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The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher and self-proclaimed CEO (Chief Eternal Optimist) Stephen Ritz shows you how, in one of the nation's poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom.

What if we taught students that they have as much potential as a seed? That in the right conditions, they can grow into something great?

These are the questions that Stephen Ritz - who became a teacher more than 30 years ago - sought to answer in 2004 in a South Bronx high school plagued by rampant crime and a dismal graduation rate. After what can only be defined as a cosmic experience when a flower broke up a fight in his classroom, he saw a way to start tackling his school's problems: plants. He flipped his curriculum to integrate gardening as an entry point for all learning and inadvertently created an international phenomenon. As Ritz likes to say, "Fifty thousand pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crop is organically grown citizens who are growing and eating themselves into good health and amazing opportunities."

The Power of a Plant tells the story of a green teacher from the Bronx who let one idea germinate into a movement and changed his students' lives by learning alongside them. Since greening his curriculum, Ritz has seen near-perfect attendance and graduation rates, dramatically increased passing rates on state exams, and behavioral incidents slashed in half. In the poorest congressional district in America, he has helped create 2,200 local jobs and built farms and gardens while changing landscapes and mindsets for residents, students, and colleagues. Along the way, Ritz lost more than 100 pounds by eating the food that he and his students grow in school. The Power of a Plant is his story of hope, resilience, regeneration, and optimism.

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The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher and self-proclaimed CEO (Chief Eternal Optimist) Stephen Ritz shows you how, in one of the nation's poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom.

What if we taught students that they have as much potential as a seed? That in the right conditions, they can grow into something great?

These are the questions that Stephen Ritz - who became a teacher more than 30 years ago - sought to answer in 2004 in a South Bronx high school plagued by rampant crime and a dismal graduation rate. After what can only be defined as a cosmic experience when a flower broke up a fight in his classroom, he saw a way to start tackling his school's problems: plants. He flipped his curriculum to integrate gardening as an entry point for all learning and inadvertently created an international phenomenon. As Ritz likes to say, "Fifty thousand pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crop is organically grown citizens who are growing and eating themselves into good health and amazing opportunities."

The Power of a Plant tells the story of a green teacher from the Bronx who let one idea germinate into a movement and changed his students' lives by learning alongside them. Since greening his curriculum, Ritz has seen near-perfect attendance and graduation rates, dramatically increased passing rates on state exams, and behavioral incidents slashed in half. In the poorest congressional district in America, he has helped create 2,200 local jobs and built farms and gardens while changing landscapes and mindsets for residents, students, and colleagues. Along the way, Ritz lost more than 100 pounds by eating the food that he and his students grow in school. The Power of a Plant is his story of hope, resilience, regeneration, and optimism.

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The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools
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The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools

Overview

In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher and self-proclaimed CEO (Chief Eternal Optimist) Stephen Ritz shows you how, in one of the nation's poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom.

What if we taught students that they have as much potential as a seed? That in the right conditions, they can grow into something great?

These are the questions that Stephen Ritz - who became a teacher more than 30 years ago - sought to answer in 2004 in a South Bronx high school plagued by rampant crime and a dismal graduation rate. After what can only be defined as a cosmic experience when a flower broke up a fight in his classroom, he saw a way to start tackling his school's problems: plants. He flipped his curriculum to integrate gardening as an entry point for all learning and inadvertently created an international phenomenon. As Ritz likes to say, "Fifty thousand pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crop is organically grown citizens who are growing and eating themselves into good health and amazing opportunities."

The Power of a Plant tells the story of a green teacher from the Bronx who let one idea germinate into a movement and changed his students' lives by learning alongside them. Since greening his curriculum, Ritz has seen near-perfect attendance and graduation rates, dramatically increased passing rates on state exams, and behavioral incidents slashed in half. In the poorest congressional district in America, he has helped create 2,200 local jobs and built farms and gardens while changing landscapes and mindsets for residents, students, and colleagues. Along the way, Ritz lost more than 100 pounds by eating the food that he and his students grow in school. The Power of a Plant is his story of hope, resilience, regeneration, and optimism.

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Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781543690996
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication date: 02/13/2018
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Stephen Ritz, founder of Green Bronx Machine, has devoted his teaching career to improving health and academic results for children in the South Bronx. Now he is partnering with organizations from Canada to Dubai and Colombia to Cairo to bring the power of a plant to children and communities everywhere. A Top 10 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize and one of NPR’s 50 Greatest Teachers, he has presented at the White House on two separate occasions and had his classroom modeled by the U.S. Botanic Garden. His work has been featured by major media and documentaries, including Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, and his TEDx talk has been viewed over one million times. Dubbed the Pied Piper of Peas, Ritz and his family reside in the Bronx and continue to farm with children all year round. His demonstration classroom, the National Health, Wellness, and Learning Center, is located at Community School 55 in the South Bronx.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Authors xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background on Animal Movement 1

1.1.1 Population Dynamics 3

1.1.2 Spatial Redistribution 4

1.1.3 Home Ranges, Territories, and Groups 6

1.1.4 Group Movement and Dynamics 7

1.1.5 Informed Dispersal and Prospecting 8

1.1.6 Memory 8

1.1.7 Individual Condition 9

1.1.8 Energy Balance 10

1.1.9 Food Provision 10

1.1.10 Encounter Rates and Patterns 10

1.2 Telemetry Data 12

1.3 Notation 14

1.4 Statistical Concepts 15

1.5 Additional Reading 17

Chapter 2 Statistics for Spatial Data 19

2.1 Point Processes 19

2.1.1 Homogeneous SPPs 21

2.1.2 Density Estimation 23

2.1.3 Parametric Models 25

2.2 Continuous Spatial Processes 28

2.2.1 Modeling and Parameter Estimation 29

2.2.2 Prediction 34

2.2.3 Restricted Maximum Likelihood 35

2.2.4 Bayesian Geostatistics 36

2.3 Discrete Spatial Processes 39

2.3.1 Descriptive Statistics 40

2.3.2 Models for Discrete Spatial Processes 43

2.4 Spatial Confounding 47

2.5 Dimension Reduction Methods 48

2.5.1 Reducing Necessary Calculations 48

2.5.2 Reduced-Rank Models 49

2.5.3 Predictive Processes 51

2.6 Additional Reading 54

Chapter 3 Statistics for Temporal Data 55

3.1 Univariate Time Series 55

3.1.1 Descriptive Statistics 57

3.1.2 Models for Univariate Temporal Data 60

3.1.2.1 Autoregressive Models 60

3.1.2.2 Moving Average Models 65

3.1.2.3 Backshift Notation 66

3.1.2.4 Differencing in Time Series Models 68

3.1.2.5 Fitting Time Series Models 68

3.1.3 Forecasting 71

3.1.4 Additional Univariate Time Series Notes 73

3.1.5 Temporally Varying Coefficient Models 74

3.1.6 Temporal Point Processes 77

3.2 Multivariate Time Series 83

3.2.1 Vector Autoregressive Models 83

3.2.2 Implementation 87

3.3 Hierarchical Time Series Models 88

3.3.1 Measurement Error 89

3.3.2 Hidden Markov Models 91

3.3.3 Upscaling 92

3.3.3.1 Implementation: Kalman Approaches 94

3.3.3.2 Implementation: Bayesian Approaches 96

3.4 Additional Reading 98

Chapter 4 Point Process Models 99

4.1 Space Use 99

4.1.1 Home Range 101

4.1.2 Core Areas 103

4.2 Resource Selection Functions 107

4.2.1 Implementation of RSF Models 110

4.2.2 Efficient Computation of RSF Integrals 113

4.3 Resource Utilization Functions 117

4.4 Autocorrelation 121

4.5 Population-Level Inference 123

4.6 Measurement Error 127

4.7 Spatio-Temporal Point Process Models 131

4.7.1 General Spatio-Temporal Point Processes 132

4.7.2 Conditional STPP Models for Telemetry Data 134

4.7.3 Full STPP Model for Telemetry Data 138

4.7.4 STPPs as Spatial Point Processes 141

4.8 Additional Reading 145

Chapter 5 Discrete-Time Models 147

5.1 Position Models 147

5.1.1 Random Walk 147

5.1.2 Attraction 150

5.1.3 Measurement Error 150

5.1.4 Temporal Alignment (Irregular Data) 153

5.1.5 Heterogeneous Behavior 153

5.2 Velocity Models 158

5.2.1 Modeling Movement Parameters 162

5.2.2 Generalized State-Switching Models 168

5.2.3 Response to Spatial Features 175

5.2.4 Direct Dynamics in Movement Parameters 176

5.2.5 Patch Transitions 178

5.2.6 Auxiliary Data 182

5.2.7 Population-Level Inference 186

5.3 Additional Reading 187

Chapter 6 Continuous-Time Models 189

6.1 Lagrangian versus Eulerian Perspectives 189

6.2 Stochastic Differential Equations 192

6.3 Brownian Bridges 195

6.4 Attraction and Drift 197

6.5 Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Models 199

6.6 Potential Functions 202

6.7 Smooth Brownian Movement Models 211

6.7.1 Velocity-Based Stochastic Process Models 212

6.7.2 Functional Movement Models and Covariance 217

6.7.3 Implementing Functional Movement Models 219

6.7.4 Phenomenological Functional Movement Models 220

6.7.5 Velocity-Based Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Models 223

6.7.6 Resource Selection and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Models 229

6.7.7 Prediction Using Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Models 231

6.8 Connections among Discrete and Continuous Models 235

6.9 Additional Reading 238

Chapter 7 Secondary Models and Inference 239

7.1 Multiple Imputation 239

7.2 Transitions in Discrete Space 241

7.3 Transitions in Continuous Space 246

7.4 Generalized Models for Transitions in Discrete Space 253

7.5 Connections with Point Process Models 256

7.5.1 Continuous-Time Models 256

7.5.2 Discrete-Time Models 263

7.6 Additional Reading 267

Glossary 269

References 273

Author Index 291

Subject Index 299

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