Our spring and summer workshop recruitment is going into overdrive from now until the end of the school year. With monthly access to the marsh ecosystem, and a full day of hands-on activities planned, we can't wait for educators, both formal and informal, to register and join us for any of our upcoming workshop experiences.
From the time I began my career in marine science education, the marsh has been my second home. From the first job out of college, working with the NJ Sea Grant Consortium (formerly Marine Sciences Consortium), I was taking students out to the marsh for seining and critter identification. To say that I could teach about the marsh for hours is an understatement! So it's only fitting that the marsh is where we'll spend half our time at each of the chosen locations for our workshops.
Coming up in April, right around the corner, we're celebrating "Earth Day Every Day" on Sunday, April 21st (day before Earth Day) at our Surf City location. Complete with outdoor pavilion and marsh walking pier, we'll spend half the day delving into our big books of lessons with examples of activities, then we'll head out to the marsh. There's no need to worry about getting stuck in the muck and mud, because we'll be sampling from the pier to identify some common species. You'll hear from me about why the marsh ecosystem is so important to our coastal communities and we might catch a glimpse of some of the migrating species that frequent the area every year.
In May, we'll return to our Surf City location for a special Coastal Curriculum "Love Your Mother Earth" workshop with a half day of specific activities from our new curriculum books. Each educator will go home with a copy of the book that best serves their grades. These curriculum guides are exclusive to these workshops and you cannot purchase them anywhere else!
This summer is going to be a blast as we work with our partners at NC Sea Grant to host multiple workshops at different locations each month. To better serve our region, we'll be doing a northern workshop at the Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST) in Morehead City and a southern workshop at a to-be-approved location in Wilmington. Stay tuned for more information as it unfolds.
There's plenty of opportunities to receive CEU credit as well as Criteria II credit for certified teachers and non-formal educators wishing to continue their educational professional development. Each workshop is priced a little differently, since you will receive different resources at each, but the experience and what you will take away from each is priceless! Join us in the upcoming months for our workshops and we'll see YOU at the marsh!
To register for any of our workshops follow this link: www.teachmarinecsi.com/teacher-workhops
