When:
Monday, August 2, 2021 at 8:00 AM EDT
-to-
Friday, August 6, 2021 at 4:00 PM EDT
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Cost: $600 per person
Optional Graduate Credit for
an additional $450
Deandra Early is passionate about the promise and necessity of Outdoor and Place-based Learning. She earned her BA in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science from Colby College and her MEd for Experienced Educators in Education for Sustainability from Antioch University New England. Deandra has been a teacher in a variety of capacities over the last eighteen years. She has taught pre-K throught college level courses in both public and private school settings and has developed numerous curricular units through the lens of sustainability. She was the director of Youth Programs at The Wenatchee River Institute in Leavenworth, WA, a small, non-profit committed to connecting communities to the natural world. She has presented at the Sustainability Education Summer Institute at Islandwood and attended both the Education for Sustainability Summer Institute and the Education for Sustainability Leadership Academy at Shelburne Farms. She is excited to share and continue to learn from outdoor and place-based practices.
Reeve Bascom
In 2016, Reeve joined the community programs team at the Center for an
Agricultural Economy, a local food system non-profit in Hardwick, VT. She holds a bachelor's degree from Haverford Colege, a Masters of Teaching from the Upper Valley Graduate School of Education, a Vermont Professional Educator License in Elementary Education, and is an alumna of the Shelburne Farms Education for Sustainability Leadership Academy.
Summer 21
Northeast Kingdom Outdoor & Place-based Learning Institute
CNED-5750-F, 3 credits optional
Monday, August 2, 2021 – Friday, August 6, 2021
How can school and educators expand their contexts for teaching and learning? What practices center a sense of place, belonging, joy, community and connection to the natural world? In this institute you will explore strategies for cultivating curiosity and meaningful connection to place--at any grade leve, in every subject area, and responsive to the real time events shaping our world. Place-based learning connects with the wisdom that is alive in our human and natural communities beyond school walls, and nurtures the capacity of students to see themselves as change-makers and integral members of their community.
Course Description:
The Outdoor & Place-based Learning Summer Institute is specifically designed to be accessible and contextually relevant to Northeastern Vermont educators and takes a placed-based approach to teacher learning as well. Designed to be dynamic, responsive, and outdoors, the Institute offers educators the time and space to develop projects of personal and professional interest while learning from and collaborating with colleagues, community partners, and other educational leaders. The course will feature a blend of in-person and independent work time.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand and articulate the value of outdoor and place-based education,
- Develop integrated lessons to implement rigorous and relevant hands-on, place-based education,
- Access and integrate community partnerships such as guest speakers, alternative classroom settings, field trips, job shadows, co-created curriculum, etc. into your teaching practice in alignment with standards,
- Collaborate with other educators to reflect on and redesign daily classroom practices to be more engaging and authentic for students through outdoor and place-based connections,
- Integrate reflective practice and other tools to build student agency and voice in outdoor and place-based learning.
Registration Information:
The summer 5-day face-to-face institute is a Continuing Ed event offered through the Teacher Center at Riverside. The cost is $600.
For an additional registration fee of $450, you have the option of taking this course for graduate level credit through Antioch University New England. By choosing this option, you earn 3 graduate-level transferable credits, with a transcript maintained by the AUNE Registrar's office. Please be aware that there may be additional class work and documentation required for the graduate course.
Questions regarding the registration process should be directed to Peg Smeltz at msmeltz@antioch.edu, or call 603-283-2301.
If enrollment is sufficient and the most recent set of governor's guidelines for schools allow, we will conduct this course accordingly. That may include being outdoors in variable condititons, wearing masks, regularly sanitizing surfaces, keepying physical distance, etc.