2007 Conference Proceedings

"Connecting with Community"

April 27-29, 2007

Connections Made!

Conference Proceedings

co-chairs announcing at conference

The Beautiful 2007 Conference Logo by Carly Jefferies

Conference Co-Chairs Hilary Hobbs (front) and Traci Fresko (back)

INDEX: Welcome Ceremony | Keynote Speaker | Workshops |Entertainment | Howard Bell Award | Closing | Vendors | Sponsors

Welcome Ceremony

Duffy Ross the Director of Education and Community Programs at Headlands Institute opened the conference by focusing on ways to connect with our community.

A small group of people had the pleasure of attending a workshop on basket weaving with Julia.

photos courtesy of Michael Charnofsky

click on the photo of Duffy Ross to read the words of wisdom she shared

We were honored kick off the conference on Saturday with a very special guest, Miwok-Paiute elder, Julia Parker. Julia has been a cultural demonstrator and interpreter at Yosemite Indian Museum since the late 1950s, and is a renowned basket weaver.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Carlos Cortés shared his ideas on "connecting with community" on saturday afternoon and performed his autobiographical one-man play, "A Conversation with Alana: One Boy’s Multicultural Rite of Passage," on Friday evening. Dr. Cortés is a UC Riverside Professor Emeritus of history and nationally recognized speaker, author, consultant and actor, he is widely regarded as one of the founders of the multicultural education movement in California. Building on his personal experience growing up as a person of mixed ancestry, Dr. Cortés shared his insights on how to best connect with California’s multicultural student populations. Check out his most recent books, The Children Are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversity and The Making—and Remaking—of a Multiculturalist, both published by Teachers College Press.

Dr. Cortés demonstrates expressive movement while performing his autobiographical play.

Workshops

Hand-outs and other resources from conference workshops. Workshops listed in Alphabetical order by title. All materials were sent by the workshop presenter for online posting and sharing.

Find a workshop: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

See ALL Workshop Descriptions for those not included here. Watch this page for updates as presenters send in handouts and other resources from their workshops.

Adapting Your Interpretive Approach for Diverse Audiences – Sonya Padron, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary - Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans (MERITO) has been presenting its Watershed Academy After-school Program to multi-lingual 5-8th graders on California’s central coast since 2002. MERITO educators will share some of the techniques, strategies, methodologies and ideologies they use to engage English Language Learners and multicultural audiences in the sciences. Click on the workshop material you want to view: English Language Development, Language Tip Sheet, and Adapting Powerpoint Presentation.

Bridging Gaps Between EE and Religious Communities – John DiDiego, Yosemite Institute - Environmental education often overlooks the religious diversity of our audience because of potential conflicts and misunderstanding. I contend that 'knowing our audience' includes understanding how young earth creationists or proponents of 'intelligent design' view the world. This understanding is key to bridging real and perceived gaps between EE and religious communities. We will focus on the many opportunities for overlap between creationism and a more scientific world view. Workshop Materials

Beyond Dirt Made My Lunch: Integrating Music in Environmental Education Lessons – Miriam Ban, San Mateo Outdoor Education –At San Mateo Outdoor Education the music of Steve Van Zandt and the Banana Slug String Band is an integral part of our environmental education lessons. In this workshop we will share some of our best techniques for incorporating music into lessons including: using songs to introduce concepts and set up lessons and using music to tie lessons together. We will talk about various methods for teaching songs. At the end we will facilitate an open sharing of songs that are education oriented and inspirational for students. Click on the workshop material you want to view: Pescadero Valley songbook and Beaks, Feet, Feathers, and Wings.

Connecting With Your Central Valley Students – Dan Webster, Foothill Horizons Outdoor School- Do most, or many of your students come from California's Great Central Valley? How much do you know about their world? This workshop will help you understand the history, environment, and demographics of the Central Valley. A basic understanding of your students' cultural background will help you make stronger connections with them in the field. Literature, maps, and a printed resource directory will supplement our group discussion. Click on the workshop material you want to view: Workshop Overview, Sacramento Population, San Joaquin Population, Special Survey, The State of the Central Valley, Central Valley Environmental.

Dewey It Up: Experiential Education 101 – Tim Parker, Pathfinder Ranch - John Dewey, the “father of experiential education,” who lived from 1859 to 1952, will be gracing the conference with his presence in order to share his educational beliefs. Through role-playing, discussion, and quite a bit of silliness, participants will explore the realm of the working mind as well as ethical issues inherent to education. Through a critique of current practices in outdoor education, this workshop will emphasize practical implementation of discussed ideas. Come join this back-from-the-dead philosopher on his quest to connect students and teachers by using action oriented learning. Click on the workshop material you want to view: Dewey Lesson Plan (Word doc) and Ponderings on Dewey (Word doc)

Ethnobotany: Stories and Science; Plants and People – Naomi Stein , Lawrence Hall of Science - This workshop is designed for educators who are new to teaching ethnobotany, as well as old hands looking for new techniques. Together we'll explore what ethnobotany is and how we can use it to engage young people in science. We'll be utilizing Bay Area and Sierran plants, both native and introduced, to experiment with a variety of sensory based and inquiry driven teaching techniques. Come prepared to play and investigate! Workshop Materials

Girl Brains/Boy Brains: Implications for Educators – Adrienne Webster, Columbia College - In this interactive workshop we will explore the differences between male and female brains and discuss how this impacts teaching methods. Workshop Materials

Gold Nuggets: Six Simple Steps for Student Success – Robb “Big Brown Bat” Stolberg, Walden West Outdoor School – In this interactive workshop I will share some of the best things I’ve learned in my 12 years in the field. These “gold nuggets,” include activities, tools, and philosophies. I can’t wait to share the “best of the best” with more teachers to fill their “bag of tricks” and make learning fun for everyone. Themes include: make them say WOW!; addressing different learning modalities; make sure they understand; make them feel important; let them explore; and make it fun. As time permits, others can share their gold nuggets as well. Workshop Materials and Find This, Figure Out That

Hetch Hetchy? A Century of Debate – Catherine Williams, Yosemite Institute and Ron Good, Restore Hetch Hetchy - This workshop will consist of two parts: a role playing debate and a short documentary film. First, you will play the role of a stakeholder in a debate over whether or not Hetch Hetchy Valley, in Yosemite National Park, should be flooded to provide a water source for San Francisco. You will learn not only about the issues at stake in this dispute, which began in the early 1900’s and continues to this day, but also about ways to facilitate debates with students in your work. The documentary film that follows will describe the natural and human history of Hetch Hetchy Valley.

Beautiful images of Hetch Hetchy Valley
http://www.hetchhetchy.org/artistic_visions/index.html
http://www.hetchhetchy.org/catalog/art.html
Spring 2007 Restore Hetch Hetchy newsletter: http://www.hetchhetchy.org/newsletter/pdf/rhh_news_spring_2007.pdf
color brochure: http://www.hetchhetchy.org/catalog/foldout_poster.html

Interconnections of Interacting – Tara Murgatroyd, YMCA Camp Marston and Raintree Ranch - This workshop will deal with integrating the concepts of group dynamics (students working together as a team) using activities that fit into the science concepts covered in the typical residential outdoor education experience. We will look at the idea of incorporating teambuilding into science classes or science into teambuilding classes. This workshop will be highly hands through participating in many fun challenges. Workshop Materials

Improv Comedy for Naturalists and Students – Aaron “Red Tail” Clegg, Foothill Horizons Outdoor School and Bryan “Rain” Snyder, The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre - Have you ever watched "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Would you like to liven up your campfire with some crazy improvised skits, or teach an enrichment or special activity on improv comedy? We will introduce the basics of improvisational comedy and spend some time playing improv games. We'll also discuss how to use this fun art form in a variety of settings. No acting experience necessary, just a willingness to be wacky and say “yes!” to whatever stories unfold. Workshop Materials

Naturalist Capital: Sustainable Salaries – Janine Elliott, YMCA of Pt. Bonita - We are responsible for educating California’s children about better caring for our planet. Are our employers taking care of us? This workshop may ruffle some feathers, and we’re not talking about ornithology. It is a lecture and break out session designed for administrators and educators looking toward making Environmental Education a long-term high-quality career. Topics covered will include CA Labor Law 101, living wages (huh?), success models, and problem-solving strategies for taking home to your organization. Click on the workshop material you want to view: Living Wage Boston, Living Wage L.A., Living Wage History, and Detroit Non-Profit.

Li'l Bit o' Astro 'n' Stuf – Larry Kawano, AstroCamp - Enhance your astronomy day/night program with three hands-on activities: two stories to introduce the night sky, an activity that brings home just how huge, far and numerous things are up there, and a game that gets you thinking about what life might be like elsewhere. Enhance your understanding of all that funky astro stuff -- red giants, neutron stars, supernovas, black holes -- with a short presentation that pulls it all together and shows how they relate to one another. Click on the course material you want to view: Detailed Workshop Description, Day Time Astronomy, Five Alive!, Stellar Evolution, Big Bang Cosmology Story, and Animal Story.

Quests to Discover Communities – Tom O’Dowd, San Mateo Outdoor Education - This workshop is on Questing, a place-based education tool/pastime (born out of the letter-boxing craze in England) which engages students and educators in creating ecological treasure hunts. Quests involve fun/relevant information/adventures that connect both the Quest-creator and the Quest-taker to their local human/natural communities. Questing calls for hands-on exploration, challenges students to be creative and articulate, AND results in finished products that students and community members are proud of. Click on the course material you want to view: Questing and Honor the Leaf Quest.

Run Your Car (Diesel) on Used Veggie Oil – “Hoppy” Hopkins, Sly Park and Patrick Costello, YMCA Camp Arroyo - Lower your ozone-forming emissions and slide past your local filling station on filtered waste vegetable oil (WVO). US restaurants and snack food industries discard over 11 billion liters of this oil each year. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to view a converted car and discuss the opportunities and challenges of switching from crude to canola. Stop by and smell the French fries. Workshop Materials

Teambuilding: The Art of Processing – Zephyr Sincerny, Yosemite Institute – This workshop will focus on various front-loading and de-briefing strategies with the goal of helping facilitators become more effective with the teambuilding activities they use. Participants will learn a simple framework they can use to facilitate any challenge activities by participating in three initiatives. Each initiative will demonstrate different set up and processing techniques. The framework will make students' experiences more powerful. Active workshop intended for experienced educators. Workshop Materials

Teaching Scat the Smart Way: Using Multiple Intelligences to Re-energize Your Teaching Style – Jonathan Mueller, Sierra Nevada Journeys - Challenge yourself to go outside of your teaching comfort zones by learning how the eight forms of intelligence can be effectively incorporated into your teaching repertoire: linguistic, logical/mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, or naturalist? We’ll do a self-test and then learn how to bring all of them into our teaching styles. There will be a number of scat based hands-on activities along with ideas on how to incorporate different intelligences into the rest of your curriculum. Click on the course material you want to view: lesson outline, puzzles, song, and multiple intelligences self-test.

Water Rockets – Vance Matzke, Rancho Alegre - Find out how two-liter soda bottles may be the greatest physical science tool you’ve ever seen! Learn how to build water (or bottle) rockets from two-liter soda bottles and some duct tape, and pressurize it with air for launching. Learn how these rockets can be used to help students understand the principles of aeronautics. Open your mind to the science and mathematics behind this educational toy, and then use your perceptions of rocket aerodynamics to create your own design and launch it! Workshop Materials.

Weather or Not – Jason Blair, Coloma Outdoor Discovery School – Whether teaching weather is a passion or playing games for an hour with new friends sounds like fun this workshop will offer a you much. During the course of the workshop we will play weather and climate games then debrief the concepts. The games are high energy and developed for fifth and sixth graders to help them better understand phenomenon such as dew point, rain shadows, air masses, global warming and acid rain. Workshop Materials.

Wildflowers of the Motherlode (double) – Korena David, Foothill Horizons Outdoor School- Interested in looking at Sierra Nevada Foothill Wildflowers? Want to learn a little more about Systematic Botany and plant families? If so join me for an off site wildflower adventure. We will drive to a local area to look at wildflowers and talk about how to identify them according to the characteristics that group them into taxanomic families. CA Wildflower Families

Entertainment

Howard Bell Award

AEOE is pleased to honor Kathe Hendrickson and Pam Ivie with the 2007 Howard Bell Award. Read about the Howard Bell award and its history HERE.

Closing Ceremony

The closing speech was eloquently delivered by Pete Devine former AEOE northern secretary. Pete has been an exceptional contributor to the environmental education community and is currently at the Yosemite Association. He shared poems, thoughts, inspiration, and bread, connecting educators before they traveled back to wide spread schools to re-connect with students.

pete pointing up
photo courtesy of Michael Charnofsky

Pete points out a bird trying to steal the stage of his closing speech.

Vendors

Acorn Naturalists is the premier provider of teaching materials and books to the environmental education community. Acorn Naturalists has donated many items to AEOE for prizes, awards, and auctions to raise money for scholarships, and they have generously donated space for meetings as well. They are our preferred vendor for books and other materials. Acorn Naturalists is an AEOE Institutional Member, and in 2005, AEOE honored the work of Acorn Naturalists' owners/founders Jenny and Marty Rigby with the Howard Bell Award!

heyday 30 years s

Heyday Books since its founding in 1974, as Heyday Institute, has occupied a unique niche in the publishing world, specializing in books and other educational projects that foster an understanding of the history, literature, art, environment, social issues, and culture of California and the West. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving a wide range of people and audiences, with a commitment to providing a platform for writers, poets, artists, scholars, and storytellers who help keep California’s diverse literary legacy alive. Our core mission is to deepen people’s awareness of the cultural, natural, literary, and historic resources of California, through publication, events, and other media.