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.