Nature-Based Education Program Kicks Off at UMF

Nature-Based Education Program Kicks Off at UMF

Sep 23, 2017 | News | 0 comments

Leah Boucher –Staff Reporter

For the second year in a row, UMF hosted a summer institute for Maine educators and pre-service educators on June 23rd and 24th, where they learned how to incorporate nature into all areas of education.

Participants were able to get out and explore the nature around Farmington the day before the actual conference, where they could hike to Poplar Stream Hut and tour the local Bonney and Flint Woods, then settled back at UMF for a day of conferences.

Assistant Professor of Education and committee member for this institute, Kathryn Will-Dubyak, is pleased that UMF can offer a wide variety of conferences, which are the first of their kind in the area. “This is the only nature-based institute spanning Pre-K through 12 in greater New England to my knowledge,” said Will-Dubyak, “which creates an incredible opportunity for the many pre-service educators and educators around Farmington.” There were around 80 participants this year who attended both days.

From this program, participants were given the chance to listen to a variety of lectures but also participated in hands-on experiences, giving them first-hand knowledge on how nature plays a crucial role in education across grade levels.

“This summer institute helped educators either understand how they could begin to engage with nature in all areas of instruction or to develop their understanding of how nature can play a large role in a variety of instructional opportunities,” said Will-Dubyak.

Associate Professor of Science Education and another committee member of this institute, Carole Lee, was asked to be a leader in this year’s set of conferences.

“Last year, there was more of a focus on lower elementary grades, and I was thrilled to join this program and bring my knowledge of nature among the upper grades in school,” said Lee. “I led some conferences myself, such as Engineering Design Inspired by Nature as well as Biomimicry.”

Another conference participants could attend focused on the idea of a natural playground, which UMF was able to put into action last year outside the Sweatt-Winter Child Care and Education Center. A third-year child care aide at Sweatt-Winter, Ashley Hinkley, who is also a senior Elementary Education major, noticed a major shift in the design of the playground once the natural playground replaced the old one.

“The previous playground had one slide, a climbing wall, and a picnic table,” said Hinkley. “The natural playground has a berm for the kids to climb on with three slides and a garden that the kids water, pick from, and later eat.”

Another feature of this new playground that is a hit among the children is the bird-watching area. “There are bird feeders and bird baths outside, and inside there are journals for the children to sketch the birds they see through the window,” said Hinkley.

The bird sanctuary at Sweatt-Winter, part of the new natural playground on campus.
(Photo Courtesy of the UMF College of Education, Health, and Rehab Services.

Carole Lee is grateful that a topic from the conference was able to be shown to participants right here at UMF. “The success of the natural playground installation on campus shows educators that nature can help children see how they can interact with their environment in a positive way, such as feeding the birds and building houses for them,” said Lee.

There are plans for committee members to meet over the course of 2017 and 2018 to see if a third annual nature-based institute will take place next summer.

“We are not sure as of yet if it will happen, as it takes an incredible amount of people power for pre-conferences and conferences that only span two days, but it is definitely a possibility,” said Will-Dubyak.

Student MEA, Now UMF Aspiring Educators of Maine, Gains Traction.

Student MEA, Now UMF Aspiring Educators of Maine, Gains Traction.

Sep 22, 2017 | Feature | 0 comments

By Gavin Elliott – Contributing Write

After the recent name change approved by Student Senate, UMF Aspiring Educators, previously known as Student M.E.A. (Maine Education Association), seem to be growing in popularity.

Last year, the UMF Aspiring Educators were down to seven to ten members. The level of involvement was higher in the past, according to Beth Evans, a professor at UMF and faculty advisor for Aspiring Educators.

“When I first started teaching here at UMF around 20 years ago, just about every undergrad Ed Major was a member of at least one of the two education clubs,” Evans said.

This year at the first meeting, numbers had tripled when compared to the amount of members last year. This success is partially due to the club’s recent name change.

UMF Aspiring Educators of Maine at the Fall 2017 Club Fair
(Photo by Mitchell Agailb)

According to Stephen Riitano, the president of the Aspiring Educators, “the change was to align with the N.E.A. (National Education Association),” and to “let the students of UMF know that a membership to the student M.E.A. is not necessary, although UMF Aspiring Educators is still affiliated [with them].”

Aspiring Educators also held an Informational Meeting in the Ed Center along with Advocates for Disability Awareness Club (ADAC) and UMF Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC). Through this meeting, the members of it are very much clubs hoped to inform new students, as well as current students, of what they each do.

Members of Aspiring Educators will often find themselves brainstorming and discussing upcoming events, fundraising, looking at poverty’s impacts on schools, connecting with other educators and learning skills they may not typically receive in their regular classrooms to aid in their professional development.

Professor Evans elaborated, “It is imperative to know what everyone else is doing in this profession. Early childhood to middle to special ed, etc. and this club does a great job of preparing ed students to do just this.”

Evans went on to say “The club is great because the movers and shakers of the professional life we call teaching.”

The treasurer of Aspiring Educators, Carson Hope, says, “The club is great because you get to network with other educators and clubs, and learn about the community part of teaching.” This networking can also impact more people by allowing them to pool their resources, said Evans.

According to Riitano, an example of the clubs pooling of their resources will be seen on September 26th when Kelly-Anne Rush, more commonly known as Crafty Teacher Lady, will be speaking at 5:30 pm in the Landing about how “teachers can be financially smart while providing meaningful and engaging lessons for their students.”

Later in October, they will be hosting Scare Fest, where “a panel of current teachers and administrators come to UMF and discuss the real side of teaching,” Riitano said.

For more information or any questions on the Aspiring Educators, like them on Facebook at “UMF Aspiring Educators of Maine,” or drop into any of their meetings on Wednesdays, room 106 of the Kalikow Education Center at 7:30 pm

A Preview of Julian Saporiti’s Event “No No Boy, A Multi-Media Presentation on Japanese Internment”

Sep 22, 2017 | Feature | 0 comments

By Andrew Devine – Editor-in-Chief

UMF to welcome Julian Saporiti to the Emery Community Arts Center on Tuesday, October 3rd to perform a collection of songs based on his extensive research.

Inspired by his doctoral research at Brown University, and his own experiences as a Vietnamese American growing up in Tennessee, Saporiti will perform a collection of his own songs accompanied by archival photographs and films, as well as collected stories from World War II era Japanese Internment Camps.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry as ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

In an email interview, Saporiti wrote “Coming from a family of immigrants, I wanted to focus on a dissertation project which illuminated complicated American histories while also speaking to the present moment filled with racial fear, immigration bans, intolerance, and political divide.”

The project is titled “No No Boy” as a tribute to The “No-No Boys” which are reported as being Japanese-Americans who during WWII refused to swear allegiance to the US government or be drafted while their families and friends were locked away in concentration camps on Saporiti’s web-page.

The web-page/blog serves as a companion to the No-No Boy project by posting pictures, music, and other media, as well as interviews and articles which have inspired the album and informed Saporiti’s scholarship.

Saporiti formerly performed in a successful indie rock band, the Young Republic, consisting of himself and various musicians, including Nate Underkuffler. Luanne Yetter -mother to Nate and advisor to the Farmington Flyer – pushed the band to perform in the Farmington area and Saporiti to bring his project here as well.

In an interview, Yetter discussed working on books, projects, and UMF courses that look at history from the perspective of art of the time period being examined; similarly to what Saporiti has done for this project.

“It’s something that Julian and I have always had in common, an interest in both history and music,” Yetter said. Saporiti has also been a guest speaker in some of her previous courses offered at UMF.

In the preview for the album found on the web page for this project, Saporiti concludes his understanding of his work in saying “Whether it’s in concert halls, museums, bars, churches, or coffee shops, performing these songs, showing these pictures, and telling these stories is important, especially right now.”

Saporiti expanded on this in saying, “I’m not talking at anyone or lecturing or writing a dense academic paper (I also do that), but with these songs, I’m just telling you stories of people I know or have read about and am trying to get people to think, and maybe think about what’s going on right now with Muslims, black folks, and undocumented Latinos and Asians.”

Saporiti will bring the presentation to numerous other colleges and venues around the northeast United States the remainder of the year. More information can be found at https://nonoboy-music.tumblr.com/about .

Saporiti will be bringing “No No Boy” to the University of Maine at Farmington in the Emery Community Arts Center on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7 pm.

Editor in Chief: Maxen Ryder Assistant Editor: Ashley Ward