 |
  |
     
         |
2001 Outstanding Educators
Katy Avery Gorham is a community closely tied to the paper and forest products industries. The past decade was especially dynamic for Gorham as global changes in these industries affected local operations. Gorham is also a destination community for avid recreationists. It borders the Presidential Range of the White Mountain National Forest, which receives 6 million visitors a year. This contrast of mill town and recreation base camp creates a tension that often surfaces amidst discussion of environmental policy and education, as was the case when the district decided to strengthen its environmental education program. After several public meetings and the creation of a community advisory committee by the school board, the committee developed a strategy for integrating environmental education into its curriculum and selected PLT as the program to support teachers as they moved forward. Katy's active involvement in bringing about this change and tireless efforts to organize and focus PLT educator workshops has earned her recognition as one of PLT's outstanding educators. Katy relies on PLT as a core element in an interdisciplinary curriculum and has worked hard to integrate PLT into the lessons of her colleagues. Katy and her fellow 3rd grade team members created a social studies thematic curriculum in which students take local field trips to learn about the ecology of a particular area. Using PLT activities to support the field trips, English, math and science concepts are taught through the lens of the theme. The final product of this year-long thematic curriculum will be a children's book created by the students. This modeling provides the school with concrete examples of how PLT can be used in a creative way to meet the needs of the school's proficiency criteria and the New Hampshire's Curriculum Frameworks. Being a strong PLT advocate, Katy has worked closely with the NH PLT staff to organize and focus educator workshops for the Gorham school district, as well as neighboring districts. She encourages teachers at her school to use PLT and identifies creative strategies for helping teachers to integrate PLT into their curriculum. Katy's leadership and enthusiasm for environmental education and the PLT program has contributed greatly to the Gorham community.
Patricia Otto Pat has played an integral role in PLT's Washington State program for many years. She has developed, supported and facilitated workshops and meetings to help accomplish their goals. She is the kind of person that makes the Project Learning Tree program as strong as it is-she brings the balance and the passion of a true educator to the field of environmental education. PLT in Washington works with school districts to develop models for ways to align curriculum components with environmental education. Pat has been a critical player in this process. She leads environmental education teams in 5 school districts, that work to incorporate PLT activities into the curriculum by identifying where the activities best support learning in the discipline areas. Pat has worked on the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirement Alignment Committee to correlate PLT to state standards. She is also a member of the Environmental Education Assessment Project (EEAP) developing performance tasks for both PLT activities. In addition to the district work, Pat facilitates on average 10 workshops and 2 pre-service workshops a year, and represents PLT at conferences. Pat's commitment and availability to further the work of PLT and environmental education has been unwavering.
Barbara Jo "BJ" Silver BJ was trained in PLT in 1988 and as a facilitator in 1997. Since then, she has conducted numerous workshops as both a lead facilitator and co-facilitator. In 1997, she was chosen as South Carolina's Outstanding PLT Educator of the Year. As a result, BJ served as an educational representative on the state steering committee for 2 years. She has also presented PLT at the South Carolina Science Council and helped recruit teachers into PLT. BJ has worked to incorporate PLT activities into the educational curriculum for the South Carolina Aquarium, where she serves as a "master teacher." BJ has made major contributions to the South Carolina PLT program on all levels, district wide to insure that PLT was incorporated into her school curriculum, on a state wide basis by presenting demonstrations at major conferences, and on an individual basis as an extremely enthusiastic and energetic facilitator. Her years of tireless devotion to teaching and making a difference in her community truly exemplify her commitment to environmental education and to the PLT program.
Phillip J. Smith Phillip has been a pioneer for his school in incorporating environmental education and the PLT program in the curriculum. He dedicates one quarter of each school year's course work using PLT activities to teach environmental education. He arranged and co-facilitated the first PLT workshop in his school where 100% of the faculty were trained. Each year Marianna Middle School holds a school-wide PLT week in addition to using PLT activities throughout the school year. He has also counseled several Eagle Scout candidates in their required Eagle Projects, creating meaningful environmental areas on the school campus where PLT activities are used. Phillip was awarded a GREENWORKS! Grant to restore and improve a nature/wetlands trail on city property. This quarter mile long trail was in such disrepair that it was dangerous to visitors and was not being used. Through GREENWORKS! Phillip's team purchased wood and rebuilt the trail, which includes learning stations using PLT activities. The trail has been transformed into a city attraction that is being used by school children and county visitors. He has also worked with Eagle Scouts creating important environmental areas on the school grounds where PLT activities are used. Phillip has facilitated or co-facilitated 18 PLT workshops reaching out to more than 300 educators. He has participated in two annual Florida PLT Schools Conferences, one of which he served as a speaker on the topic of The PLT Teacher's Outdoor Classroom. Phillip has influenced countless people, both adults and children, through his determined and tireless dedication to environmental education. He is indeed an exemplary PLT leader in the North Florida area.
Shirley Sypolt Shirley has been very successful in developing school/community/business partnerships to support environmental education at her school and in her community. In her interest to build a strong forestry education unit for 3rd-5th graders in preparation for the 5th grade Virginia Standards of Learning test, Shirley worked to develop forestry instructional units that incorporated both 4-H forestry projects and PLT activities. She was instrumental in recruiting the Hampton Clean City Commission, her local 4-H extension agent, and Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources to collaborate on the project. As a result, funds were obtained to develop and print "Urban Forestry Project Guides" for grades 3, 4, and 5. Shirley is a PLT facilitator and has presented a number of PreK-8 workshops along with secondary module workshops. As the teacher representative, Shirley also serves on the Virginia's PLT Advisory Committee. Her active involvement and support in delivering the PLT program, and initiating new opportunities to integrate environmental education in her community truly make Shirley an outstanding educator.
COPYRIGHT © 2008 - PROJECT LEARNING TREE |
