Professional Development Workshops
What is included below is a description of our standard pro-d workshops. Depending upon your schedule, these workshops can be combined into a single longer workshop offering. We are also able to tailor our workshops to more closely align with additional learning outcomes to support teachers as needed. Simply connect with us to discuss opportunities: [email protected]
Workshop 1: Educating for Eco-Social Justice
Duration: 1.5 - 2 hours
Description: From systemic oppression to climate disasters to the growing wealth divide, it is no secret that our world is full of complex, and often overwhelming predicaments. We as educators have the opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping our future. Using a dialogue-based approach, together we will deepen our understanding of teaching practices that foster justice, equality and sustainability. Educating for eco-social justice means looking beyond content and exploring how we as educators can support the required deep shifts, while improving the wellbeing of students, communities and the local environment. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to BTCEA’s expansive library of classroom ready resources: Student Leadership for Change is a comprehensive suite of lesson plans and student resources that fosters connection, critical thinking and action on social and environmental justice issues. Participants will gain confidence and competence teaching about eco-social issues using research-based instructional approaches that create a transformational shift in student engagement and teacher fulfillment.
Workshop 2: A Climate of Resilience & Wellbeing
Duration: 1.5 - 2 hours
Description: Have you noticed students or yourself grappling with the impacts of forest fires, heat waves or flooding? Are you looking for ways to uplift hopeful narratives, climate action and wellbeing in yourself and the classroom? Climate change is here and our youth are experiencing a diversity of challenging climate emotions. In a recent study, 78% of Canadian youth reported that climate change impacts their overall mental health. And these impacts start early: even intermediate aged students are worried about how humans are affecting the natural world. As educators, we need to break through the “climate of silence” and address these very real emotions- fear, grief, anger, hopelessness- in the classroom. Acknowledgement is the first step in moving forward. In this workshop, educators will be connected with tangible theory-to-practice strategies and tools to support them and their students in navigating the complexity and impacts of climate change at the individual, community and systems levels. Regardless of the age or subject one teaches, this workshop will equip educators with practical and actionable ways to foster climate wellbeing and resilience in our students and ourselves.
Cost: $100/hr of workshop facilitation + facilitator travel expenses (variable)
Facilitator Bios:
Maureen Jack-LaCroix is an engaging facilitator with 19 years experience as an environmental educator; is the Founder and Creative Director of BTCEA, led the team to create Student Leadership for Change learning resources, has a Masters in Eco-Psychology and is a PhD candidate at SFU in Socio-Ecological Education. Maureen loves exploring with teachers ways to engage in transformative education through constructive, reflective, critical, experiential and place-based learning to empower students facing the challenging social and ecological issues of today. Maureen finds joy in her life’s work, love with her cherished family, and wonder in the beauty of the natural world from her vista on Galiano Island, the ancestral and unceded land of the Penelakut people.
Dayna Margetts is a mother, settler, educator and activist who has spent the past 20 years teaching middle and high school science in Kelowna, BC, the ancestral and unceded lands of the syilx peoples. Through her Master’s studies in Environmental Practice, she has come to see how important education is in working for a just and sustainable future for all life. Dayna brings her personal experiences exploring and experimenting with transformative teaching practices in the classroom. As the CARE Program Manager at BTCEA, she is eager to help educators and youth thrive in the face of much instability and uncertainty through dialogue and critical reflection. Dayna finds joy in watching her daughter chase the family dog around the yard, and relaxes by doing yoga or reading a good book.
