephew.