Professional Development

In the ever-changing world and field of environmental education, we understand how valuable continuing education is to our members. This is why PAEE is excited and proud to announce our newly formed Professional Development Committee. This committee is devoted to bringing PAEE members meaningful, engaging and relevant monthly professional development sessions at no cost to PAEE members. Topics will vary by month and will be aligned to the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence for Professional Development of Environmental Educators.

The PAEE Professional Development Annual Themes are: Best Practices in Teaching, Assessment and Evaluation, Promoting Inclusivity, Research in an Evolving EE Field, and Best Business Practices. They are an adaptation of the NAAEE professional development framework themes for environmental educators and were chosen to collectively represent significant realms of environmental education.

We hope this Committee’s work helps you to expand your knowledge, make connections and reflect and assess your practices. Check this page for updates as information on speakers and registration becomes available.

Upcoming Opportunities

WILDlife and STEELS: the intersection of freedom and expectation

Monday, February 9, 12:00 PM

WILDlife is a 10-week drop-off program for homeschool families that bridges the wildness of outdoor education and the structure of a STEELS-based learning experience. Incorporating the new standards into a child-led outdoor educational framework takes an incredible amount of creativity and on-your-feet thinking. During this presentation we’ll discuss some of the ways our team has incorporated the new standards into a program that is continuously shifting, including some of our favorite highlights and a few we tossed in the trash.

Free for PAEE Members
$5 for nonmembers

Speaker: Anne Gageby, Director of Environmental Education, Strawberry Hill Foundation

Anne grew up right next to Strawberry Hill and has been a volunteer there most of her life. She grew up a feral mountain child who fell in love with the forest at an early age. Anne is a former school librarian who incorporated environmental education into her library curriculum every chance she had. She has a BA in Spanish, an MA in Arts of Teaching, an MS in School Library Media, is trained in the Growing Up Wild curriculum, and is a Master Watershed Steward through Penn State Extension. She serves on the Penn State Extension County Council and is a veteran of the US Army. Anne still considers herself a feral mountain child and probably always will.