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"Every Teacher in the Woods"
By: Ashley George, Journalism major, Valdosta State University

It's time for little Timmy to go back outside, at least that's what facilitators of environmental education think. "Every Student Learns Outside" is an initiative of  Project Learning Tree. Project Learning Tree's goal is for kids to learn "how to think, and not what to think, about environmental issues," through fun, hands-on, outdoor activities, and the same premise is true for Project WILD and Project WET. The 3rd annual Teacher Conservation Workshop (TCW) was a five-day experience that showed teachers how to bring these ideas from environmental education back to their students. It demonstrated how these interdisciplinary programs could help students whether they're learning science, language arts, math, social studies, or any other topics. This workshop provided teachers a box full of teaching materials and activities to take back to their classrooms to use with their students. In addition to materials, the participants gained confidence in teaching PLT, WILD, and WET materials through experiential learning activities.

The TCW was held at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, which served as the home base for daily excursions off site. One of the excursions was to Plum Creek's completed clear-cut site and active harvesting site. At the clear-cut, Rich Haddock, Darrell Kauffman, and Scott Weaver explained forest management, and the methods they use to grow and harvest the trees. The bare looking land with stacks of wood piled here and there began to take a different form as the professional foresters described what was actually taking place. Looking down, the teachers began to see small seedlings growing among the grass and logging residue. "It just looked like chaos at first," said Trennia Johnson, a teacher at Crossroads Baptist School in Valdosta, "but then [as the forest management practice was explained] I began to see the plan." At the active harvesting site, the teachers watched as the feller buncher cut down the trees, the skidder brought the trees to the loading deck, and the loader removed the branches and tops and separated the logs based on product class before loading the log truck. One teacher commented about the treetops, saying before she came she just thought they were making a big mess, but she learned that the treetops were left at the site to return organic material to the soil. One PLT activity they took part in called "Every Tree for Itself" reinforced what they learned at Plum Creek. This hands-on activity uses poker chips in a survival game that demonstrates competition between trees, and how the position and place of a tree affects its' growth and survival.

Another excursion was to the Georgia Forestry Commission's Flint River Nursery to see the process of growing tree seedlings. At the nursery, the teachers saw how the different types of pine trees and hardwood trees looked when they are seedlings. They also learned about planting methods and the grafting process. The group visited several tree farms including Big K Farm, Charlane Plantation, and Gully Branch. At Big K Farm (owned by John Smoltz, Ryan Klesko, and Richard Spear), the consultant Lynn Hooven, said, "Trees are just like any crop, they're just long term." He went on to explain how everything they do at the farm not only benefits the trees, but also the wildlife and forest plants too. Big K Farm's wildlife and fisheries biologists talked about the different types of fauna that benefit from the tree farm. At Charlane Plantation (owned by Chuck and Rose Lane Leavell), the manager, Mike Hattaway, showed them an incubator where he raises quail chicks, and talked about how forest management can affect wildlife ecology. At Gully Branch, the owners, Earl and Wanda Barrs, showed the teacher's food plots and different kinds of grasses that they are growing to enhance wildlife habitat. They explained that the management of Gully Branch encourages a diversity of life. "We're trying to work with the land", said Earl Barrs, "not against it." Beside the lake at Big K Farm, they took part in a Project WET activity called "Sum of the Parts". In this activity, each teacher was instructed that they own a piece of land by a river, and were asked to draw what their dream home would be if they had unlimited resources. This activity demonstrated how what they built affected not only their part of the river, but the entire river from the headwaters to the ocean.

At the Brender Demonstration Forest, John McGuire with the Longleaf Alliance presented a talk about longleaf pine trees. He informed the group that the longleaf pine ecosystem has declined over the last 150 years. He also explained that prescribed burning was essential to not only the survival of the longleaf pines, but to many other species that depend on fire to open up the forest. The teachers learned more about the effects of fire through a PLT activity called "Living With Fire". Everyone discussed what caused the wildfires in South Georgia and how that had affected those communities. This activity appealed to many of the teachers because it gave them a better perspective about the fires. "To know the importance of burning," said Bruce Harris, a teacher at Wayne County High School in Jesup, "and to find out that if the companies were able to use that process, the fires might not have been as bad as they were."

The teachers took part in a Project WILD activity called "Adaptation Artistry" where they created their own imaginary animal and gave that animal some adaptations to live in specific habitats. Some of the creatures created included a NASCAR fish that was built for speed, and a night pouch bird that carried its eggs in a pouch. The long leaf pine forest showed many good examples of animal adaptations, such as the Red Cockaded Woodpecker needing live pine trees for nest cavities. It is a creative, fun way to show students the interconnection of animals and their environment.

To show the completion of the cycle of growing trees that exists within the forest products industry, the teachers went to Georgia-Pacific's sawmill and Weyerhaeuser's cellulose fiber mill. They watched a log change and assemble into plywood at the plywood mill. The teachers saw the paper drying process and learned about the chemicals that are used and reused in the mill at Weyerhaeuser. "I didn't understand industry very well," said Stephanie Westmoreland, a Naturalist at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, "they really were trying to conserve and reuse products [in the production]." To demonstrate the full process of the paper mill, the teachers participated in a Project Learning Tree activity called "Make Your Own Paper." This activity was a mini re-creation of what went on at a paper mill that would let students create their very own piece of paper.

This workshop opened many teachers' eyes to forest management, and conservation practices, and it showed them how they are connected to the land and how they can actively participate in the sustainable use of natural resources. "On my land, I was just going to sell it and have them turn it into concrete," said Patrice Matchett, a teacher at PLC Alternative School in Valdosta, "but now that I've been to this workshop I'm going to keep it because I know I can do something to it to make it beautiful." The workshop also gave teachers countless resources to use to bring this knowledge back to their students. "We're developing a bookless curriculum," said Amanda Jones, a teacher at Southeast High School in Dalton, "all the labs, everything we did were exactly what I needed." The best part is they did it in a fun, hands-on way. Kerri Schmitt, a teacher at Creekview High School in Canton, said, "I teach special education, and for the children to learn it must be hands on. It's just given us a lot of great things to use." This workshop was not only a great experience for the teachers that participated, but a great benefit to the students that will gain from their teaching and the forests that will thrive from their actions. "I'll use this in the classroom," said Leslee Lampert, a teacher at Newbern Middle School in Valdosta, "because I know my students are just as blind as I was."

Click here to download the 2008 TCW Application

 


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