The Wrack
The Wrack is the Wells Reserve blog, our collective logbook on the web.
The Wrack is the Wells Reserve blog, our collective logbook on the web.
The four New England research reserves are putting teachers on the estuary again this summer by offering free workshops that will give educators data-driven climate change activities to bring back to their classes. Each of the four TOTE (Teachers on the Estuary) workshops, one 3- or 4-day session per reserve, will train a dozen educators in reserve-style environmental monitoring, "coastal blue carbon" concepts, and ways to understand and address climate change.
Please note: The workshop at Wells Reserve will be held Monday, July 11 through Thursday, July 14, 2016. Review of applications will begin May 31, 2016.
Wells Reserve TOTE Application
Wells Reserve TOTE Draft Agenda
Wells Reserve TOTE Promotional Flyer
To learn more about TOTE workshops, see the articles at wellsreserve.org/tote.
Teachers often don't get much exposure to estuarine and watershed concepts during their own education, so it can be daunting for them to develop a curriculum (and locate suitable data sets) around these topics. TOTE workshops show teachers how to access and employ custom curricula and data that already meet Next Generation Science Standards or state education frameworks.
Early this summer our 12-year-old granddaughter from Ohio visited us here in Wells. We had heard about the reserve’s kayaking program and hoped she might be interested in trying it. We could sense a bit of trepidation on her part as she had never been in a kayak and would not know anyone in the group.
We met the others on a sunny morning in front of the barn and were greeted by the smiling and enthusiastic leaders, Suzanne and Kate. They would watch over Allie as neither of her grandparents could manage a kayak. We could sense our granddaughter begin to relax, especially upon being introduced to several who were also from Ohio.