Deep in the Heart of Texas: A Look at PLT’s 25th Coordinators’ Conference
Last week, 120 environmental educators from the United States, Japan, and Mexico gathered together in Montgomery, Texas.
The participants convened on Lake Conroe for Project Learning Tree (PLT)’s 25th International Coordinators’ Conference.
This annual event serves as a platform to provide ongoing professional development for state and international PLT leaders, launch new PLT initiatives, share models of success, and celebrate our accomplishments.
This year also coincided with celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Texas PLT, as well as 2011 International Year of Forests! Check out photos from PLT’s time in Texas at https://www.facebook.com/projectlearningtree.
Conference sessions covered a range of topics including strategic planning; evaluation of PLT’s curriculum materials; using PLT to address STEM education; and utilizing social media and the PLT Online Community.
Also a central topic at this year’s conference was GreenSchools!, PLT’s national initiative that focuses on student-led, school-wide environmental investigations and ensuing action projects. Teacher Richard Klein from the Monarch School in Houston, a private school for students with neurological differences, shared how GreenSchools! has empowered his students to implement environmental improvement action projects.
Casey Harris,TX PLT Co-Coordinator, also emphasized how students lead the way in this program as she described her role as a sounding board for participating public schools in the Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. James McGirt, PLT GreenSchools! program manager, shared stories of students from around the country who have co-presented with James at six national conferences.
While in Texas, PLT also celebrated the 2011 National PLT Outstanding Educators. Read more about this year’s incredible awardees in this blog post. Mid-week, we took a break from workshopping, networking, and strategic planning with a field trip to the Spring Creek Greenway Nature Center.
During a BBQ and pecan pie dinner, we began our two-part acknowledgement of this year’s Gold Star awardees, beginning with the Oregon Forest Resources Institute and the leadership of Norie Dimeo-Ediger. The next day we recognized Gold Star awardees Cecilia Ochoa, the Mexico Coordinator, and Laura Downey, the PLT Kansas Coordinator.
We’re heading to Deadwood, South Dakota next year. I am looking forward to all PLT will accomplish over the coming months.
Photo credit: Amanda Cooke
