Calling all environmental educators! The Connecticut Outdoor and Environmental Educators Association (COEEA) will be hosting its annual conference on December 7 at Suffield High School. This event, attended by over a hundred outdoor and environmental professionals, is one of the state’s premier networking opportunities for educators in the field and gives time for both formal (K-12) and informal (nature centers, zoos, and the like) to learn, grow, connect and reinvigorate their practice.
This year’s topic “Building a Resilient Future in a Changing World” seeks to equip educators with the skills to best assist both learners and themselves from a personal, pedagogical and community based level and will bring presenters from all over our state to deliver highly engaging sessions on a variety of engaging topics. Starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 4:15 p.m., this year’s offerings include strategies for teaching climate change across various settings emphasizing collaboration, community engagement and civic action. Attendees will also learn about addressing climate justice and systems change, explore how adults and youth can navigate eco-grief, cultivate resilience and hope and create collective tools to support each other in the face of environmental crises. In addition, from place-based opportunities to get students outside and competitions about local ecology, to vetted CT based climate change educational resources, attendees will be able to walk away with new materials and fresh ideas situated right here in the Nutmeg State. Last but certainly not least, conference goers will learn about several important community-based actions happening in Connecticut that are having a positive impact on youth and our state in general.
Our keynote speaker, Maggie Favretti, is an award-winning educator and author of Learning in the Age of Climate Disasters: Empowering Teachers and Students Beyond Futurephobia. Favretti’s work focuses on overcoming “futurephobia” by offering regenerative learning strategies that draw inspiration from nature’s principles of repair and resilience. She will explore how to empower youth creativity, agency, and hope, and will challenge attendees to reflect on her guiding question: “What kind of ancestor will I be?”
If you’re an environmental or outdoor educator, we strongly encourage you to attend this important event! For more information, visit the COEEA website at www.coeea.org/annual-conference. We hope to see you there!