Teacher Conservation Institute, Phase I
July 9-13, 2018
Texas Forestry Association's Teacher Conservation Institute is a week-long professional development camp for formal and nonformal educators. Participants will receive training and certification in the Project Learning Tree PreK-8 environmental education curriculum and attend a series of field trips to learn about the life cycle of East Texas forests. Field trips include the Texas Forestry Museum, a seedling nursery, family owned Tree Farm, logging operation, and forest product manufacturing facilities. Participants will receive 40 hrs SBEC & TEEAC credit.
TCI is a five-day high-energy program. The workshop begins mid-morning on Monday and ends on Friday at noon, with evening programs extending until 8:30 PM. While some instruction will take place indoors, we will spend much of our time outside, including on-site field trips. We will climb steep flights of stairs on our mill tours and may have to walk over rough terrain in the woods. Participants are required to attend all sessions in order to receive continuing education credit. Please be prepared for this rigorous schedule!
Our home base will be the lovely Bugscuffle Inn, near Cushing, Texas. Although it is located in a country setting, it is equipped with amenities such as televisions, cell phone service, a salt-water swimming pool, and a fitness center. There is no wi-fi available at the Inn, so should you need to use the internet during the week you will have to access it through your own service provider.
Meals will be provided from Monday lunch through Friday breakfast. Lunch is typically sandwiches, salad or pizza, but may vary depending on our donors. Dinner usually consists of a main course containing meat, vegetable sides, and/or salad. If you have special dietary needs that you feel may not be met by our menu, please feel free to bring your own food as there is ample room for you to store and prepare it.
You do not have to be a classroom educator to attend TCI, but you must be at least 18 years of age. We typically have attendees from school districts throughout Texas, as well as homeschool teachers, natural resource professionals, college students, and nonformal educators from nature and science centers, parks, and museums.
While the registration fee is only $250.00, the actual cost of food, lodging, transportation and curriculum materials is over $650 per participant. We appreciate our many sponsors who provide funding and services that help us keep registration fees down.