The Molai Woods-One Mans Forest (Article) Author: Stephanie
Summary of the Article: The Molai Woods-One Mans Forest is a blog/article written about a man who grew a whole forest where plants and animals could not live due to erosion, with no help. This young man, Jadav Payeng, at age 16 began planting trees and has been taking care of the, now known Molai woods for over 30 years. He became aware of this in 1979 when floods had washed many of deceased snakes into the sandbar. He realized these animals had died due to not having trees for shade. He contacted the forest department but they said nothing would grow. Jadav was given bamboo trees and told to try to grow them, so he did. Jadav dedication and patience lead him to growing a large forest with a large range of biodiversity. He still continues to maintain the forest and make sure no harm is done to it and its inhabitants. Grade Level: 9 th 12 th
Reading Strategy: Post-it Response Notes Description: Students read the article and on post-it notes write any topic, ideas or notes that are either left in their notes or share with the class. In my version of the strategy, the students read the article in groups or individually and as they read they should be thinking about three main ideas. The three main ideas would be, causes for the forest to have died and no growth, one interesting thing from the article, and what are some negative effects on your environment and how can you help your environment like Jadav did. Students will write each idea in one post- it note. The post-it notes will in shape of a leaf and after everyone is done every students will place their post-it notes on a tree I will make and place on the wall. As a whole class we will then discuss all the post-it notes which will lead us into our Unit. This strategy and article will be a way to introduce the unit on Environmental issues. Source: Subject Matters by Harvey Daniels & Steven Zemelman. Pages 118-120.
Modifications: Students can read the article in groups and with a partner fill out the post-it notes. Or if they would like can draw pictures on their post-it notes representing their ideas. Students can also see the video called Forest Man to get a better idea of who Jadav Payeng is and what he did to help his environment.
Additional Activities: Teacher will then show students a TED talk called How to Grow a Tiny Forest Anywhere. Then as a whole class we will grow our own little forest in the classroom using recycled materials and store bought seeds. Students will then get personally experience how nutrient filled soil and the proper care can make a difference in plants.
Thematic Units, Topics or Literature Units: This article can be used for the unit on environmental issues. It is a great way to introduce the unit and get an idea of what students already know about environmental issues. This can also be used as an end of the unit reflection or for textbook reading.
Idea 1: What could have caused zero growth of plants and the animals to die? Idea 2: One interesting thing about the reading. Idea 3: What are some negative effects on your environment that you have seen or heard about and what can you do to help? Floods washed away nutrients needed by plants to grow and without plants animals do not have shelter It took Jadav 30 years to grow a full forest. Trash in ponds; encourage more recycling and clean up ponds
(ACS Symposium Volume 315) Willa Y. Garner, Richard C. Honeycutt, and Herbert N. Nigg (Eds.) - Evaluation of Pesticides in Ground Water-American Chemical Society (1986)