[Eenc-board] Guidelines & conference concerns
Dee Thonnard Rudolph
Dee.Rudolph at ncmail.net
Mon Mar 31 10:50:23 EDT 2008
Lois,
I have no idea what mantra you speak about or which document I would
find it in, but I do understand your concerns. Here are a few of the
reasons why I chose to focus on only one of the Guidelines documents.
1. As a professional organization for environmental educators, I do
feel that Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of
Environmental Educators is the document that we should be focusing on
when planning any type of training or conference. Our mission, to
promote excellence in professional development and facilitate networking
opportunities, inspiring educators to create an environmentally literate
citizenry, seemed to make that pretty clear to me. I have been
considering this section of the proposal form as a way for us to gauge
the quality of our conference. (Not necessarily for members to assess
their programs) By adding this section, I want to make sure our
conference provides the basic knowledge and abilities NAAEE determined
to be necessary for educators to provide high-quality environmental
education. I may need to make that more clear on the proposal form.
2. Many people who are interested in submitting a proposal are not
familiar with the documents. I do not want to overwhelm them by asking
them to browse four long documents on line. Remember, we went to a two
day course that helped us get acquainted with the documents.
3. No, I'm not ready to reject sessions like Tom Shepard's mushroom
program. But I don't feel that using only one of the documents will
create this problem. Yes, it may be easier to list his program under
the Guidelines for K-12, but what about our nonformal folks? What about
programs like Project WET? Not knowing the specifics of his Tom's
program, programs like his would fit under several theme's within the
Professional Development document; literacy, planning and implementing,
learning. Again, sessions, like Tom's would not be rejected because
they specifically meet the conference strand: Beyond the Basics. This
strand is designed to allow our educators to come home with specific
skills for specific lessons.
Board,
If you haven't already done so, please send any comments you may have
about this issue. I'd be happy to open the form up to all of the
documents if that is the consensus of the board.
We will definitely have a link to NAAEE Guidelines resources in the
conference section. I would also like to have a volunteer able to
assist people if they are having trouble determining where their session
or workshop fits into the Professional Development Guidelines. Does
anyone want to take on this role?
Thanks guys!
Dee
Lois Nixon wrote:
> Dear Dee, et. al.,
>
> I'm glad you are formalizing the Board's adoption of the Guidelines.
> I do have a couple of edits and/or questions to ponder!
>
> First of all, I'm not sure I agree with your second sentence, "it is
> important that we use Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional
> Development of Environmental Eduators." That sentence is fine, but I
> think it infers that the other 3 Guidelines documents are less
> important in professional development of educators, and I don't think
> that is true and is not what we intend to convey. For example, I
> think a real value of the conference is in helping our members to
> improve their programs (Program Guidelines) and the materials they use
> (Materials Guidelines). And as I think of past conference sessions, I
> can think of many that come closer to addressing the Learner
> Guidelines than the Educator Guidelines. Are we prepared to reject
> these sessions? --a simple example would be Tom Shepherd's
> outstanding and VERY popular session at Kanuga on growing mushrooms on
> a roll of toilet paper! I guess that would fit Educator Guideline 1.2
> (Environmental Literacy--Knowledge of Environmental Processes and
> Systems), but I'm not sure those submitting proposals would get that,
> if they are new to the Guidelines! It's easier to say it addresses
> Strand 2.2 under the Learner Guidelines, The Living Environment. I
> don't think we should lose sight of the "mantra" on pps. 2-3 of the
> Educator Guidelines booklet.
>
> So can we expand the focus and include all of the Guidelines
> documents? I'll try an edited, longer(!) paragraph below. My edits
> are in red.
>
> "By adopting the /Guidelines for Excellence/, EENC has committed to
> providing our members appropriate training opportunities that will
> help them provide high-quality environmental education. Please review
> your session or workshop proposal and let us know which Guideline, and
> which Theme or Strand or Key Characteristic it addresses. You will
> note that the /Guidelines for Excellence/ includes a set of four
> separate components: #1) Environmental Education Materials, #2)
> Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of
> Environmental Educators, #3) Guidelines for Learners, and #4)
> Environmental Education Programs.
>
> All sessions and workshops need to address or relate to at least one
> of the themes, key characteristics, or strands within one of the
> four /Guidelines for Excellence/ documents. We expect that the
> conference sessions and workshops will most often fit best into #2)
> Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of
> Enviornmental Educators or #3) Guidelines for Learners. We realize
> that some sessions or workshops may align with more than one
> Guideline, so you may mark 2 areas, if appropriate.
>
> My workshop most clearly addresses:
>
> _______Guideline _________Theme/Characteristic/Strand
> _______Indicator, if applicable
>
> My workshop also adresses:
>
> _______Guideline _________Theme/Characteristic/Strand
> _______Indicator, if applicable
>
> Not familiar with the Guidelines for Excellence? Visit www.naaee.org
> for more information about the Guidelines for Excellence and to
> download your own copies for free."
>
> Dee, I realize this is more complicated and detailed, but I think it
> will more clearly and accurately explain what we are trying to
> achieve. To make it easier for people, we might want to put a PDF of
> each of the four 1-page summaries (from the Program Guidelines) on our
> web page under the conference tab--where the link to the proposal form
> is located.
>
> Lois
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Dee Thonnard Rudolph <mailto:Dee.Rudolph at ncmail.net>
> *To:* EENC Board <mailto:eenc-board at rtpnet.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, March 28, 2008 11:47 AM
> *Subject:* [Eenc-board] Guidelines & EENC Conference
>
> Dear Board:
>
> As discussed in previous board meetings, we want to make sure that
> our organization is encouraging educators to use the Guidelines
> for Excellence. In addition, it is important that we use
> Guidelines for the Preparations and Professional Development of
> Environmental Educators for our conferences and workshops.
>
> The following information and question will be placed within the
> workshop and session proposal forms. Please take a look at the
> information and let me know if you think it is sufficient and
> understandable for people who may not be familiar with the
> Guidelines. Remember that we do not want to make the proposal
> form to difficult. However, we want to make sure that those who
> are not familiar with the Guidelines, become familiar with them.
>
> Thanks! Dee
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence
>
> By adopting the Guidelines for Excellence, EENC has committed to
> providing our members appropriate training opportunities that will
> help them provide high-quality environmental education. All
> sessions and workshops need to fall under at least one of the six
> themes in the /Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional
> Development of Environmental Educators/.
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
>
> Theme #1---Environmental Literacy
>
> Theme #2---Foundations of EE
>
> Theme #3---Professional Responsibilities of the Environmental Educator
>
> Theme #4---Planning and Implementing Environmental Education
>
> Theme #5---Fostering Learning
>
> Theme #6---Assessment and Evaluation
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
>
> Which theme does your proposed workshop fall under? Please be
> specific by including any appropriate guidelines and indicators
> within each theme.
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><!--[if
> !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
>
> Not familiar with the Guidelines for Excellence? Visit
> www.naaee.org
> <http://www.naaee.org/programs-and-initiatives/guidelines-for-excellence/materials-guidelines/educator-preparation>
> for more information about the Guidelines for Excellence and to
> download your own copies for free.
>
> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________
> Eenc-board mailing list
> Eenc-board at rtpnet.org
> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/eenc-board
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/eenc-board/attachments/20080331/9433c324/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the Eenc-board
mailing list