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.