Guidelines for Excellence
Minnesota Association for Environmental Education
Explore and Engage with the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence!
Refresh and deepen your skills, enthusiasm, and connections with a deep dive into NAAEE’s best practices in your field -- and an opportunity to become a trainer yourself! Whether you are an environmental educator, administrator, or program developer, don’t miss this opportunity to learn about best practices in quality environmental education programs from some of the leaders in the EE field. Hands-on experiences and discussion will be led by Bora Simmons, director of NAAEE's National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education at the University of Oregon.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 2023
9:00am - 11:30am: K-12 Environmental Education Workshop
11:30am - 1:00pm: Environmental Educator Networking Lunch (box lunches available to order) and Optional Tour of Dodge Nature Center and Preschool
1:00pm - 5:00pm: Train-the-Trainer Workshop
LOCATION: Dodge Nature Center, 1701 Charlton Street, West St. Paul, MN
COST:
Early-Bird Rate (by March 15): $20 per half-day workshop for members; $25 per half-day workshop for non-members
Regular Rate (after March 15): $25 per half-day workshop for members; $30 per half-day workshop for non-members
LUNCH OPTION: A networking lunchtime will be available, with potential to order a boxed lunch
Session Descriptions:
SESSION 1: 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
K-12 Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence
Join us for a highly interactive workshop focusing on building environmental literacy through K-12 programs and curricula. You’ll have a chance to dive into the K-12 Environmental Education: Guidelines for Excellence, which provides a roadmap to achieving environmental literacy by setting expectations for fourth (age 10), eighth (age 14) and twelfth grade (age 18) students. You will explore how to use the environmental literacy framework as a resource for effective and comprehensive environmental education program development. Each participant will receive a copy of K-12 Environmental Education: Guidelines for Excellence. More info: https://eepro.naaee.org/resource/k-12-environmental-education-guidelines-excellence
LUNCH: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Join us for a networking lunch and connect with other educators!
SESSION 2: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Train-the-Trainer: Guidelines for Excellence
Join us for a half-day workshop to learn about all six publications in the Guidelines for Excellence series, be given access to training resources, and begin the process of designing targeted workshops for respective potential audiences. Participants in this workshop will be qualified to become members of NAAEE’s Guidelines Trainers’ Bureau, which consists of environmental educators who have participated in previous Guidelines for Excellence workshops and are further prepared to give presentations to a variety of audiences about how the Guidelines can be used to improve our practice. To learn more about the Guidelines for Excellence and the Guidelines Trainers’ Bureau, visit: https://naaee.org/programs/guidelines-excellence/guidelines-trainers-bureau
To Register:
Facilitator:
Bora Simmons
Bora Simmons directs the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, an initiative of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). The Project draws on the insights of educators across the United States and around the world to craft guidelines for quality environmental education practice. After twenty years as a professor of environmental education at Northern Illinois University, Bora moved the Project to the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at the University of Oregon. Bora has been actively involved in research, evaluation, and professional development for over forty years. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, was president of NAAEE, serves on numerous advisory committees and boards of directors, including NAAEE’s Advisory Council, and consults for the PBS KIDS show Cyberchase. She was an executive editor of the Journal of Environmental Education and an associate editor of the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education. Bora earned a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, an MS in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University, and a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan.