Pickering Creek Audubon Center is excited to announce their new workshop series this fall designed for K-12 teachers in the mid-Shore region – E-Lit Camp for Teachers. The series is available at no cost to teachers, and is supported through a Chesapeake Bay Trust mini-grant.
The nine-week E-Lit Camp for Teachers program provides an opportunity for any K-12 teacher of any subject to learn more about the Maryland Environmental Literacy Standards; increase their own environmental literacy through hands-on activities, outdoor explorations, and lively discussions with colleagues; and brainstorm and develop plans to incorporate environmental topics into the classroom in multi-disciplinary ways.
The Maryland Environmental Literacy Standards, a state regulation passed in 2011, requires all students in the state of Maryland to participate in multi-disciplinary environmental programs to build environmental literacy. It often falls to science teachers to meet these standards, but environmental literacy can be encouraged and supported in any classroom.
“We wanted to provide a training opportunity open to any K-12 teacher in the mid-Shore region from any discipline or school system. We view this as a chance for teachers interested in science and environmental education to learn ways to incorporate these topics into their classrooms in hands-on, interdisciplinary ways, whether they are science teachers or not,” said Jaime Bunting, Education Coordinator at Pickering Creek Audubon Center
The workshop series begins on September 12 and runs every Wednesday evening (with the exception of Halloween, in which case that week’s session will be the following evening) from 5:00-7:00pm through November 7, with all sessions meeting at Pickering Creek. Each week will follow one of the eight MD E-Lit standards as its guiding theme, which will serve as a launch pad to investigate that topic in depth using Pickering Creek, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and local wildlife and restoration examples as local context here on the Eastern Shore. Participating teachers can expect to get muddy and wet, hike through diverse habitats, play interactive games, and collaborate with peers to incorporate the E-Lit standards and environmental education into their classrooms. Teachers attending all weeknight sessions will be eligible for one MSDE continuing professional development credit.
In addition to the weeknight sessions, two optional Saturday sessions are available. The Saturday sessions will take teachers further afield to explore environmental topics on the Eastern Shore. Participants will travel to Washington College’s bird banding station to witness bird banding up close by observing Field Ecologist Maren Gimpel check mist nets and record bird data; teachers will have the chance to hold and release some of the banded birds. During the second Saturday session, participants will head south to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, where they’ll hear more about the Refuge’s research and adaptation strategies for rising seas, and the impact sea-level rise has on the birds and wildlife depending on local salt marshes. Teachers will tour the research sites and hear from Refuge biologist Matt Whitbeck and Dr. Ariana Sutton-Grier, Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy in Maryland and DC. Participants who complete all of the weeknight sessions and the two Saturday sessions will be eligible for two MSDE continuing professional development credits.
“To earn one MSDE credit requires fifteen hours of instruction, so for teachers needing credits this is a great opportunity to earn up to two of them. It’s a time commitment, for sure, but it will be a very engaging and fun way to earn those credits at no financial cost to the teachers,” says Bunting.
And what if teachers want to participate in some of the sessions, but don’t need the credits or can’t make each weekly session? Bunting is adamant that any interested teacher is still welcome to join the program. “Register anyway! We really encourage any teacher that wants to participate in some way, even if they can’t make every session, to reach out to us and discuss joining us for the days they can make it. We’re just really excited about sharing this opportunity to build environmental literacy, and any teacher that wants to be a part of this journey in whatever capacity they can will be welcomed.”
Registration for E-Lit Camp for Teachers is currently open. Space is limited, and interested teachers are encouraged to submit registrations by September 1. For more information about the E-Lit Camp for Teachers program, or to request a registration form, contact Jaime Bunting at 410-822-4903 or [email protected].
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