PFI’s
six workshop offerings for the 2007 season have been determined. We will offer
a distance learning workshop during the spring semester, four week-long
workshops during the summer, and one short course during the summer. Two of
these workshops, “Forest Ecology” and “Goods from the Woods” will be brand new
offerings, and the others will be significantly revised by the new staff.
The distance learning (DL) workshop “Earth/Environmental
Science for Middle and High School Teachers” is designed for educators who are
unable to attend the week-long summer workshops. First introduced last year,
the concept and the curricular material were popular, especially among
educators such as camp counselors who find that their busy summer season
prevents them from attending summer workshops. The DL workshop runs for eight
weeks (February 9 through April 6) of the spring semester. Participants meet at
Brevard
College
over two weekends, as an introduction and conclusion to the workshop. The
remainder of the course is conducted on-line. Participants review introductory
material and are tested on their comprehension; they also complete assignments
in their own nearby forests and report the results on-line. The topics covered
are the same as those covered in the summer workshops.
“Earth/Environmental Science for Middle and High School
Teachers (EESMH)” and “Earth/Environmental Science for Elementary School
Teachers (EESE)” are the longest-running courses offered by PFI.
EESMH has been offered for each of the six summers since 2000 and is the basis
of the DL course. EESE has been offered five times, since 2001. Both remain
popular courses and usually fill to the maximum capacity of 24 students. While
the major topics will remain the same because they are based on the curriculum
requirements for science standards, the new staff members are working to better
incorporate activities and link the topics. North
Carolina, like most other
states, has specific curricular requirements for geology, ecology, hydrology,
astronomy, and weather/atmospheric conditions, and these five topics are,
therefore, the core of the workshop. As in all our workshops, we utilize the
national forests of western North
Carolina as a classroom,
encouraging teachers to build their confidence and knowledge base and take
their students outdoors.
The workshop “Elements of Nature” has been significantly
reworked and renamed “Earth Systems Science.” The new title reflects a
relatively new terminology among educators and is an important way of looking
at relationships between the many different systems on Earth. It weaves
together both living and non-living components, focusing on how they influence
each other. The type of soil and amount of precipitation, for instance,
influence which trees grow best in different forests. The predominant tree type
then determines which animals will occur. Earth Systems Science looks at all
these interactions instead of focusing separately on the geology, hydrology,
weather, and biodiversity of a region. It expands on the information presented
in our basic workshops, taking a more holistic approach.
“Forest Ecology,” one of the two new workshops, is a classic
area of study. With her background and training in ecology and her special area
of expertise in the southern Appalachians,
Dr. Jennifer Frick-Ruppert is working with staff members Ryan McCormack and
Kevin Fischer to design this new course.
The other new course, “Goods in the Woods,” is a look at all the
products that a forest provides. Details about these new courses will follow in
a future newsletter.
Registration for these courses is scheduled to open in
November, when improvements to the PFI
website will allow for simplification of the on-line registration process.
Register on-line at www.brevard.edu/pfi
PFI's
website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
Currently, KceeI’s highest priority is wrapping up the
2005-2006 budget and preparing for the next cycle. There are many challenges that present itself
during this time of year, especially trying to stay on top of the in-house
bookkeeping. This, as we have experienced
in the past, is not a simple task.
Looking back over the summer, KceeI generated some
impressive statistics. During 2006, the
Keystone College Environmental Education Institute provided teacher education
for 135 participants with the following courses:
- Alternative Forest Products (March 11): 19 attendees all obtained Act 48 Hours.
- Amphibians and Reptiles (April 5): 22 attendees all obtained Act
48 hours.
- Watershed Explorers (June 18-23): 25 attendees; 24 obtained
NEIU-19 CPE graduate credit, and 1 obtained Act 48 Hours.
- Forests and Society (July 16-21): 25 attendees; 13 obtained
NEIU-19 CPE graduate credit, 5 obtained Wilkes University Graduate
Education credit, and 7 obtained Act 48 Hours.
- Geology of Northeastern PA (July 23-28): 24 attendees; 11 obtained
NEIU-19 CPE graduate credit, 4 obtained Wilkes University Graduate
Education credit, and 9 obtained Act 48 Hours.
- Exotic and Invasive Species (July 23-26): 20 attendees; 9 obtained
NEIU-19 CPE graduate credit, and 11 obtained Act 48 Hours.
Combined,
KceeI provided 57 teachers with NEIU-19 CPE graduate credit, 9 with Wilkes
University Graduate Education credit, and 69 with Act 48 Hours. Teachers from 28 districts and 54 schools
were served in 2006.
KceeI
receives praises from participants in their journals that they submit as well
as in their evaluations. Though it does
happen, it’s not extremely often that a past participant writes a letter after
the course that is truly complimentary.
The following excerpt is from a letter written by Laura Mayo, a middle
school teacher from Newtown, PA who attended the Geology of Northeastern PA
course:
…I wanted to take a moment to truly thank you for providing
such a remarkable continuing education program through KceeI. As a teacher, it
is not often that I have been excited about taking continuing education
credits, too often the courses are uninteresting, poorly planned, or don’t
provide challenging, usable materials that I can use in my classroom. It was
with this trepidation that I went into the class Geology of Northeastern
Pennsylvania provided through your KceeI program. Upon beginning this course my
point of view was immediately changed and I was treated to one of the most
enjoyable weeks of learning since I have begun teaching…
On a final
note, Howard Jennings, Director of KceeI; Tim Eichner, Director of the Water
Resource Center and Assistant Director of KceeI; and Nora Dillon, Operations Coordinator for KceeI
will be traveling to Asheville, NC from November 9th – 12th
for the first annual “Director’s Conference.”
This conference will encompass the three Environmental Education
Institutes funded through the Education and Research Consortium of the Western
Carolinas, Inc. They are the Pisgah Forest Institute at Brevard College in Brevard, NC; The Pacific Forest Institute at William Jessup University in Rocklin, CA; and the Keystone College
Environmental Education Institute in La Plume, PA. The members of KceeI look forward to this
experience.
Just a
reminder…
KceeI’s
website is located at www.KceeI.keystone.edu.
Pacific Forest Institute
In the ERC #138 Newsletter, we reviewed the
basic sessions at William Jessup University (WJU) campus that were held in July
during two separate weeklong sessions. Sunday of each session was used to “get
acquainted”, provide campus orientation and cover basic concepts of
Stewardship, review of workbooks, an Overview of California Forests, and review
of the film, “The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film”. We also
held an Academic Credit meeting for those who wished to earn credits for taking
the course.
Monday, the
teacher/students were provided excellent instruction on the use of Project Wild
Aquatic Outdoor Lab, followed by a field trip (on campus) to the University
Pond. Each student collected items to review in the Microscope Lab that
followed.
In the
afternoon there was an introduction to Project Learning Tree, a California State accredited curriculum. Teachers
were provided an excellent resource book and many “hand-outs” for classroom
use. The instruction included the severe field problems involving invasive
plants and general “Wildfire Education.”
After
dinner, the program highlight was “Talk About Trees”, another very popular
“student hands-on” classroom presentation for all grades. Each evening ended in a cafeteria snack and a
chance for teachers to socialize.
Tuesday
mornings of the summer sessions, we left by bus to our field camps. Hidden
Lakes is located at about 6,400 ft. elevation near Lake Tahoe. Camp Ross Relles is at the 4,000
ft elevation, near Grassvalley. California July temperatures this year were
exceptionally hot, with highs at WJU above 110 degrees F and up to 114 degrees
F. So, the higher elevations and cooler weather were welcome.
On the way
to each of the camps, we were met by the Tahoe National Forest Supervisor, who
spent the entire morning providing key, basic information about the Gap Fire.
This included the designation of ignition point and cause of the fire, the
forest and weather conditions that permitted the rapid spread of the wild fire,
and the positive impact of slowing the fire down in areas that had been
previously thinned by logging operations, both on private and public lands.
The Forest
Supervisor’s account of the fire history was followed by an on-the-ground view
of the watershed restoration efforts on both private and public land. Because
of restrictions on public land management and a two –year court battle over
woodpeckers in the area, the Forest Service was delayed in salvage logging
operations and most of the dead trees were not salvageable for wood products.
In addition, planting of new trees in the area was delayed and are now being
overgrown by heavy brush. It was later determined that the fire, not proposed
removal of dead trees was the detriment to the local woodpeckers, who were able
to move their residence to adjacent forests. It is predicted that another fire
will run through the public land portion of this forest, before the planted
trees reach maturity.
Private
timberland owners were able to salvage the fire-killed trees and replant the
ground immediately.
It was important
that the short-courses two days prior to our field trips were able to provide
basic data for what the teacher/students were going to experience---first hand,
on the ground.
In ERC Newsletter 142, we will discuss the
experience that the PFI participants had in their visit to logging operations, extensive
lessons in Silviculture (tree management), dendrology (tree identification),
wildlife habitat, environmental issues, fire management, ecosystems and a
sawmill tour.
For updated
information on the Pacific Forest Institute, please visit our website at:
http://www.jessup.edu/academics/pacificforestinstitute.
Hunter
M.
Goosmann, ERC Broadband’s General
Manager, attended the North Carolina Technology Association's Leadership
Conference in August. The conference brought
together
the highest echelon of technology leaders to look at issues and trends in
industry with access to cutting edge ideas, key decision-makers and
unparalleled executive networking. One of the sessions
focused on achieving success. Points of notable
interest
included traits and characteristics
of
leadership styles, customer service strengths and building the
skills of all team members.
On
August 30th, Jennie Pressley,
ERC
Broadband’s Business Development Manager, attended Making a Difference:
North Carolina Women in Politics. Three of the state’s top women in
government comprised an excellent panel. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall,
Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, and Public Instruction Superintendent June
Atkinson described how they achieved their offices and opined on topics such as
working in male dominated fields and having the confidence to follow your
ambition. Two of the panelists ran for public office due to personal dissatisfaction
with their elected representatives. All
three panelists agreed that women are consensus builders, a valuable skill
which enables them to excel in team environments.
For more
information on ERC Broadband, please visit the website at: www.ercbroadband.org.
DePaul University
DePaul presented at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
Department of Libraries and Information
Services kick-off all day workshop on September 1. More than 150 enthusiastic librarians
participated in the AAM
workshop sessions. The focus of the AAM
presentations was linking the Library of Congress primary sources to literature.
Picture books, fiction and non-fiction books and corresponding “hot lists” of
LOC primary sources were provided to the librarians. Requests for additional presentations
followed the sessions with requests for linking the LOC to literature
presentations to the Dolton Public Library and surrounding schools.
DePaul has a number of presentations scheduled for
pre-service teachers at its School of Education (SOE). The classes include early childhood to
content specific classes such as history, social studies, and the humanities.
The School
of Education
faculty will implement their course curriculum with best teaching practices
using LOC primary sources this academic year.
Several faculty members will begin their academic quarter within the
year. Sample lesson plans from SOE
pre-service teachers and the faculty course curriculum will be shared with
other SOE
faculty members, the Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty, and the AAM
participants.
DePaul’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aam.depaul.edu/
Governors State University
The GSU Team has been busy gearing-up for the start of
another school year. Much of the work
has been behind-the-scenes and preparation in anticipation of flawless start.
Luci Sweder has devoted considerable time and effort over
the summer to constructing “viewlets” using the software “Captivate.” She created three interactive instructional
projects that demonstrate how to search at the Library. These are all posted on the GSU website to
provide “anywhere-anytime” instructional backup for what is taught during
training sessions. Luci states that
using Captivate to create online instructional modules is not difficult once
you master the software; however, it is very time consuming.
The GSU Resources webpage on Searching the LOC is becoming a
very robust site and can be found at http://aam.govst.edu/resources2Training.asp. By posting the three interactive tutorials
online at the GSU (along with other searching materials), anyone who wants to
learn how to search the LOC for primary sources could easily do so. The links to the instructional modules are:
- Special
Multimedia Guide to Bookmark American Memory Item Sources
http://aam.govst.edu/aam-webaddressesv.swf
- Searching
American Memory at LOC <http://aam.govst.edu/Onlinecatalogs.swf>
- More
searching American Memory <http://aam.govst.edu/Captivate/Americanmemory_forCaptivate.swf>
GSU is the first partner to transition to the LOC’s Teaching
with Primary Sources program. That required
the creation of a new three year Project Plan following the new TPS guidelines,
along with a three-year budget and timeline.
Considerable effort was devoted to these items. However, GSU is proud to announce that an
Agreement has been signed with the LOC making them the first partner working
directly with the Library.
Along with becoming the first to join the Library comes the
painful separation with colleagues, mentors, and friends at AAM
in Asheville. We wish to thank the every member of team in
Asheville, North Carolina: John Hunter
whose leadership brought AAM
to all of us; Chris Dennen,
Karin Hedberg,
and Bob Pettis
for their selfless support as directors; the entire business/accounting team
for all their help with budget and ASAPs;
Beth Coulter
whose vision for outstanding teaching is above cutting-edge and verges on new
knowledge; to AnneMarie Walter for creating and continuing to edit and
distribute the best teacher newsletter in the universe; Ed Shearin and AnneMarie
for bringing in Digital Storytelling (and for those of you who have down-played
this component, you need to sit in on a three-day training to understand that
this is not just about creating a movie, but it is truly the synthesis of best
practices); and all the Carolina partners who were the pioneers and the
designers of AAM. We will forever be in your debt.
This team created the perfect storm when they designed Phase
I. Phase II workshops are merely
workshops – they are done everywhere by everyone. But, there is no program like Phase I: a program that offers the technical support
necessary to sustain the extensive training that you all designed. It is what made this program so unique and
deserving of national recognition. The
best part of our long career in education has been the opportunity to
collaborate with our esteemed colleagues in the Carolinas
and to be able to call each of you friend.
Governors
State’s
AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aam.govst.edu/
Loyola University
The AAM
partner at Loyola University Chicago has been keeping busy with staffing
transitions and office relocations. Michelle
Fry has taken on the role as the program
director with Marcus Hughes
having recently moved on from the AAM
program at Loyola. We wish him well in
his future endeavors. Michelle plans to
hire an Assistant Director and an Administrative Assistant in the near
future. With this, Loyola is expecting
great success as it prepares for the upcoming staffing, as well as programmatic
transitions, in the near future.
Michelle has also been working with the school’s webmaster
representative to update the AAM
program website at Loyola University Chicago.
She plans to add many resources for educators as well as participants’
lessons and students’ work samples. She
is hoping to have these updates completed soon.
She also plans to have website updates performed more frequently.
The Loyola University Chicago AAM
program also continues work on the TPS strategic plan while preparing for the
programmatic transition. Many AAM
participants from all phases have been informed about the upcoming
changes. The responses have been very
positive and supportive. With this,
workshop scheduling is continuing and the program hopes to gain more outreach
with new and expanded educator participation in workshops.
Loyola’s AAM
Web site is located at: http://www.luc.edu/schools/education/aam/index.shtml
Eastern
Illinois University
AAM
at Eastern
Illinois
University
is enjoying working with East Central Illinois educators in workshops and conferences. Three area schools have completed workshop
series during the first two weeks back to school in Regional Office of
Education (ROE) 11. Participants and
instructors alike are appreciative when school administration provides
substitute teachers because it allows sessions to take place during the day and
raises awareness of the value of the program.
A workshop held August 10 at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Museum entitled “Verse and Chorus: Lincoln”
was very successful. The sessions
explored songs and poems from the digital collections of the Library inspired
by the life and actions of Abraham Lincoln.
Presentations were and continue to be presented at the graduate and
undergraduate level in courses at EIU.
Departments that have invited AAM
presentations included the departments of Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Middle Level Education, History, and Education Administration.
The August edition of the EIU AAM
Newsletter featured a theme of “The
Revolutionary War” and identified LOC digitized primary sources and collections
that could be used to deepen student understanding of this topic.
EIU’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.eiu.edu/~eiuaam/
Illinois State University
The fall semester finds the Illinois State AAM
staff fully engaged in teaching about primary sources. The number of requests for undergraduate,
pre-service induction in the use of primary sources is increasing. The social
studies and special education faculty are seeing the value of introducing their
pre-service teachers to the use primary sources. Staff are encouraged by this
and hope to infiltrate more pre-service methods classes during the 2006-07
school year.
The ISU-AAM
online course is catching on as well. September 12th marks the start
date for a semester-long online course entitled, “Teaching with Primary
Sources.” Interest in this course continues to increase.
ISU’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/aam
Southern
Illinois University-Carbondale
SIUC AAM
has recruited a cohort of teachers for the fall 2006 semester. Twelve teachers
are enrolled in EDUC
550: An Adventure of the American Mind.
The teachers will complete projects which require them to
learn about the value and efficacy of incorporating digital primary sources
into the classroom. The instructional components for the course include
topics related to the American Memory website, including activities
incorporating use of materials from the Learning Page. The teachers also
learn searching strategies for American Memory. Each teacher will prepare
a comprehensive lesson plan which incorporates elements such as state
standards, rubrics, student artifacts, and enabling skills, for example.
Other topics covered in the three hour graduate course include copyright for
teachers, developing WebQuests, evaluating Internet resources, and training in
selected multimedia applications.
SIUC AAM
is currently recruiting an in-service teacher cohort for EDUC
550 for the spring 2007 semester. AAM
staff are continuing discussions with an area ROE to explore the possibility of
delivering EDUC
550 off-site during spring or summer semester. Teachers in the service
area have expressed an interest in participating in the course at a site which
would not require extensive travel.
SIU-C’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aam.siu.edu/
Southern
Illinois University-Edwardsville
The CI 519 AAM
summer course for graduate students ended in August with much
success. Each student (in-service teacher) created at least two
learning experiences incorporating digital primary sources from the
LOC. Sample titles include: "Using Primary Sources to
Develop Personal Connections with the great American Poet, Walt
Whitman," "Propaganda: World War II to The War on
Terror," "A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words," "Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. and His Work to End
Discrimination," and "Analyzing Political Cartoons -Part I &
Part II." Lessons may be made available on the SIUE AAM
website in the future.
AAM
SIUE began the school year with Block II seminars occurring in September for
the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)
program. Two more seminars are scheduled in December 2006. The
goal for Block II is to prepare pre-service teachers in designing two
learning experiences incorporating LOC digital primary sources into their
content area. Pre-service teachers are also required to implement
their experiences while student teaching within the current school year.
The Lewis & Clark Library System in Edwardsville hosted
an AAM
presentation for area librarians and media specialists on July 19.
The presentation format of 2.5 hours appears to be short and a longer
presentation or workshop will be offered through the Lewis & Clark Library
System next year. SIUE AAM
will continue their development in offering a workshop series
for librarians and media specialists.
July and August were filled with on campus course
presentations. AAM
presentations were given to two social studies methods courses and
four student teaching seminars including undergraduate and
graduate students. Presentations allow the program to share
the LOC resources and the program to in-service and pre-service teachers.
SIU-E’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.siue.edu/education/aam
Metropolitan State College of Denver
U.S. Senator Wayne Allard’s
Visit to AAM-Colorado
AAM-Colorado
welcomed United States Senator Wayne Allard
to Metropolitan State College of Denver on August 30. Senator Allard
visited with AAM-Colorado
staff, and heard about how AAM-Colorado
is helping educators across the state to use digitized primary sources from the
Library of Congress in their schools. AAM-Colorado
staff members were joined in welcoming Senator Allard
by Metro State President Dr. Stephen Jordan, School
of Professional Studies Dean Dr. Sandra
Haynes, Metro State Teacher
Education Professors Dr. Myron Anderson and Sue Joseph, AAM-Colorado’s
newly appointed Fellows, Mary Johnson, Donna Levene, Michelle Pearson, and
Cynthia Stout, and Peggy Cummings, AAM-Colorado
workshop and Learning Activities Development participant.
AAM-Colorado
to hold Poster Session at NCATE Review
AAM-Colorado
will present a Poster Session on Sunday, September 24, at the National Council
for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) review of Metro
State’s
Teacher Education program. AAM-Colorado
will discuss the American Memory program, and explain how it collaborates with Metro
State
to bring Library of Congress digitized primary sources to Colorado
pre-service teachers in the EDT
3610 Educational Technology course.
MSCD’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu