MEEA 2025 Annual Conference - Workshop Descriptions (1)

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maine environmental education association

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Workshop Session Descriptions Friday, May 9th Workshop and Annual Awards Celebration 1:00 - 4:00pm Theater, Floor 2 WABANAKI STUDIES Beyond the Basics: Elevating Your Wabanaki Studies Practice Facilitated by Panawahpskek citizens Brianne Lolar and Kaya Lolar This 3-hour collaborative work session is intended for educators who are actively working on implementing Wabanaki studies into their teaching practices. Please bring any lessons, activities, or resources that you have been building to workshop in the company of Wabanaki advisors and other educators. This is a welcoming and open space where you will have the opportunity to receive invaluable feedback from Wabanaki knowledge sharers, collaborate with fellow educators, and leave feeling well supported in your furthered Wabanaki Studies learning journey!

Saturday, May 10th Annual Conference 9:35 - 10:35am Workshop Sessions 1 OUTDOOR LEARNING Connecting with nature and others through journaling - for everyone!

Kim Charmatz, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance Join us as we explore how everyone of all ages, audiences, and settings can participate and connect with nature through journaling! We will try out several nature journaling activities guided by your observations that you can integrate into your own teaching and personal practices. We will be outdoors for this session if weather permits and discuss how you can journal about nature indoors if weather does not permit or you are limited on time or space. Come learn, share, and connect about

ways nature inspires you through journaling with others!

CLIMATE EDUCATION The Small Farm Struggle: Educating the Youth about Sustainable Agriculture | Ruby van Dyk, Senior at Casco Bay High School After months of research for her senior year expedition on small Maine farming and the struggles they face, Ruby van Dyk has become profoundly aware of the need for more people — especially young people — to become invested in this issue. Ruby will take the attendees through a day of a small farmer in Maine — Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook. Attendees will plan out their idea for their farm in groups and use cards with images to order the food system. We will discuss infrastructure projects like the Gorham connector using this case study as well as the simulated experience. There will also be a sampling of a few foods from local farms.

CLIMATE EDUCATION Building Climate Literacy and Empowerment through Climate Communication, Action Strategies, and Community: An Introduction to A Climate to Thrive's Climate Ambassadors Program Wilson Haims, Alison Bligh, A Climate to Thrive Participants will engage in key elements of our Climate Ambassador Program to develop climate leadership skills. Through an overview of climate science and impacts, solutions, and strategies to tactfully communicate about climate change, participants will acquire crucial insight and techniques to galvanize support and make change in their communities. This workshop will also require participants to look inward, reflecting on their experiences and exploring the skills and interests they already hold within themselves to contribute as part of the solution.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Employee’s Declassified Career Survival Guide Bethany Humphrey, Consultant Ray Mills & Sulwan Ahmed, MEEA/TNC Changemakers Residents Are you starting your career? Want to learn how to navigate the working world and share your experiences with others? Join us to learn how to advocate for yourself, recognize healthy and unhealthy workplaces, and build skills to navigate difficult work situations. This workshop is catered towards youth under 30.

WABANAKI STUDIES Introduction to Wabanaki Studies Brianne Lolar, Maine Department of Education Kaya Lolar, MEEA Wabanaki Studies and Policy Coordinator Get interactive with available Wabanaki studies resources and build connections with

other educators looking to implement Wabanaki studies in their classrooms and communities. This material represents a continuing collaborative effort between the Wabanaki Nations, Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, districts, and other organizations.

10:45 - 11:45am Workshop Sessions 2 OUTDOOR LEARNING Connecting Nature, Technology, and Social-Emotional Learning Lauren Watkinson, Mt. Ararat Middle School This workshop showcases three adaptable environmental education activities that integrate hands-on exploration, technology, and creative expression for grades 6-12.

These versatile activities can be scaled to various developmental needs and school settings, combining scientific inquiry with project-based learning to support socialemotional growth while fostering genuine connections with the natural world.

Participants will experience both indoor presentation and outdoor implementation components and receive comprehensive digital resources for immediate classroom use.

CLIMATE EDUCATION Online Climate Education Tools: Maine Won't Wait: A Climate Policy Guide for Students and SubjecttoClimate Katie Coppens, Falmouth Middle School Abigail Hayne, Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future Carey Hotaling, SubjecttoClimate Maine Won’t Wait is Maine’s four-year climate action plan. Learn about an adapted version of it for younger people (grades 6-12) called Maine Won't Wait: A Climate Policy Guide for Students. We will navigate its interactive features and discuss ways educators can embed this into their educational setting or a unit. Various lesson plans and assessments, across content areas, that connect with this guide will be shared.

The second half of the workshop will focus on free resources for K-12 resources for teachers in all disciplines. MEEA was a founding organization of the Maine Climate Education Hub, which has over 2700 resources, and many place-based Maine lessons and activities that are ready to use and aligned with the Maine Learning Standards. Come with your curriculum in mind, and learn now climate education is not an add-on, but can be embedded into what you already are doing!

SKILLS FOR ACTION Wheelchairs in the Wild: Exploring the Intersections of Environmental and Disability Justice

Lock Oleander, Sick Crip Collective How can we make tree-hugging accessible to all? Come learn about bedridden bird watching, climate change canaries, access audits, and the interconnected (and inseparable) struggles for ecojustice and disability rights. Join the dialogue through a community discussion where you can share your thoughts, wisdom, questions, and dreams. Leave empowered, with resources to create change and concrete actions you can take.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Rooting in Consent: Trust-based Storytelling for Advocacy and Systems Change Tessa Shanteler, Stories for Change Meg Knights, Stories for Change + members of the Stories for Change Working Group This workshop includes case study stories and a participatory interviewing exercise that will help participants recognize power dynamics in storytelling, gain strategies for more equitable approaches, and generate ideas for how our trust-based storytelling process can support other projects. Participants will leave our workshop with examples of stories shared with this process, confidence in and strategies to ethically share stories, and experience interviewing. Stories for Change amplifies underrepresented voices and their relationship to the outdoors through a trust-based, collaborative process, and is a project of the Nature Based Education Consortium.

WABANAKI STUDIES Strengthening Our Relationships with the Land: Where Wabanaki Studies Meets Climate Education Presented by Brianne Lolar, Maine Department of Education Kaya Lolar, MEEA Wabanaki Studies and Policy Coordinator This workshop brings climate education all the way back to its roots–the first stewards of this land. Wabanaki Studies and climate education innately go hand-in-hand. Join Kaya Lolar (Panawahpskek) and Brianne Lolar (Panawahpskek), to hear more about how understanding traditional ecological knowledge and Wabanaki practices allows us go deeper with our approaches to climate education and justice today.

12:00 - 1:25pm Lunch served on the 3rd Floor Balcony Seating throughout the conference space Room 307 will be reserved for a quiet space to eat.

12:00 - 12:45pm Halcyon Music Performance Halcyon is an artist collective based in Midcoast Maine that makes data emotional.

The 4-person group uses music and the arts to promote environmental stewardship and response to the urgency of climate change. Through interdisciplinary public performances that combine music and other art forms, Halcyon draws attention to the daily challenges, rewards, and realities facing communities. They collaborate with scientists, artists, students, actors, composers, poets, and educators. Their performances invite audiences to feel, celebrate, reflect, and respond collectively to the world around them.

1:25 - 2:25pm Workshop Sessions 3 NETWORKING SESSION Second Floor, Room 204 Take a break from structured workshops and get to know your peers at these community networking sessions! This year we will also be offering two networking opportunities during the 3rd and 4th sessions of the day on Saturday. Open to anyone, these networking spaces will be a chance to meet and talk to others as general networking and/or crowd sourced topical conversations. Tabling organizations will be nearby for you to network with as well.

OUTDOOR LEARNING Protecting Ash: a Preservation Focused Inventory Project Meggie Harvey, Gulf of Maine Research Institute Abigail Long, Gulf of Maine Research Institute Nell Houde, Wild Seed Project In this workshop, participants will experience activities designed to support youth in building ecosystem understandings, placing themselves within a long history of stewardship efforts, and developing fieldwork skills. Then, they will learn about and contribute to a community science effort to protect future generations of ash trees.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Performing Arts to Impassion Climate Learning Marcia Taylor, Third Act Maine Begin to build expressive arts into your environmental curricula. No prior performance experience needed; templates and handouts will be provided. Skit, song, comedy, magic acts, circus arts, dance/hip hop, public speaking, visual arts-whatever resonates with your student creators. What you'll need: trust in your students, an open mind and a bit of audacity. Whether you work with kindergarteners, teens, adults or elders, you’ll find something useful here.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Shifting Avoidance Culture: What is possible when we lean in? estephanie g. maroall, Mycorrising

Deb Paredes & Sett Vincent, community organizers We know now more than ever, we need each other. But how do we shift out of generations old patterns that keep us in cycles of disconnection? Within system norms of scarcity, individualism, and avoidance, how do we naturalize ourselves and deepen our relationships? How do we keep love at the center of our practices and living expressions? What is the role of intergenerational practices? Join us to consider these questions at various intersections of identity and power. We will collectively engage these concepts with a panel of youth who’ll discuss what they see as the future of environmental work and the changes needed in our cultural fabric.

OUTDOOR LEARNING Exploring Water Quality: Connecting Outdoor Learning, Climate Education, and Community Action Maine Science Teachers Association Discover how outdoor learning can engage students in hands-on water quality investigations while fostering climate literacy and community action. This session will explore strategies for integrating real-world data collection, interdisciplinary connections, and solution-based projects that empower students to become environmental stewards. Participants will leave with resources and ideas to implement similar experiences in their own classrooms

2:35 - 3:35pm Workshop Sessions 4 NETWORKING SESSION Balcony Third Floor Take a break from structured workshops and get to know your peers at these community networking sessions! This year we will also be offering two networking opportunities during the 3rd and 4th sessions of the day on Saturday. Open to anyone, these networking spaces will be a chance to meet and talk to others as general networking and/or crowd sourced topical conversations. Tabling organizations will be nearby for you to network with as well.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Writing to Celebrate Being Alive on This Earth Maya Williams, Portland’s 7th Poet Laureate Engage in interactive discussion and poetry prompts with former poet laureate of Portland, Maine Maya Williams. How do you celebrate being alive on this earth? This workshop is for folks who love talking about the environment, folks who talking about the environment is new to them, and for anyone who recognizes the need to talk about climate change and how that affects our daily living. As a suicide survivor, what helps Maya choose to stay in this burning world is to find the things they love

that are worth staying for. This space is for folks to celebrate parts of our environment that helps us wake up in the morning.

SKILLS FOR ACTION Bridging Barriers, Building Trails: Outdoor Access Solutions Enock Glidden & Alexandria Sukeforth, Outdoor Access Solutions Join Enock Glidden for a hands-on trail assessment, where you'll experience accessibility challenges firsthand using simulation tools. Learn practical, outdoor strategies for creating inclusive trails, guided by Enock's expert insights and realworld case studies. Leave with actionable solutions and the inspiration to build truly accessible outdoor spaces in your community.

SKILLS FOR ACTION The Cove Congress Sadri Mohamed & Sean Emerson Allen, MEEA Changemakers Fellows Equitable policymaking in Congress remains a widely debated issue. Racial biases, limited socio-economic representation, and a lack of inclusive gender dialogue are just a few of the most visible challenges. So how do we begin to address them? One solution is education—teaching both current and future policymakers. This preventative approach can foster meaningful dialogue and drive more inclusive policy development. However, access to policy making education is often limited by the very same systemic issues that hinder equity in Congress—creating a cycle of exclusion and “scarcity”. This workshop aims to raise awareness about the current state of equity in policy making.

SKILLS FOR ACTION The White Oak Project: Planting trees for an abundant future Kathy Pollard, Know yOUR Land Consulting Ann Pollard-Ranco, Penobscot citizen and cultural consultant Nell Houde, Wild Seed Project Our warming climate is driving changes in the composition of Maine's boreal forests, and it has brought blights/pests that are killing species such as brown ash and beech.

The loss of beechnuts will create a huge void of food for wildlife, while the emerald ash borer will decrease the availability of a crucial cultural and economic material for Wabanaki basket makers. The White Oak Project is a collaborative effort to mitigate these imbalances by helping to establish some white oak, black walnut, butternut, and shagbark hickory to parts of the state where they can now thrive--by starting trees from seed and nurturing them until they are ready to go out on their own. These long lived species produce huge amounts of food for up to 200 years; thus the project offers an opportunity for students to do something that will help foster resilience and abundance for generations into the future.