Annual Conference Planning

Hi Everyone,
The MEEA Annual Conference is several months away, but planning has already begun.  In an effort to involve teachers in their planning, the conference committee has requested that our Teacher Advisory Committee respond to the following questions:

1. Do they have any suggestions for themes or speakers for the 2012 MEEA Annual Conference?  Any particular subjects, topics or issues related to environmental education they think should be addressed?
2. How familiar are they with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)?  Is STEM something that teachers at their school are talking about and referring to?  

For my part, I went to a conference where one of the main speakers was Olivia Bouler.  In response to the Deep Water Horizon Spill, the then 11 year old Olivia wrote and sold drawings of birds and eventually a book to raise funds to recover from the spill.  She has since raised over $150,000 in her efforts.  In addition, Dan Spranger, from Washington Academy in East Machias, has done some amazing things with his class.  I believe he and his teaching team have won the teacher award from MEEA in the past.  You can check out an article about one of his recent exploits here.  Either of these speakers would be a great addition to the spring conference docket, and both embody what I think would make a great theme: the power of kids.

As for STEM, it is certainly a buzz word that I hear repeatedly.  For the most part its mention comes from people outside of the classroom.  I've heard it from principals, grant administrators and in the news, but the teachers at my school (Gray-New Gloucester High School) rarely talk about it as a whole, being more likely to discuss their own discipline (Science, Math or Technology).  The way schools are structured, we tend to address STEM using its parts rather than as a whole.

Contributors, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Please sign in and add a New Post.

On Outdoor Experience and Environmental Values

By-ANDREW C. REVKIN

A New York Times article written by a favorite author of mine, Andrew C. Revkin, that I thought some of you might enjoy:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/on-outdoor-experience-and-environmental-values/

Enjoy and consider sharing what you think of this article. As I read this I found myself wondering how can I get my 4th graders outdoors more especially with lovely fall weather approaching and all the wonderful changes that go along with it. We begin our year with a science unit on Maine soils. That's just got to be enough reason to get outside with the kids.

Mary

Field Trip Logistics

My name is John Haley and I teach 9th graders at Gray-New Gloucester High School.  One challenge that I have repeatedly dealt with is coordinating logistics for the 80-90 students that I teach.  At any given time my students are scattered throughout a rather large building.  Gathering permission forms or connecting students who are working on the same project, but at different times, can be a planning nightmare and add stress to the most exciting parts of my job.  I remember a moment last spring: I was chasing after my class as they headed for the field trip bus.  I had a shovel in one hand and a plastic grocery bag full of something and a partly wadded up site map of our destination in the other.  As I passed by a coworker I uttered, "Why do I do this to myself?"

Of course, by the end of the day, I was reminded of why I do environmental education.  In just a few hours my students had turned a barren hillside full of gullies into a terraced slope, with vegetated borders and a winding, erosion resistant path through the middle.  Students of all ability levels shined with pride over what they had accomplished.  I had answered the question of why, but not how to avoid the problems in the first place.  While trips like this still have stress associated with them, I have mitigated my burden in a couple of ways:

1. Ask for permission at the beginning of the year.  Rather than collect almost a hundred permission slips every time I want to take my kids across the street or put a video they made on the internet, I send one all encompassing permission form at the beginning of the year.
2. Ask for help.  The first year I did a planting like the one I mentioned above I was lucky enough to run into a woman who was administering a grant that our school had received.  I mentioned the project I was working on and she offered to help.  A huge weight was lifted from my shoulders.  Last year, I started the project and the year by calling together a group of people I knew might want to be involved to help plan the project from the beginning.  Knowing I had a team of invested individuals who were in my corner made the last day a whole lot easier.

I'm always looking for more ways to ease my logistical stress, so if you've got ideas please share them in the comment section.

Welcome

Welcome to the MEEA Teacher Advisory Blog! It's great to have this up & running.

If you've not visited the MEEA website, I hope you'll take sometime to look it over and learn a little about our work and our Board members. www.meeassociation.org We do need to update the website and may ask for your advice in the future. My term as President ended in April and Ryder Scott is the current MEEA Board President.

On the first page of the MEEA site, you'll see a link to the Environmental Literacy Plan. This document and conversation will be part of our monthly board meetings in the coming months.

I sincerely look forward to working with you.

All the best, Pat

Welcome to the MEEA Teacher Advisory Blog!

Welcome to the inaugural post of the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) Teacher Advisory Committee blog. The intent of this blog is two-fold. First, MEEA has prioritized the importance of receiving feedback from classroom teachers who use environmental education (EE) in their classroom practice. Recognizing that teachers' time is dedicated to students and planning, MEEA acknowledges that teachers cannot attend monthly board meetings. In lieu of attending meetings the MEEA board chose to design an online teacher committee that would provide professional advice related to, for example, MEEA projects such as the annual conference, and EE initiatives such as the Maine Environmental Literacy Plan.

Reason 2 for this blog: create an online community. We hope to create a forum where teachers can share real concerns for using EE as a context for learning. Why are EE teachers passionate about the way they teach? Share stories about student responses curriculum connections - stories that make a difference.

The Committee: Sharing Our Stories

In response to our survey: Five classroom teachers are willing to share experiences in blog form. See map for geography of schools. Of the five, two teach elementary, one teaches middle school, and two teach high school.

These five members also work with a wide range of non-formal or non-classroom environmental educators. Groups mentioned include the Maine Energy Education Program, The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, Portland Water District, Maine Audubon, The College of the Atlantic, University of Maine at Presque Isle, KIDS Consortium, Bryant Pond 4H Camp, and Oxford County Soil and Water District.
What are concerns? Mary Dunn of Waterville states, “Academic time is becoming more and more ‘determined’ with reading, writing, and math getting the greatest attention and focus. Science at the elementary level in so many schools is close to nonexistent because of the high stakes in reading/writing and math. Environmental education often gets even less attention.” She goes on to warn, “Environmental education lessons will need to align very closely with the Common Core or teachers won't have the option to include them in their students' daily experiences except for the most progressive schools.” Ingrid Stressenger reminds us to keep in touch with the reasons we use the environment as a context for our teaching. “If you have not seen the new film ‘Mother Nature's Child’, you really should. It is a riveting documentary about the academic and physical and mental health benefits of getting kids outdoors.”

If you are reading this, you probably believe that teaching about the environment is important, but we all face challenges. In the coming months we plan to gather posts from our committee members explaining the challenges to using EE and ways to address those challenges. If you are a member of the committee, you have received instructions about how to post to this blog. If you are not a member, but you are a classroom teacher in Maine interested in EE, and you would like to get involved, please respond to this survey and we will contact you. If you are a non-formal educator or prefer not to post, please enjoy the blog and find out what these dedicated teachers have to share.