NCGE President's Column: Travel Studies Make Us Better Teachers

"This July, twenty lucky NCGE teachers will be the first to travel with geographic educators Dr. Jackie Waite and Dr. Bob Morrill for a 10-day GeoCamp in Iceland. Hopefully this is the first of many field-based short courses NCGE will host in Iceland in the coming years. One of the benefits of teaching geography is the opportunities that arise to participate in travel study experiences. Exploring distant places and working with fellow educators is not only intellectually stimulating for us, but also enriches our students' understanding of the world as we share our first-hand experiences with them."

Read the rest of the story here!

Spend Your Summer in Fairbanks, AK!

Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Program with the Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center

Spend your summer in the Golden Heart City of Alaska, Fairbanks, working with the National Park Service! As a participant in the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher professional development program, you will create new educational programming while gaining knowledge and skills that you can bring back to the classroom. 

Teacher Ranger Teacher will receive:

• $3000 stipend

• 3-hrs of Graduate Credit upon completion of a course

• Once in a life-time experience in the interior of Alaska

• Opportunities to visit some of Alaska’s wild, remote National Parks

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. 

For application details, please email Sam_Durbin@nps.gov or call (907)459-3747

CDE Talent Pool Recommendation Form Survey

We invite you to recommend distinguished classroom teachers and/or principals who have demonstrated all of the following:

• Exceptional educational talent, as evidenced by effective instructional practices and student learning results in the classroom and school;
• Exemplary educational accomplishments beyond the classroom that provide models of excellence for the profession;
• Individuals whose contributions to education are largely unheralded, yet worthy of the spotlight;
• At this time, we are especially looking to expand the pool of early- to mid-career secondary educators who offer strong long-range potential for professional and policy leadership; and
• Engaging and inspiring presence that motivates and impacts students, colleagues and the community.

Please complete a separate form for each individual including a one-page letter explaining how this person meets the criteria outlined in this letter, as well as the person’s resume. One hard copy and one electronic copy of the nomination will be due by 4 pm on April 17, 2015.

Incomplete forms will be eliminated from this process.

                                                        Submit one copy of each nomination to:

Lynn Bamberry

Colorado Department of Education

Competitive Grants and Awards

1560 Broadway, Suite 1450

Denver, CO 80202

&

Submit an electronic copy of each nomination to: CompetitiveGrants@cde.state.co.us.

THIS IS A CONFIDENTIAL PROCESS. INDIVIDUALS SHOULD NOT BE AWARE OF THIS RECOMMENDATION.

NCGE 2015 Registration

The Preliminary Program will be released soon. Here is a brief conference overview to assist you with your travel plans.

• Tuesday, August 4th & Wednesday, August 5th: Full-day field trips (earliest trip begins at 7:00 a.m.) 
• Thursday, August 6th: Half-day field trips; Sessions begin at 8:00 a.m.; Opening Session Ceremony in the evening
• Saturday, August 8th: Awards Ceremony; Cocktails; Conference Dinner 
• Sunday, August 9th: Breakfast, followed by morning sessions

REGISTER TODAY!

Have you always wanted to attend this 15 year old award winning professional development class?  Well, we're doing it twice! Choose to study Colorado’s fire and forest ecology with experts in the field at one of TWO locations: Durango or Florissant!

 

• Join Colorado Project Learning Tree (PLT), the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) and wildfire education partners* for one full week of hot topics and burning issues guaranteed to spark student interest in reading, writing, and investigating relevant natural resource issues such as fire, floods, bugs and drought.

 

• Agenda includes field studies, technology, lesson planning, literature, multimedia, GIS and more. Take home a cache of materials and resources including Project Learning Tree activity guides, kits, experiments, posters, teacher-created materials, multimedia and grant opportunities.

 

• Through field experiences, guest experts, articles, books, multimedia, flaming experiments and activities, you’ll take away activities and ideas to ignite learning about fire and forest ecology for a day, a week or a semester.

 

June 7 - 12, 2015 at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.

 

July 6 - 11, 2015 at The Nature Place in Florissant, CO.

 

Cost: $250 for registrations before April 1, 2015; $300 for registrations after April 1, 2015.

Includes lodging, meals, materials, instruction, and field trips. $100 stipend to help with travel expenses.  

Continuing Education Credit: 3 credits for $130

 

Visit www.coloradoplt.org for more information and to register.  Questions welcomed!

 

Colorado Teacher Selected as 2015 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow

It is a big deal to be selected as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. Congratulations to Amy Austin from Boulder, CO on this exciting opportunity! Amy teaches at Centennial Middle School, and is also a recipient of a Japanese Fulbright Memorial Fund. 


"The Grosvenor Teacher Fellow (GTF) program is a professional development opportunity named in honor of Gilbert M. Grosvenor (pronounced GROHV-nur), Chairman Emeritus National Geographic Society and Education Foundation Board. This opportunity is designed to give current K-12 classroom teachers and informal educators from the 50 U.S. states, Canada, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico the opportunity to extend Grosvenor’s legacy of excellence in geographic education. Through the program, exemplary educators are recognized for their commitment to geographic education and are given the opportunity to be actively engaged in finding new ways to bring geographic awareness to their classrooms or informal learning environments through a field-based experience."

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Advancing Environmental Education Conference 

(Teaching Outside the Box) 

Friday, March 27-Saturday, March 28, 2015

Auraria Campus- Denver

Online registration available through March 18th!

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Opening Session Speakers Friday, March 27 8-9am: Registration & Morning Networking 9-11am: Co-Creating the Future of EE Panel As education providers and EE supporters we ensure that Coloradans can learn about the environment and our relationship to it throughout life- at home, school, work and play.  Join Lydia Hooper, graphic facilitator, and special guests in our "non-panel" panel to discuss the spectrum of environmental education, why it matters, and visions for the future from a variety of lenses. Engage in active discussion to help  co-create the future of environmental education.

Saturday, March 28 8-9am: Registration, Morning Networking & EExhibitor Resource Hall 9-10:15am:  Geo sapiens:The Earth-Wise Environmental Educator Keynote   How does the intersection of scientific and cultural understandings of Earth and human society contribute to environmental education? Martin Ogle, Founder of Entrepreneurial Earth, LLC shares interdisciplinary approaches to EE, as well as new perspectives on entrepreneurship and creativity that emerge from being Earth-wise humans.

It is that time of year again:  2015 GIS Colorado Scholarship season!  

 Are you an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in a degree or a certificate program with GIS as a major or minor emphasis of study? 

 Do you exhibit academic excellence in the geospatial technologies fields: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), or related disciplines? 

 This year, GIS Colorado is offering four scholarships to deserving Colorado University or college students: 

·       Two scholarships to full-time students 

o   One $1500 undergraduate 

o   One $1500 graduate 

·       Two scholarships to part-time students (minimum 3 credits, $100/credit up to $500) 

o   One undergraduate

o   One graduate 

 

Check out the details and requirements at: http://giscolorado.org/scholarships/, and follow the link to the scholarship application. Applications, including letters of recommendation, must be submitted electronically in PDF format to scholarship@giscolorado.com and are due by May 15, 2015.  

Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

Science Teachers: Chance to Win a Tablet

                                                        Secondary Science Teachers

      As a secondary science teacher, we are asking for your help with an online survey that was created to help us understand the effects research experiences have on teachers’ skills and practices once they begin their careers. The survey is for all secondary (6-12) science teachers regardless of their research experience. The survey contains background questions, questions about your classroom and classroom practices, and questions about any research experiences that you may have participated in. It is anonymous, and expected to take about 20 minutes. 

     Once you have completed it, you will be given the opportunity to enter your name in a drawing for an iPad Mini or a Samsung Galaxy Tablet (if you win, you can pick which you get). Two will be given away.

Please follow the link below to complete this survey by Friday, April 3, 2015:

http://tinyurl.com/ls2c7xg

Weather and Climate for Educators

Be a part of this professional development series on weather and climate!

Provided by the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP)

• Teachers will receive one graduate course credit at CSU.


• A box of science tools (over $200 in value) to use in their classrooms. Potential science tools include heat packs, which show that liquids release heat when they freeze, solar cells to charge batteries, and infrared goggles to see infrared radiation outside.


• More importantly, participants will leave the course with the confidence and knowledge to teach their students about weather, climate, and climate change.

Themes:

• The Science of Weather and Climate Registration fee: $150.00 In this 3-day course we'll use a mix of activities and discussion to explore essential science principles (energy, motion, forces, light and color, states of matter) that explain the Earth's weather and climate. We won’t assume that participants have an extensive science background—only a willingness to explore and experiment, and to try new things in your own classroom! 
• Weather and Climate Across the Globe Registration fee: $150.00 This 3-day course is intended for teachers of earth system science and physical science. We’ll take an in-depth look at energy transport and the motion of air and water in the earth system, explaining in some detail how patterns of weather and climate emerge.
•  Climate Change: Past and Future Registration fee: $100.00 In this 2-day course, we will consider the long story of climate changes in the deep past. Then we will look in detail at how increasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases are likely to change climate in the 21st Century and beyond. We will consider the fate of anthropogenic CO2, and how it is taken up by dissolving in the ocean and storage in plants and soils on land. Finally, we will look at some of the strategies being developed to mitigate and adapt to modern climate change.

View more information HERE!

Registration opens in April. 

Choices Workshop at CU-Boulder, 3/14

The Choices Program from Brown University will be providing an introductory workshop titled: Engaging Students in International Issues: The Choices Approach

When: Saturday, 3/14 from 8:30 am-3:30 pm

Where: University of Colorado, Boulder

Cost: $145/person, includes lunch

Why: To benefit civics, geography, government, history, and other social studies educators. Materials are most appropriate for grades 7-12. 

For more info and to register, click here!

CAEE Conference in Denver, 3/27 and 3/28!

2015 Colorado's Advancing Environmental Education Conference (Teaching Outside the Box) and Awards for Excellence in Environmental Education Banquet

Explore Research, Elevate Practice, Spark Collaborations

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Discounted Registration Rates End: March 4

Online Registration Ends: March 18

Conference Dates: Friday, March 27-Saturday, March 28, 2015

Location: Auraria Campus, University of Colorado-Denver & Metro State University

Click here for more information on the conference

Click here for more information on the awards banquet and recipients

You can register for just the awards or conference or for both.

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For more information, contact CAEE at info@caee.org or 303-273-9527 

 

Become a CAEE member and save on conference registration!

Become a CAEE member and save up to $50 on registration fees. Click here to read more about CAEE membership. Please sign up and pay for your membership prior to registering for the conference.

• If you are not sure if your membership is current, check by logging into CAEE's website with your username/password from here:  https://www.caee.org/user
  
• If you have forgotten your password-please try to use the email you most likely have in CAEE's database in order to not create a duplicate profile: https://www.caee.org/user/password
• If you are unable to access your account after trying the above, email info@caee.org

3-Week Professional Development in New Mexico- APPLY TODAY!

Reminder: Apply by March 2!

This summer, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center will offer a three-week professional development opportunity for K–12 educators: From Mesa Verde to Santa Fe: Pueblo Identity in the Southwest. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and hosted by Crow Canyon, this NEH Summer Institute is an intensive study of Pueblo culture, history, and diversity.

Guided by Crow Canyon archaeologists, educators, and American Indian scholars, NEH Summer Institute scholars will examine the history of the ancestral Pueblo Indians who migrated from southwestern Colorado into the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. The institute will be based at Crow Canyon; scholars will spend several days each at Mesa Verde National Park and at historic Pueblo and Spanish colonial communities in northern New Mexico.

The institute takes place June 28–July 18, 2015. Crow Canyon will select 25 K–12 teachers (including three graduate students studying K–12 education) from throughout the United States to participate. We welcome applications from all interested participants; previous anthropology or archaeology experience is not required. Each NEH scholar receives a $2,700 stipend to help cover expenses. For program details and application instructions, visit our website. The application deadline is March 2, 2015 (postmark). For information about all 2015 NEH Summer Institutes and Workshops, visit the NEH website. Questions? E-mail us or call 800.422.8975, ext. 146.

Marjorie Connolly
Director of American Indian Initiatives