Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Saturday, May 30
For teachers and other educators in Cumberland County and beyond
Maine Audubon and Portland Arts & Technology High School (PATHS) will host a daylong, climate education professional development workshop funded by the Maine Department of Education for K-12 educators on Saturday, May 30, at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth.
“Being with the Seasons” introduces multi-disciplinary opportunities to observe, document, and celebrate phenology—the study of how plants and animals respond to seasonal changes. Maine Audubon has partnered with the outdoor education and leadership program at Portland Arts & Technology High School (PATHS) and countless science, humanities, and cultural experts to develop resources and models for K-12 classrooms and outdoor destinations immediately available to them throughout the school year.
Tracking phenology is an engaging way of observing our natural systems and an important starting point for understanding the impacts of climate change. The summit promises to be a joyful coming together of educators interested in learning about and teaching phenology as a way to build student connection with the changing seasons and the earth through hands-on field experience.
Educators can attend two morning sessions as part of the summit.
Topics will include:
• Nature journaling and how to keep a year-round phenology calendar (with Katie West)
• Nature’s Wheel: tracking phenology with field and classroom activities (double session with Keri Kezor from University of Maine’s Signs of the Seasons)
• Incorporating Indigenous knowledge (with Mihku Paul)
• Environmental literacy practices for teaching outside (with Portland Public School Environmental Literacy teachers)
In the afternoon, educators will become the students and have the opportunity to engage in an adventure of their choosing. Choices include: birding and spring migration, a native plants walk, finding frogs and macro-invertebrates at the pond with Greg LeClair (project founder of Maine Big Night), and writing with Samaa Abdurraqib (poet and Executive Director of the Maine Humanities Council).
The summit will take place between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm, and will include lunch, teaching resources, and $125 stipend for attendees.
If you’re an educator in Cumberland County, or know an educator(s) who would benefit from this experience, please share this information!
Project Background & Past Content
On Saturday, May 30, Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth will host 100 classroom teachers and other educators from throughout Cumberland County for a Phenology Summit, funded by a Climate Education Professional Development Grant from the Maine Department of Education. Maine Audubon helped advocate for climate education staffing, resources, and this state grant program as part of the “Maine Won’t Wait” Climate Action Plan.
Thanks to this funding, Maine Audubon has partnered with the Outdoor Education & Leadership program at Portland Arts & Technology High School and Wabanaki educators to develop resources, training, and activities which explore phenology as a climate indicator for millennia. PATHS educator and grant recipient Katie West is the lead instructor of the school’s inaugural Outdoor Education and Leadership program. As students learn wilderness skills and activities throughout the academic year, they also meet with Maine Audubon staff and partners to weave in experiences and information about phenology, or what’s happening in nature, each month. Phenology is often called “nature’s calendar,” as it tracks the specific time of year that natural events happen, including bud burst, migration, breeding, dormancy, and more.
Partner and Wolastoqey cultural knowledge sharer, Mihku Paul, who will also present at the summit, has helped incorporate indigenous knowledge and Wabanaki Studies themes which help shape and expand our perspective on science and integrate indigenous ways of knowing and being in nature.
In May, teachers will get stipends to participate in training and modeling activities, and receive new materials which will help their students use phenology to study climate in their own schoolyards and communities.
