Canadian Rockies teachers hard at work at the Cenovus Energy Environmental Education Leadership Clinic

Welcome to the Canadian Rockies Public Schools, where a group of ordinary teachers have been spotted doing EXTRA-ordinary things…

In November 2010, four Canadian Rockies teachers joined eight other teams at the Cenovus Energy Environmental Education Leadership Clinic, an annual event hosted by the Alberta Council for Environmental Education. Teams come with a goal to the clinic, receive professional development and planning time, and leave with a plan to deliver on their goal and evaluate the success of their work.

The Canmore teachers’ goal was a lofty one: to create policy and a shared vision of environmental education for their entire division, and provide teachers with support they need to readily embed environmental education into their teaching practice.

Yikes! This is a huge undertaking, and teachers are some of the busiest people in the world – how on earth would they find the time to accomplish all that!?

And yet – they are on track. As of mid-March 2011, just four short months after the Clinic, here is what they have done:

• Won top-down support for their initiative. This team presented to the School Board just days after they returned from the clinic. In their research they had uncovered an pre-existing policy calling for students to become more environmentally literate, and this – plus the teams’ enthusiasm – helped convince the school board to commit the resources of administrative staff to the initiative.

• Engaged their fellow teachers. Two representatives from each of the division’s seven schools, plus facilities staff, met earlier this year to exchange information about environmental education initiatives in their schools. The meeting was organized by the Board’s Director of Community Engagement Paula Hanson, and the Board paid for release time so that the meeting could be held during the school day.

• Arranged relevant professional development for teachers. Teacher and ACEE Board member Nancy Pollard is working with the local professional development committee to ensure that teachers receive the support they need: for example, educators from Kananaskis Country presented a half-day workshop for teachers in January, and ACEE’s Gareth Thomson will present Leap into Action, a teachers guide to facilitating student environmental action, in the Spring.

• Engaged the community. Environmental education and citizenship activities sometimes call for extra work! The team, with the assistance of Paula Hanson, works with numerous community groups who provide resources and time – including some keen youth from Katimavik, a youth volunteer service program.

Wow! These ordinary teachers are indeed achieving extraordinary results! Here are a few keys to their success:

1. They got organized and came up with a goal
2. They successfully applied to the Clinic, which bought them valuable planning time
3. Their plan took a systems approach, recognizing the importance of working both with fellow teachers and with key decision-makers such as the School Board
4. They leveraged an existing Board-approved environmental literacy policy
5. They understand the need to engage other teachers through their committee, and meet teachers’ need through professional development
6. They have engaged community support to help with programs, including service group to help with some of the ‘heavy lifting’ required

For more information on this initiative, contact Team Leader Lee Luders, or Paula Hanson. Paula can be reached by phone at 403-678-1683.

To hear the voices of local students, visit this page (scroll to the bottom of the page to the photo of Ken Symington and Jodi Anderson and their students); or contact Paula Hanson.

The efforts of these teachers has recently been recognized in their local newspaper.