Our professional development opportunities are designed to support powerful learning experiences that connect to students’ lives and communities. In this time of increasing awareness and activism, we are joining with teachers in working to address the vast racial, economic, and environmental disparities in our communities and classrooms.
Through our courses, workshops, and focused 1:1 supports (including individualized planning sessions), we hope that you’ll join us in creating community, sharing resources, and building a way forward together within the unpredictable landscape of remote teaching and learning, collective anti-racist action, and a growing commitment to addressing climate change through an intersectional lens.
As a result of our workshops, teachers will:
STEM Clock Hours are available for both courses and workshops, pending approval. Stipends will also be provided to teachers upon successful completion of each course. Clock Hours must be claimed and paid for through pdEnroller. Please contact Brad Street at brads@islandwood.org for any questions about claiming your Clock Hours or stipend.
All of our workshops and courses include:
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)* call for students to use the practices, concepts and content of science and engineering to understand phenomena and solve problems that are relevant to their lives. Starting from a student’s own experiences and community makes the science meaningful and increases engagement while helping students understand how global issues like climate change are present and addressable in their lives. In our courses and workshops, we examine how you can use the new science standards and your community to understand and address real world environmental problems and explore together how to integrate NGSS into your district’s classroom science units.
– Chantal Fleck, 2nd and 3rd Grade Teacher, Emerald Heights Elementary School
Our courses are primarily intended for teachers and educators who teach science to K-12 graders. Each course takes place over three months, and includes multiple large and small-group sessions. Upon completion of each course, teachers will earn a stipend and STEM Clock Hours!
Register now for our upcoming Community Science course, beginning on Saturday, January 16!
Registration for this course has passed.
When | September – December
Who | K-5 Grade Teachers
Clock Hours | Teachers who complete the course can earn up to 14 STEM clock hours.
Stipend | Washington State public school teachers will receive a $380 stipend upon submission of teacher and student work and completion of assessments.
Collaborate with IslandWood staff and teachers to bring science alive for your students. Learn how local phenomena, a concept at the center of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), can be used to guide unit planning and delivery across disciplines. Develop strategies for empowering students to identify local phenomena that is interesting, relevant, and draws on the strengths of their own communities. Integrate the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices into exploration of your schoolyard or your student’s neighborhoods to respond to the context of remote teaching and learning. Throughout the course, we will be engaging in critical dialogue and reflecting on the role of localized science in supporting equity, justice, and anti-racism in education.
Learn more and register here.
When | November – December
Who | 6-12 Grade Teachers
Clock Hours | Teachers who complete the course can earn up to 9 STEM clock hours.
Stipend | Washington State public school teachers will receive a $315 stipend upon submission of teacher and student work and completion of assessments.
Running November through December for 6 – 12th Grade Teachers
Even during the disruptions facing in-person school, science learning can continue at home. Are you working on ways to make science meaningful for your secondary students amidst the challenges and disruptions of COVID-19? Explore with IslandWood staff and other teachers how local phenomena and investigations in YOUR community can be centered in a Next Generation Science Standards storyline to connect to the interests and identities of your students and support understanding of the impact of climate change. We will use an example phenology storyline to explore possibilities during our two large group sessions in October. Two small group follow up sessions will provide the opportunity to develop and discuss with other teachers what a hyperlocal storyline approach could look like for your students in YOUR community.
Register for this course here!
More information coming soon!
More information coming soon!
Our workshops are primarily intended for teachers and informal educators who teach science to elementary and middle schoolers (Teacher Philosophy & Positionality is aimed at K-12 grade teachers). Other grade levels may attend but could find the examples less relevant to their students. Unlike our courses, workshops can be taken individually and do not need to be completed in a series.
This workshop has passed.
When | October 10 from 10am – 12pm
Who | K-5 Grade Teachers
Clock Hours | Teachers who complete this workshop can earn up to 2 STEM clock hours.
We interact with water systems every day, but don’t often think about how the water on our streets, under our streets, and in our homes is connected and impacts our regional ecosystem – and how climate change will impact each of those systems. Join IslandWood staff to uncover the often-hidden water systems in our region, and collaborate with fellow teachers to brainstorm ways to integrate this content and related phenomena into your teaching.
This workshop has passed.
When | October 24 from 10am – 12pm
Who | K-8 Grade Teachers
Clock Hours | Teachers who complete this workshop can earn up to 2 STEM clock hours.
Have you ever wondered what neighborhood assets, opportunities, and problems could help make science more relevant and engaging for your students? In this workshop, you’ll gain strategies for helping your students investigate and map their own communities, including local ecosystems, water flow, patterns, and changes over time. You’ll also gain ideas for how you and your students can use this information to contribute to local ecosystem mapping efforts!
When | March 6 from 9am – 12pm
Who | K-12 Grade Teachers
Clock Hours | Teachers who complete this workshop can earn up to 2 STEM clock hours.
The workshop will center on a key aspect of being an effective, inclusive educator: self-exploration and reflection. We will use concepts from education and social justice scholarship to discuss how our identities impact our teaching, explore our approach to education and passion for this work, and clarify our role in creating equitable learning opportunities for our students.
Our staff are collaborating with teachers in the Olympic, Puget Sound, and southern Northwest ESDs to support them with incorporating local phenomena, field experiences, and community assets into their curriculum.
These sessions are often an extension of the work started in a workshop but don’t have to be. Serving teachers at their schools helps address equity issues for those who do not otherwise have opportunities for nearby teacher training.
Apply here.
OSPI Climetime is funding focused supports for teachers to assist with incorporating local phenomena, field experiences, and community assets into their curriculum. Support can include one or more of the options below.
For more information and to register, please email Brad Street at brads@islandwood.org.
Explore your schoolyard or community and discuss how it could fit into your storylines work and/or other lessons.
Gain support in developing your storylines work.
Learn how to adapt one of the following lessons to fit your students and schoolyard:
– Kristen Soltman, teacher at Louisa Boren STEM K-8
85% of teachers report they are more likely to use the schoolyard as a classroom two months after participating in our series.
73% of teachers report a lasting impact on their teaching, such as increasing inquiry-based learning and making connections to the community and larger systems.
Our teacher professional development opportunities are made possible thanks to generous support from King County and a grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Environmental Education Professional Development Environmental Education Professional Development Environmental Education Professional Development Environmental Education Professional Development Environmental Education Professional Development Environmental Education Professional Development
IslandWood acknowledges that we live and work on the ancestral land of the Coast Salish people, who have been stewards of this region's land and waters since time immemorial, and who continue to protect these lands and waters for future generations, as promised by the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, the Treaty of Point No Point of 1855, and the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854.
While the majority of our work takes place on Suquamish (suq̀ʷabš) and Duwamish (dxʷdɐwʔabʃ) land, we also conduct programs on the land of the Snohomish (sduhúbʃ), Puyallup (spuyaləpabš), Muckleshoot (buklshuhls), Skokomish (sqoqc’bes), and S’Klallam (nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm) peoples.
4450 Blakely Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206.855.4300
IslandWood is a registered 501c3 charitable organization.
A Special Thanks to our corporate sponsor
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