Emily Townsend

I am the K-5 Education Specialist at SubjectToClimate. Our mission is to make climate change teaching and learning accessible to all. I joined SubjectToClimate after teaching for 15 years in grades K-8, both as a general education teacher and as a specialist in English Language Development. I used interdisciplinary connections to link language learning to science content and vocabulary. Hands-on learning and collaborative work were key tenets of my teaching philosophy to increase accessibility of the content. Both are important for students to use new language learning, as well as to understand scientific concepts with their own 'funds of knowledge' and cultural perspective. Our teacher-created lessons and units at SubjectToClimate hold these same tenets to reach our mission, in addition to focusing on students' social and emotional learning, teaching students to problem-solve, work as a team and advocate for themselves and others.