TheseThingsTakeTime is a customizable curriculum for the 21st century emphasizing individualized learning across disciplines, problem solving and action from understanding. TheseThingsTakeTime guides students, and all involved, to explore how the existence and acceptance of waste affects the entire planet. The curriculum uses the cotton t-shirt, a common item that most of us own in multiples yet spend little time considering, to exemplify how one seemingly simple product has a very complicated story. To do this all participants study the life cycle of their personal t-shirt starting with the present, continuing into the past and finishing with an examination of their t-shirt’s future...made possible by their decisions.

TheseThingsTakeTime depends on the ability to understand the raw materials at the root of the product so that students may assess their impact and investigate alternatives. The curriculum includes over 40 activities that examine how the materials in a single cotton t-shirt impact the health of the economy, environment, and society on a local and global scale. The activities and readings are designed to be used across disciplines and throughout the entire year to create a common and tangible thread between traditional content. Activities include; calculating the ecological footprint of their t-shirt, conducting in-depth research on the company that made their t-shirt, studying and raising awareness of modern day slavery, calculating a living wage for the populations connected to their t-shirt, dissecting a cotton boll and investigating how each part is used in products around them, investigating the history of their t-shirt’s color and its meaning across time and place, creating and using natural dyes from native plants and food waste, repurposing their t-shirt, studying past and present patents, and investigating the tools of the modern industrial revolution.

With access to this site, each unit and activity may be viewed by teachers, students, and parents. The units are comprised of narratives and supporting activities that users can easily mark, save and rearrange to suit their individual needs. The digital nature of the curriculum permits navigation by common core standards and disciplines, as well as by types of activities and assessments. The content is organized to promote introspection and frequent peer engagement offline. The website is managed by the.or team, who update resources and actively participate in the customization of lesson plans as needed.

TheseThingsTakeTime attempts to address the needs of educators to create flexible methods of delivery, assessment, expression and engagement. The content of the curriculum creates memorable learning experiences that nurture and develop the character of all involved.

For further inquiry, please don’t hesitate to contact us via lb@theor.org.