Place Network Email Archive

The Place Network News has a new look! We'll still be coming to you each week with the best ideas and information from across the Network. We just got a little fancy. 

all Teacher Survey Window Opens Soon 

If you're excited about sharing the good work your teachers and students are doing, participating in our teacher, student, and family surveys is the best first step. If you do nothing, your teachers will receive an email on October 14 with the link to complete the survey. The survey closes on November 15. Our goal is a 75% completion rate from each Place Network school.

Schools with the highest rates of completion provide time during faculty meetings. With this in mind, if you would like us to email the link at the beginning of a designated time such as a faculty meeting, please tell us using this very short Google form or by emailing alex.sivitskis@tetonscience.org. 

Data from Place Network surveys produces compelling information for your community, such as this graph showing student reports of engagement and place-based learning.

Free for Place Network Schools: Introduction to Place-Based Education Virtual Workshop 

Curious to know more about place-based education? Join us for this 90-minute virtual workshop to learn why place-based pedagogy is worthwhile, how you might already be using it, and spark new ideas to increase student engagement and purpose. A great introduction for new staff who have not yet been able to participate in a Place Network workshop.

Free to Place Network schools with code: PL-Teacher4Free

📅 Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024
⏰ Time: 7:00-8:30 PM EST
Location: Online

 egister Today

Welcome to our newest Place Network Schools!

We are thrilled to announce the addition of three incredible new partner schools to the Place Network, thanks to the generous funding of All Points North Foundation:

The James and Grace Lee Boggs School (Detroit, MI)

The Cottonwood School of Civics and Science (Portland, OR)

The Grand Rapids Museum School (Grand Rapids, MI)

These schools share our commitment to connecting students deeply with their local communities and environments while fostering academic excellence, personal growth, and positive community impact. We believe these partnerships will not only enrich the educational experiences of students but also strengthen the bonds between schools and their communities, leading to lasting, positive outcomes. 

Continue reading on the Professional Learning blog...

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Two exciting new grant opportunities for schools:

Slingshot Challenge: National Geographic Society invites 13-18-year olds to rise to the challenge, and to submit a 1-minute video describing their idea for solving environmental issues for a chance to receive up to $10,000 in funding.

Grosvenor Teacher Fellows: professional development opportunity for pre-K–12 educators in the United States. They select exemplary educators to host aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ voyages for a life-changing, field-based experience.

Have you ever had that just-in-time conversation with another educator that propelled your thinking past barriers and toward solutions--or at least toward "what-if's"? If so, you'll understand our excitement for our first Place Network Quarterly Leadership Conversation! It's this Monday, September 16 - mid-day, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET. Our breakout room topics for this meeting range from the very broad to very specific:

1. Integrating Required Curriculum and Place-Based Education

2. Community as Classroom: Transportation (for taking students out into the community)

3. Measuring Social Networks

We hope you can join us! (Please email me if you did not receive a calendar invitation from placenetwork@tetonscience.org.)

New Information

Invitation to Participate in Two Place-Based Education Research Opportunities

For schools seeking new ways to measure their impact, we have two opportunities we piloted last year and are excited to offer more broadly. Please click through for detailed information, as well as how to participate:

1) Assess how your community projects affect students, educators, and local stakeholders.

2) Assess how your school interacts with and connects to community partners.

Resource Site Highlights

Our first teacher survey window will be opening soon! Did you know that we've worked hard this past year to tighten up our surveys, asking only the most essential questions to measure the impact we all hope to see? If you'd like to know exactly what questions are asked in our surveys, you can find that information on the Place Network Resource Site Evaluation and Research Page.

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The Grants in Place program for 2024 is open for applications! To be eligible, a teacher must be in one of the states listed in the application at this link and also must qualify as a rural school.

See you Monday for the Quarterly Leadership Conversation!

Some Place Network schools have been back for the semester for a few weeks, and some don't start until after Labor Day, but one thing's for sure: Everyone's minds are on the upcoming school year! This Place Network News has some key information to get things off to a place-based start. 

New Action Items

Watch for Calendar Invites for the Place Network Quarterly Leadership Conversations:

School leaders and Network Advocates are invited to join us for a series of facilitated conversations around the topics we hear most from schools.

• Monday, September 16 - mid-day, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET

• Wednesday, December 11 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET 

• Monday, March 3 - midday, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET 

• Wednesday, May 7 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET

Watch for Calendar Invites for the Place Network Student Leadership Committee Meetings:

Student leader groups from all Place Network Schools get a chance to meet virtually to design, plan, and execute a community impact project. All Student Leadership Committee meetings take place at 10:00 am PT/ 1:00 pm ET

• Monday, October 7

• Wednesday, December 11

• Monday, March 3

• Wednesday, May 7

Upcoming Professional Learning

Fall/Winter Professional Learning Opportunities

Place Network school faculty can register for free with code PL-Teacher4Free

• Introduction to Place-Based Education virtual workshop - October 1, 2024 - 5-6:30 pm MDT

• Interdisciplinary Place-Based Projects virtual workshop - October 15, 2024 - 5-6:30 pm MDT

• Centering the Learners in Place-Based Education virtual workshop - October 29, 2024 - 5-6:30 pm MDT

• Winter Introduction to Place-Based Education Asynchronous Virtual Course - January 21 - March 12, 2025. 

Network Highlights

We welcome West Boulevard Elementary School from Columbia, MO, to the Place Network! West Boulevard aims to be a project-based learning focus school, and they would like to approach that through a place-based lens. Learn more about West Blvd here.

Resource Site Highlights

Place Network Directory

In our dynamic Place Network Directory on the Resource Site, you can find other members of our network by school, grade level, and subject area. You might use this tool if you want to... 

• reach out about a specific project

• establish a pen-pal program with another class

• share ideas, plans, and feedback for specific standards... and so much more!

This directory is ONLY visible to Place Network teachers, school leaders, and TSS professional learning staff. Your information will not be visible to the public. You can opt-out of being listed in this network directory by filling out this form.

Email placenetwork@tetonscience.org if you cannot see the link to the Directory, so we can add you!

Warm wishes for a fantastic 2024-25 school year!

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

This past week, I had four highly engaging—and completely different!—conversations with new Place Network school leaders. Here were their four main areas of focus:

1. An experienced place-based school "level-setting" to ensure both new and returning staff have a common vocabulary around the fundamentals of PBE.

2. A school that will be a project-based learning focus school this coming year.

3. An experienced place-based school that wants to vertically align a K-8 place-based science curriculum.

4. A school that has been doing some place-based education and that is seeking coaching support for instructional coaches.

This wide range, combined with the diverse contexts and communities of our partners, is part of what makes this work so fascinating and what makes our Network so powerful. Which of these schools do you most relate to? and how might your school's experience help them find creative solutions to these particular areas of focus?

Action Needed

Teacher Lists Needed

We need this year's teacher names and emails from the following schools, to ensure your current teachers have access to the Place Network Resource Site:

• Fairview Elementary School

• Horace Allen School

• Meadows Valley School

• Pinnacles Prep Charter School

• Russell Boulevard Elementary School

• Summit Charter School

• University Charter School

• West Boulevard

Network Highlights

Welcome to Our Newest Place Network School!

We welcome The Cottonwood School of Civics and Science to the Place Network! The Cottonwood School in Portland, Oregon, is a public charter school dedicated to place-based education. The school's mission is to foster creative learning environments where students develop a strong sense of place, become stewards of the natural world, and active citizens. Emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, Cottonwood integrates local history, cultures, and ecosystems into its curriculum, ensuring a holistic and engaged educational experience for all students. We are so honored to have them onboard! Learn more about their programs and initiatives here.

Resource Site Highlights

Are you looking for that one super helpful planning guide you saw in a Place Network workshop, or an activity that you experienced and now want to use with students? The Resource Site Toolbox for Place-Based Education might help! Use the search bar to type key words or phrases related to the tool you're looking for. You can also filter by tool name or by the element of the learning framework.

Share This!

For Place Network Schools with High Schools: Walking Softer is an educational non-profit partner of Teton Science Schools that offers curriculum and financial support for high school teachers related to sustainability, climate change, and youth empowerment. They also have scholarships for high school junior and senior students, AND they have $3000 grants to support place-based projects. Find out more about their curriculum and support here on their newly updated website, and contact Jackson Ray (jackson@walkingsofter.org) for more information. We are getting their newly updated curriculum and resources into our database over the next few weeks.

As the new school year begins, don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or support needed!

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

Last night I visited a pretty incredible nonprofit farm here in northern Vermont, the Intervale Community Farm. My cousin was eager to show me the place that had served him and his family when they could not afford high-quality produce; Intervale offers reduced-price farm shares to families receiving public assistance. It was beautiful...and also poignant, as the recent flooding had wiped out much of their crop for the second year in a row. Getting to know my new place is calling me to find my role in being part of the solution to help this community continue to thrive in the demands of a changing climate.

New Information

Asynchronous Onboarding to Place-Based Education Modules in Canvas

A self-paced way for you to get new teachers caught up on the fundamentals of place-based education. Click here for more information.

We are also launching our Fall Professional Learning Series - which includes three 90-minute virtual workshops on place-based topics in October. The workshops are FREE to Place Network School teachers and leaders with the discount code PL-Teacher4Free

Email Sharon Your Teacher Roster and Email List

BIG thanks to the following schools who have responded already and will have access to the Place Network Resource Site!

Mountain Community School

Waggoner Creek Elementary School

Rock River School

Koshkonong Trails School

Edith Bowen Elementary School

Save the date: Quarterly Leadership Conversation

Monday, September 16 - 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET

School leaders and Network Advocates are invited to our first Quarterly Leadership meeting on September 16 at 12:30MT. You'll receive a calendar invitation later today. This will be an interactive session in breakout rooms where you can discuss solutions to common challenges. Come prepared to share and discuss.

Network Highlights

Welcome to our newest Place Network School: The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, in Detroit, MI!

The James & Grace Lee Boggs School is a public charter school dedicated to nurturing creative and critical thinkers who actively contribute to their communities. With a strong emphasis on place-based education, the school integrates local heritage, cultures, landscapes, and opportunities into its curriculum, fostering a deep sense of place and community engagement among students. The school’s core values include critical thought, creativity, excellence in teaching, equity within both human relationships and the natural world, and authentic, trusting relationships—all aimed at empowering both the community and the students. Boggs School's mission is to provide the tools for students to achieve ambitious goals, live meaningful lives, and develop a strong sense of stewardship for Detroit. We're eager to support the Boggs School team in codesigning solutions for their identified goals--including a sustainable system for curriculum. Welcome to the Place Network!

Resource Site Highlights

Many schools are communicating with families about place-based education at this time of year. Our resource site has some resources for engaging with caregivers and the community, including a slide deck you can use at Back-to-School night, or a link to a flyer in Canva that you can modify and share. If you get an error when you click on the link to the Resource Site, reply to this email requesting access!

Reach out if there are any other resources you'd like to see us share.

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

Happy summer! Based on the out-of-office replies I've been getting, it seems like many of you are taking much-needed breaks before the ramp-up begins for the fall. I took advantage of the slightly quieter time of year to finalize a move to Vermont, and I'm loving the relatively cool, lush weather up here. We hope you're enjoying the best of what summer in your place has to offer.  

Helpful Information for Back-To-School

Finding My Place course for students

Teton Science Schools offers the curriculum for a full-length course based on the Place Prism! Finding My Place is a place-based course for grades 4-8 that is designed to be facilitated by your teachers using the Canvas learning management system. Teachers can either add students directly to Canvas or display the course and facilitate whole-class. Finding My Place is free for Place Network member schools and $500 per teacher for other schools. You can watch a six-minute general overview video of the course contents here. To get your copy of the course, email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org.

Introduction to PBE Slides for Parents/Caregivers and Community

Place Network schools have access to our slide deck "Introduction to Place-Based Education for Parents/Caregivers and Community." This can be used for 30- or 60-minute sessions for events such as district presentations or back-to-school night.

Network Highlights

Welcome our newest Place Network Partner School, Waggoner Creek Elementary, in Texarkana, TX!

Waggoner Creek is an in-district public elementary school whose leaders and community believes that a place-based approach can position their school as the ideal choice for local families. They have hired a Place-Based Instructor and will begin place-based education with kindergarten and first grade. To develop a school-wide sense of identity as a place-based school and to spread the innovation happening at those younger grades, they hope to create opportunities throughout the year when the teachers working with Place Network can share their projects with other faculty. For more information about Waggoner Creek and their vision for place-based education, contact Principal Dr. Kasey Coggin, kasey.coggin@txkisd.net. The Place Network team is super excited to begin working with such a dedicated, passionate school community!

Resource Site Highlights

Our Network Supports survey results suggested that many folks don't take advantage of the Place Network Resource Site, so each week we'll highlight a different feature you might have missed. This week, we draw your attention to the "School Administration Tools" page. There are currently four resources on that page: 1. A sample PBE Coordinator Job Description 2. A PBE Theory of Change/Visioning template 3. A PBE Curriculum Audit form 4. A teacher survey and PBE audit for schools to get an initial baseline The Resource Site is constantly being updated as we discover things we think would be helpful to you, and we encourage you to visit frequently. Let us know if you have suggestions of things to add, too.

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

The Place Network Conference is just 12 days away! We're so excited to welcome so many current and prospective schools to Jackson. 

In the meantime, we're thinking ahead to the end of the school year and planning for next. We hope to continue to partner with you!

New Information

Optional End-of-Year School and Community Leadership Reflection When we revised our Place Network School Implementation Model this year, we created a new "Readiness Review" for schools that are joining Place Network. We thought this review might be a useful tool for school leaders to self-assess the context in which teaching and learning is happening. This is completely OPTIONAL—an opportunity for self-reflection for school leaders who have the bandwidth and interest. This survey includes approximately 15 likert scale statements about the background factors that enable place-based education, such as "A majority of teachers and school/district leadership is interested in and logistically able to adopt—within district and state mandates such as teacher evaluation and standardized testing—the key components of the place-based learning model." If you complete the survey, we'll discuss the results with you at a future partnership meeting, and it can be helpful in laying out your next steps. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions about how this might be used.

Reminders

Continuing with Place Network in 2024-25? The first step to continue with Place Network is to complete the Scheduling Form, which is due by April 30. Once we receive the form, we'll put together a contract and send it out for review. If you have questions or concerns about your Place Network partnership for next year, please schedule time to meet with me (Sharon).

Network Highlights

Internships at Pinnacles Prep Last month, each eighth grade student at Pinnacles Prep spent a week doing an internship in one of over 30 partner organizations throughout the community, including the local newspaper, an elementary school, a coffee shop, the ski resort, a seamstress, and a tire shop (photos). What a powerful example of work-connected learning in action!

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

Over and over, we hear the same requests above all others: 1) more grade-level specific examples of place-based education, and 2) more planning time. As teachers begin to think ahead to the next school year—or better, to the juicy, pre-summer days after testing season—we want to remind you about the Place Network Resource Site, which includes the curriculum database page. From there, you can search and filter through the more than 200 descriptions of place-based units, activities, and projects, including some fantastic full curricula from Place Network partners.  

*If you get an error message when clicking on the curriculum database page link, please email placenetwork@tetonscience.org to be added to the Resource Site.

Action Needed

Place Network Student Showcase We would love to share your students' work at the Place Network Spring Conference student showcase! Student presentations can be live via Zoom or can be prerecorded. This is a great opportunity for an authentic audience for your students' work this year, whether or not you are attending the conference. Please add your information to this sheet, and one of our coaches will get back to you for more information. Continuing with Place Network in 2024-25? The first step to continue with Place Network is to complete the Scheduling Form, which is due by April 30. Once we receive the form, we'll put together a contract and send it out for review. If you have questions or concerns about your Place Network partnership for next year, please schedule time to meet with me (Sharon).

New Information

Spring Conference The Place Network Spring Conference website has all of the information you need, including updated information regarding clothing and lodging. You'll receive an email this week with roommate information.

Network Highlights

Bee Hives at Fairview Elementary Several of our Place Network schools integrate bees and pollinators into their outdoor spaces. The team at Fairview Elementary, a Place Network Demonstration School, has been working this year to expand their bee programming with the third-grade students. Tasks and updates have included: research in the classes and by the teachers to be prepared to care for the bees, getting a bee cam to be able to watch the hives remotely, and acquiring an observation sleeve to bring a tray from the hive into the classroom to observe more closely. Fairview's PTA also raised funds recently to get a few new trees to shade the spaces around the playground.

There's a lot going on during this time of year, so please email me directly with any questions at any time!

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

Spring is springing in many parts of the country. I was in Medford, OR, this past week working with the phenomenal team at Ruch Outdoor Community School, and while they had just gotten a classic it's-not-spring-yet late snow storm, some teachers' eyes are on the post-testing phase of the year. For many teachers who still feel pressure to move through the curriculum at a certain pace, the end of the year can open up new opportunities to try out new projects or new approaches to learning. Now might be a good time to start planning it out.

Reminder

Registration closes TOMORROW (March 15) for the Place Network Spring Conference in Jackson Hole, WY! We'd love to have you join us. Check out the conference website for an agenda and more information.

Network Highlights

March 4th Quarterly Leadership Conversation Recap

A dynamic group of nine educational leaders convened for the latest installment of our Quarterly Leadership Conversations. The discussion centered on exploring quantitative data emerging from Place Network and how this information can guide our practice. Key insights revolved around the multiple dimensions of student outcomes, alongside observed positive trends between teacher well-being and successful PBE model implementation. For detailed notes from the session, click here. Save the Date: Our next gathering is scheduled for Friday, May 10th, at 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET. Let's continue our transformative dialogue and collective growth!

March 4th Student Leadership Committee Recap

In our third session together, students on the Student Leadership Committee learned more about our Place Network Spring conference and did a first practice of their project presentations. We discussed what a conference is and the significance of the opportunity to present at the conference. During this time, students practiced presenting in small groups by using guiding questions to help describe their projects and then practiced offering positive feedback and questions to other groups. Students also did a brainstorming around what type of visuals they could use to help enhance their presentation. We ended the session by sharing the sign-up sheet for a presentation time, which can be found here.

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

According to our new website for the Place Network Spring Conference, we are now only 54 days away from seeing our participants in Jackson! The agenda overview is now available on the home page, and you can also find information on travel, lodging, and food. It is not too late to register; current schools can register at this link.

New Action Items

Calling all students: Share your projects!

We're looking for student groups who will present their place-based projects from this year to the attendees of the April Spring Conference. No project is too small to offer inspiration and ideas to other schools! Details and sign-ups can be found here. Students can share live via Zoom or can prepare a video we can play for participants.

New Information

Teton Science Schools is hosting our annual Place-Based Education Symposium. This year the theme of the event is climate change education. With the focus on climate change, we are excited to link social emotional learning, mental health, and developmentally appropriate practices with hearing directly from students about their place-based projects.The Symposium will only be in-person, and our Request for Proposals is open! We hope you will consider submitting a presentation proposal if you are planning to be in Jackson for the Place Network Conference.

Plan to join us for the International Online Place-Based Education Symposium on Friday, March 22nd, from 8:30 pm - 12:00 am MDT. Registration is open, and the agenda will be available shortly. We know the time is late in the USA, so if you are interested but not able to attend live, you should register and then you can access the recordings and posters on your own time. Link for more information. 

Reminder

Quarterly Leadership Conversation and Student Leadership Committee meetings will take place THIS Monday, March 4.

Students will meet in Zoom at 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET to continue revising their community impact projects and sharing their work. The previous slide deck can be found here. Network Advocates, please support your students in making progress on their plans.

School leaders and Network Advocates will gather for our Leadership Conversations 30 minutes after the student meeting ends, at 11:30am PT/2:30pm ET. Click here to see the agenda and notes from previous meetings. We hope you can join us!

Network Highlights

The Pullman Community Montessori adolescent program (middle school) received some well-deserved press with this front page article: A lesson for the eons. The first line captures the students' depth of understanding, "After taking to the hills and speaking with local professionals, Pullman Community Montessori students say the Palouse Prairie doesn’t need to be preserved. Instead, they found the environment needs to be conserved and restored." Check out the article to see how they also incorporated electrical engineering, woodworking, and grocery stores into the project.

As always, please email me if you have any questions or schedule time to meet if you'd like to go over them one-on-one.

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

A huge thank you for your participation in the Place Network winter family survey! We had about 140 responses from eight schools. Here are some highlights.

Your coaches will dig into the data with you in your next partnership meeting, and as always, school leaders can see your school's Panorama data by logging in using the invitation sent via email earlier in the year.

Reminders

Place Network Spring Conference early bird registration ends tomorrow!

We are excited to see so many new faces registering for our Place Network Spring Conference in beautiful Jackson Hole! Early bird registration closes tomorrow, Friday, February 16, after which the registration fee nearly doubles (to $385). Here is the registration page and the flier for more information. Please let us know if you have prospective schools we should reach out to.

Quarterly Leadership Conversation and Student Leadership Committee meetings will take place on Monday, March 4.

Students will meet in Zoom at 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET to continue revising their community impact projects and sharing their work. The previous slide deck can be found here. Network Advocates, please support your students in making progress on their plans.

School leaders and Network Advocates will gather for our Leadership Conversations 30 minutes after the student meeting ends, at 11:30am PT/2:30pm ET. Click here to see the agenda and notes from previous meetings. We hope you can join us!

Network Highlights

We are occasionally asked whether focusing on place-based approaches will hurt student test scores. While student test scores are of course impacted by many complex factors, our five Place Network Demonstration Schools either maintained or increased the percentage of students designated as "proficient" on standardized tests in math, and four out of five did so for English/Language Arts. (Demonstration Schools have worked with Teton Science Schools and implemented place-based strategies over a period of several years.)

Math scores graphic

ELA scores graphic

Please reach out as you have comments or questions that come up!

Much gratitude to everyone who shared family surveys before yesterday's deadline! Family surveys are an important way of identifying key opportunities to get the word out about the great work you're doing, to ensure you have the community buy-in you need for place-based education.

An important reminder about anonymity and confidentiality in our surveys: 

Our winter family and spring student surveys are anonymous. Only school level information for each respondent will be recorded. 

As we shared in the fall, teacher surveys are confidential. This means that school leaders cannot see individual teacher responses attached to teacher names. They can sort their school's data based on demographic information that teachers provide during the survey. We (Teton Science Schools) can see in real time whether individuals have responded to the survey. We use this response info to send specific reminders to teachers for survey completion and to select teachers for the raffle. We could, in theory, get the raw data from Panorama to see individual teacher responses; however, we would not do so unless legally compelled to.

Please encourage teachers to email me directly if they have any questions or concerns about Place Network program evaluation! 

New Information

Preparing for 2024-25

You'll soon be receiving a Google form to prepare for contracting for 2024-25, and an important part of that process is confirming your dates for in-person workshops. As you think ahead to next year's calendar, please identify the two days early in the year and two days mid-year when we'll be able to work together in person.

Reminder

The Place Network Resource Site

You can find so much helpful information on the Place Network Resource Site, which is shared with each individual person's email address. From details about survey questions to the searchable place-based curriculum database to some of our most helpful ready-to-use templates and planning resources, the site can be useful at all levels of implementation. Email me if you or your staff need access (especially if any new staff have been hired since the start of the year.

Network Highlights

The traditional high school model typically separates studies into different disciplines, often making it more difficult to conduct authentic and interdisciplinary place-based projects. Pinnacles Prep Charter School, has cracked the code, though, and is offering a fully integrated and rigorous high school program. Ninth grade scholars recently culminated a project-based learning experience on ecology and food sovereignty with a community feast of scholar's family recipes featuring locally-grown food. Check out this Instagram reel about the event!

January kicks off my "listening tour," as I join partnership meetings or meet with school leaders one-on-one. It's energizing to hear about the positive impacts of our partnership and the ways our coaches are supporting teachers and school leaders. We're proud of this work...and we're also lifelong learners and eager for your critical feedback! When you tell us that something isn't working for you or for your teachers, students, or community, we go back to the team determined to improve the services we offer. We are not a one-size-fits-all prescriptive program, so your input is critical to our efforts to customize support for place-based practices that meet the needs of your particular schools. Please email me or schedule time to talk if you ever have questions about or recommendations for Place Network services.

New Action Items

For Full Partner and Demonstration Schools ONLY*: Panorama family survey window is open - Due 01/31

Data from this survey will tell both your school and Place Network the extent to which families are engaged with and supportive of your work around place-based education. You can find more specifics about the survey on the “Evaluation and Research” page of the Place Network Resource Site. Here are the survey response rates per school so far.

School

Responses

Isabelle Sellon School

45

Horace Allen School

27

Pullman Community Montessori

5

Rock River School

4

Wohlwend Elementary

4

Koshkonong Trails School

2

Pinnacles Prep

0

Mountain Community School

0

Ruch Outdoor Community School

0

Russell Boulevard

0

Two Mile Prairie

0

We know some schools administered surveys early, and some are just getting started sending these out, and we look forward to seeing these numbers grow!

*Panorama surveys are only for full partner and Demonstration Place Network schools, so Affiliate and Introduction Year schools will not participate. Please email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org, if you have any questions or concerns about surveys.

Network Highlights

A huge thank-you to all of you for completing this fall’s Place Network teacher survey! The winners of the four $25 Amazon gift cards are:

• Ari Shore, Pinnacles Prep Charter School

• Alli Tappana, Wohlwend Elementary School

• Kelly Vallier, Rock River School

• Molly Wheatley, Two Mile Prairie Elementary School

Share This (Resources and Accelerators)

For Place Network schools with high schools: Walking Softer is an educational non-profit partner of Teton Science Schools that offers curriculum and financial support for high school teachers related to sustainability, climate change, and youth empowerment. They also have scholarships for high school junior and senior students. Find out more about their curriculum and support here and contact Jackson Ray (jackson@walkingsofter.org) for more information. We look forward to adding more of their curriculum and resources to our database over the next few months.

Time-Sensitive: Global Nomads offers a virtual, immersive, peer-connected Spanish program 

Our partners at Global Nomads are about to start the next cycle of their free language exchange program between the US and Mexico. The program was a great success this past semester and they have lots of interest from classrooms in Mexico that we are trying to match in the US! They currently have three spots left for US-based Spanish language classrooms that they need to fill. More information can be found here. Email Courtney Welsh (courtney@gng.org) to get started.

Reminders

Place Network Conference registration is open and extended

Our best rates and availability are extended through February 16. We welcome all Place Network school teachers and administrators, as well as district leadership. Information for current Place Network schools can be found here. Please email us if you know of prospective Place Network schools who might want an invitation, as well.

Happy New Year from Teton Science Schools!

I'm a big fan of resolutions, although I tend to make mine around my birthday rather than New Year. This year, however, I'm thinking a lot about this interview with NPR host Mary Louise Kelly, about her memoir It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs. Perhaps it's because my youngest graduates high school in 2024, but I'm focusing on a broad mantra for the coming year, which Kelly discusses in that interview: "Realize life while you live it." And isn't that what place-based education is all about--helping students feel engaged, personally invested, present, and connected to place and the people around them?

The Place Network team wishes your school communities a joyous, connected, present, reflective 2024!

New Action Items

Early-bird registration for the Place Network Spring Conference ends January 15!

The first 15 schools that register get TWO early-bird registrations at $199 each, which includes lodging (dorm style, three per room) and all meals on the Jackson Campus of Teton Science Schools. First-year Place Network schools that did not attend as prospective schools must include a school or district leader in order to be eligible for early-bird pricing. Register at this link. After 15 schools register, we will then release additional registration slots for each school. Click here for the conference flier, which includes an overview of the agenda. We hope to have every Place Network school represented this year! (Let us know if there are prospective Place Network schools in your area we should invite, as well.)

Reminders

Mid-Year Onboarding for New Teachers

We have two options for mid-year onboarding for new teachers: 

1. Asynchronous Onboarding to PBE Modules in Canvas. Click here to learn more. (Free for Place Network full partner schools.)

2. Our seven-week, asynchronous Introduction to Place-Based Education course. (Free for Place Network full partner schools; contact us for the discount code. Registration is $275 per person for Affiliate, Introduction, and Demonstration schools.)

Finding My Place course for students

Finding My Place is a place-based course for grades 4-8 that is designed to be facilitated by your teachers using the Canvas learning management system. Teachers can either add students directly to Canvas or display the course and facilitate whole-class. Finding My Place is free for Place Network full partner schools and $500 per teacher for other schools. You can watch a six-minute general overview video of the course contents here. To get your copy of the course, email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org.

Network Highlights

University Charter School teacher Sidney Freeman facilitates a Harvest project each fall with her high school science students. During the project, students learn more about local food sources in their place. Students get their hunter safety certification, participate in a hunt, and then help process the squirrel, deer, and turkey that they harvest in order to feed their school community. The project culminates with a group meal the week before Thanksgiving that includes the locally hunted meat plus other local grown and prepared foods. Students are learning important skills to support their families and get access to more locally available food.

Share This

Is your school in the market for a new learning management system? You might want to look into Toddle + AI, which we learned about at this year's Aurora Symposium. Toddle seems to be quite customizable, and the AI integration can streamline planning and reporting for teachers. Let us know what you think!

All the best to you for the New Year!

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

In this season of reflection and connection, the Place Network team is deeply grateful for the relationships we have built with you and the entire Place Network community. We are honored daily to work alongside you, and our partnerships inspire and energize us. We wish you and your loved ones joy, rest, and rejuvenation as we round the corner into 2024!

New Information

Grant Funding for Adding Schools

From our partners at New Schools Venture Fund, who have supported the launch of Place Network: "We are looking for educators who are designing new, innovative public schools launching in Fall 2025. Through this annual funding opportunity, we help early-stage charter organizations launch their first and/or second school in a new network, and support district schools develop and implement innovative designs for new schools." Application closes January 16, 2024.

Network Highlights

Quarterly Leadership Conversations

Once again, we had an engaged group of solutions-oriented leaders join us for problem-solving on December 8. Topics included: 1) The Numbers Game: How might we communicate success stories to keep enrollment high? 2) Taking the Coach Out of It: How might we connect more teachers, Network Advocates, and School Leaders directly? and 3) Supporting PBE: What does the data tell us about which strategies and leadership approaches are valued by our teaching staff? How can we best support? The full agenda and notes can be found here. Our next conversation will be 11:30 PT, on Monday, March 4.

Student Leadership Committee

It was wonderful to see our students on the Student Leadership Committee on December 8th. We began the meeting with some connection and students shared descriptions of their projects or the ideas they had for projects. We discussed what driving questions or essential questions are when it comes to projects. Students took steps to process through and come up with their driving question for their project which also helped them to finalize their project idea. Some examples of driving questions that came out of this are:

• Russell Blvd: How do we get people to know we are doing a donation drive in order to make shelters more caring?

• Two-Mile Prairie (TMP): How can we tell TMP about food waste in order to keep as much food as possible out of the landfills?

• Wohlwend: How might we raise money for the humane society in order to help animals have a better life?

• Koshkonong Trails: How can we effectively reach out to our community in order to raise money for the homeless population in Madison?

Our next student leadership committee meeting will be on March 4th, 2024 at 12:00 CT. What can students do before March 4th?

• Plan and DO their impact project

• Finalize driving questions if they have not already

• Make a to-do list

• Gather materials and resources

• Take pictures and/or videos while doing the project!

Contact Kelly.Gaskins@tetonscience.org if you have any questions or need support.

Check out the full slide deck from the December 8th meeting here!

We wish you a happy, healthy winter break and all the best in 2024!

- Sharon and the Place Network Team

Greetings and THANK YOU from Teton Science Schools!

We're thrilled that a majority of our Place Network teachers completed the Panorama survey! We know how hard it is to ask teachers to do yet another task, and we're grateful for the role our school leaders and Network Advocates played in helping collect this important data. Thank you! We'll be reaching out soon to share more information about the results from your schools, as well as overall Network data.

TOMORROW! 

The Quarterly Leadership Conversation is tomorrow 12/8 at 7:30am PT/10:30am ET

The Student Leadership Committee is tomorrow 12/8 at 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET

New Action Items

Teachers can sign up now for our Introduction to Place-Based Education: Asynchronous Virtual Course begins January 16th and runs through March 6th. This is a great opportunity for new teachers to get more familiar with place-based education; and it's free to Place Network Schools with the discount code: TLC-TeachersFree

New Information

It is almost contract renewal time for the 2024-25 school year. New contracts will go out in early February. Please plan for a 5% price increase and begin working with funders and decision-making leaders now. Remember we have some helpful language you can use in our Communication and FAQ document.

Network Highlights

Summit Charter School, a Place Network Demonstration School, has brought their ninth-grade students each August to TSS for the past several years (excluding the pandemic) for our outdoor learning experiences programming. Highlights of their visit include hiking, canoeing, and taking a day trip up to Yellowstone. Teton Science Schools leads some of the program, and Summit Charter leads some of the program. Like Summit Charter School, other Place Network School students can visit TSS and here is more information about those outdoor learning experiences. If you would like to talk with someone about bringing your students to Jackson, please reach out to partnersales@tetonscience.org. 

Share This (Other Resources)

Some of you have asked for examples of how to communicate place-based education to stakeholders. These resources from Mountain Community School are aimed at different audiences; feel free to adapt them to your school's needs:

- Letter for help with projects from Community Partners

- ½ page flier (English and Spanish)

- Talking points (for their board pre-opening)

Do you have more resources for communicating PBE that may be helpful to other schools in the network? Send them to placenetwork@tetonscience.org and we'll pass them along in an upcoming newsletter.

Yours in place,

Sharon

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

This quote from a participant in our Fall Professional Learning virtual workshop series inspired us: 

"The classroom is like a rest stop; we have so much outdoor space to explore. Yes, we are going to do reading and math, but it doesn't have to be at a desk." 

~ Katie Cutsforth, Ruch Outdoor Community School

How are you flipping the contemporary relationship of the classroom and community so that the community is primary and the classroom is just a "rest stop" in our students' experiences of learning? The end of October and beginning of November is often the hardest time of the year for teachers, and changing contexts might be a way to inspire and invigorate—as long as teachers have the flexibility and logistical support they need to make getting out of the classroom possible.

New Action Items

For Full Partner Place Network Schools ONLY*: Place Network Panorama teacher survey window is open - Due 11/22

Data from this survey will tell both your school and Place Network where we’re hitting our goals and where we need to devote more energy, including how this work impacts teachers. You can find more specifics about the survey on the “Evaluation and Research” page of the Place Network Resource Site. Remember that all responding teachers will be entered to win one of four $25 Amazon gift cards, too! Please tell teachers to look for their personal survey link in an email from: "support+tetonscience@panoramaed.com" with the subject line: "Teton Science Schools (WY) Request for Staff Feedback."

Here are the TOP FIVE survey completion rates per school so far. GO WOHLWEND! (Not only do they so far have the highest rate of response, but they also have the greatest number of teachers responding!) Let's get to 100%!

School

Response Rate as of 11/8

Wohlwend Elementary

55%

Ruch Outdoor Community School

27%

Mountain Community School

25%

Isabelle Sellon School

17%

Russell Boulevard Elementary

16%

*Panorama surveys are only for full partner Place Network schools, so Affiliate, Introduction Year, and Demonstration schools will not participate. Please email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org, if you have any questions or concerns about surveys.

Registration is open for the April 23-27, 2024 Place Network Spring Conference!

The first 15 schools that register get TWO early-bird registrations at $199 each, which includes lodging (dorm style, three per room) and all meals on the Jackson Campus of Teton Science Schools. First-year Place Network schools must include a school or district leader in order to be eligible for early-bird pricing. Register at this link. After 15 schools register, we will then release additional registration slots for each school. Click here for the conference flier, which includes an overview of the agenda. We hope to have every Place Network school represented this year! (Let us know if there are prospective Place Network schools in your area we should invite, as well.)

Network Highlights

Place Network School Rock River Elementary made a notable mark in Wyoming by achieving outstanding improvement in their school performance ratings, moving to the "exceeding expectations" designation. Their elementary students, in particular, have shown remarkable growth. Principal Stacie Anfinson was quoted by the Wyoming Department of Education as saying, "I can’t even begin to express how proud I am of our students, teachers, and staff at The Rock!" Place Network shares in this pride and wishes Rock River continued success.

Greetings from Teton Science Schools!

I'm writing this fresh with the energy from our 10/10 Student Leadership Committee meeting. We were thrilled to welcome 18 students from seven schools, ranging in age from fifth grade through eleventh grade. Students began generating ideas for a local community impact project they can work on over the course of the year and share at April's Place-Based Education Symposium. Students' answers about the "why" reminded me of my own "whys," and I thought we could all benefit from hearing a couple. Kyler at Ruch stated it directly: It's about "making people's lives better." Roz from Wohlwend had a prescient answer: "If we don’t practice doing this kind of stuff at this age, we won’t know how to do it when we’re older.” If only all young people got to practice this at this age! 

Remember that our next Student Leadership Committee Meeting is 10am Pacific Time on December 8, and we'd love to have more students join us! 

New Information

New Curriculum Partners Being Added to the Place Network Resource Site Database

We're excited to announce new partnerships with providers of exemplary course content that aligns with our place-based learning framework. This week, we introduce EcoRise. EcoRise mobilizes a new generation of leaders to design healthy, just, and thriving communities for all. Through their Sustainable Intelligence Program, teachers have access to their K-12 standards-aligned, STEM-based sustainability lessons, PD, support, and access to classroom grants for student-led projects. Follow the steps below to explore the resource and curriculum platform. You can see examples of student-led Eco-Audit Grants projects here and video examples here.

1) When you find an EcoRise lesson listed on the Resource Site, click the icon to enroll in EcoRise's free curriculum site, and enter your information.

2) When you hit submit you will receive a "Welcome" email (please check your spam/junk folder if you do not get it).

3) Click on the link in the email to set up your username and password

You can see examples of student-led Eco-Audit Grants projects here and video examples here.

Network Highlights

Do you have teachers interested in learning how to teach literacy outdoors, and earn a college credit for it? Patrick Berg, Head of Mountain Community School, is offering a college credit to members of the Place Network for engaging in a book study of Literacy Moves Outdoors, Learning Approaches for Any Environment. (We can attest - it is an informative read filled with practical tools!) Course Description: Through the course, teachers will take a deeper look into the literary journey that takes students and teachers beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. Staff will participate in engaging readings, discussions, and hands-on activities to boost academic performance and support physical, mental, and emotional health. By the end of the course, teachers will identify ways to create activities so students can discover how literature can be a tool to connect with nature, use their senses to explore, lead to better engagement and focus. Course Requirements: Literacy Moves Outdoors, Learning Approaches for Any Environment Attending staff PLC meetings at your school throughout 2023-2024 school year (record attendance) One-page reflection For all questions regarding course content, please contact: pberg@mtncommunityschool.org

Reminders

Our Place Network members-only Facebook group is up and running. If you have shared school email lists with us, we sent invitations directly to folks on those lists. Please remind your staff to sign up and connect with other place-based educators.

'Tis the season for change! The Place Network team often finds inspiration in nature, but this past year, we drew collectively from a genre that's not a typical one for us as a team: business leadership books, specifically the book Switch: How to Make Change When Change is Hard. We entered the book with a guiding question: What can we do to make implementing place-based education clearer, easier, more streamlined, more sustainable, and more effective for our school partners?  

Some answers emerged and continue to inform our work. One principle from Switch is "script the critical moves," and we've found ourselves asking over and over again: Is this or that really "critical"? If we decide that something is not "critical," what gets lost?

New Action Items

Facebook Group for Place Network Educators

You talked, we listened! Or rather...you didn't talk in Mighty Networks, but you said you might talk in Facebook, and we listened. That's right, by request from the Fairview Elementary team in Columbia, MO, we have started a Place Network Facebook group, only for Place Network teachers, administrators, and staff. If you have shared school email lists with us, we are sending join links directly to folks on those lists. Otherwise, share this link with those who work at your school, so that they can be part of the conversation.

New Information

Place Network Resource Site - PRIVATE

The new Place Network Resource Site is now live. You can only access the site from your Place Network school email address. In this site, you can find resources from virtual and in-person workshops; place-based activity plans, unit plans, and project examples; resources for parents and caregivers, research, and evaluation. We hope this can act as your one-stop-shop for accessing everything you need. If you see an error message when you click the link, email placenetwork@tetonscience.org to be added.

Share This!

Sometimes it's the little shifts that count! New-to-Place-Network Principal Kerri Graham of Russell Boulevard Elementary School in Columbia, MO, shared that one of their fourth-grade teachers was excited to try a little local <--> global thinking with her students: "Her class was learning about European Colonialism. To bring this concept to our place, she took a little time to share with her fourth graders information about Native American Tribes in MO, and she asked them to think a bit about how the impact of Western Expansion on MO tribes related to what they were reading in the text from our curriculum resources." Small tweaks can lead to big place-based impact!

As several of our schools move into "Demonstration School" status—having made place-based education a core, sustainable part of their identity after several years of partnership with Place Network—we've been looking to their successes to identify common themes.

We've seen that school leaders create a context in which teachers and students can connect meaningfully to place. School and community leadership actions are, as Ryan King, principal at Ruch Outdoor Community School referred to them, "insulators," protecting what happens among teachers and scholars. This might mean changes to the master schedule to facilitate teacher collaboration, or the creation of a position dedicated to connecting community to classrooms, or even something as simple as displaying and referring to the community Asset Map or Place Prism. 

We are humbled and inspired daily by the creativity, intention, and sheer effort we see Place Network school leaders wield! This Place Network News is an homage to leadership in its various forms. It can't happen without you.

New Action Items

Share Your Staff Email Lists With Your Coach (if you haven't already)

We've designed a new, restricted Place Network Resource Site—your one-stop-shop for the best of what Place Network has to offer to build leadership capacity for place-based education within your school...IF we have your email address! If you have not shared your staff email list with your Place Network coach, please do so today. If not, they'll see a sad, sad error message when they try to access the site:

Nobody likes Sad Robot Man, so please get those staff email lists to us, if you haven't done so already!

Network Highlights

We welcome our newest Place Network Affiliate School, Academy for Global Citizenship (Chicago, IL)! So excited to have you join us!

Pinnacles Prep Charter School, based in Wenatchee, Washington has been one of our Place Network School Partners since they opened in 2021 and worked with us in writing their charter and in the planning stages. Two of their student scholars—Lilly Arias Martin (seventh Grade) and Frankie Endsley (sixth Grade)—wrote a blog post about passion projects at their school, with the support of their faculty advisor, Samm Rowland. For more information about passion projects at Pinnacles, please contact Place Network Coach Kate Gessford (kate.gessford@tetonscience.org).

Huge thank-you to the school leaders and network advocates who joined us for our first Quarterly Leadership Conversation! If you missed it, you can catch up by reviewing the ongoing agenda/notes and linked slide deck. Some highlights: Marnie Davidson from Isabelle Sellon School and Kerri Graham from Russell Boulevard talked about the importance of partnerships—whether between schools or between schools and universities—for making "community as classroom" happen. Jeff Torbert from Rock River pointed out the importance of setting achievable goals for place-based education implementation. So much good conversation, all around.

Share This

You might experience the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) in one of our workshops this fall, especially if your school is focusing on "learner-centered" or "inquiry." According to The Right Question Institute: "The QFT builds the skill of asking questions, an essential — yet often overlooked — lifelong learning skill that allows people to think critically, feel greater power and self-efficacy, and become more confident and ready to participate in civic life." If you haven't used QFT yet with your learners, we encourage you to check out their website to get started today.

Reminder

You should have received calendar invitations to the Student Leadership Committee (SLC) meetings. These meetings take place on the same dates as the Quarterly Leadership Conversations, but only in mid-day to take advantage of some students' lunch times: at 10:00 AM PT/ 11:00 AM MT/ 12:00 PM CT/ 1:00 PM ET. Please email kelly.gaskins@tetonscience.org for more information about the Student Leadership Committee.

Rain has started falling here in Austin, as we gleefully watch the temperatures drop 15 degrees...into the low 90s. 

I'm thinking wistfully of the cool, refreshing mountain rain on our trip to Crowsnest Pass in Alberta, CA, where we worked last week alongside the phenomenal teachers at Horace Allen and Isabelle Sellon schools. Read on for a very helpful resource from them.

New Action Item

Should we survey students this fall or in the spring?

Please tell us by checking your preference and hitting "submit" in the Google form at the bottom of this email. Note: We do plan to collect teacher surveys in both the fall and the spring, but if you have concerns about that please email Alex (our research guy!) at alex.sivitskis@tetonscience.org.

New Information

DRAFT Learning Model and School Implementation Model Revision

The Place Network team spent time this summer honing in on what is essential to place-based education in a school--both place-conscious pedagogy and from the perspective of a school system. We shared our first draft (and we mean draft--bad formatting, pixelated fonts, unfinished slides, and all!) of a model at the Quarterly Leadership Conversation on Monday. Take a look, and if you have a minute, email me at sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org to let me know what you think.

Network Highlights

Place Network is excited to welcome our new-to-Place-Network Schools for 2023-24! We welcome in two new schools from Columbia, MO—Two Mile Prairie Elementary and Russell Boulevard Elementary—and a new school from Medford, OR: Innovations Academy. Welcome to all the educators who will be doing more place-based teaching and learning in their classrooms!

Share This

Brandie Fast, first grade teacher at Horace Allen School in Coleman, Alberta, shares some resources for helping parents and caregivers understand risky or messy play. Here is an information sheet and a pledge they use with adult playground volunteers, as well as a flier to help educate folks to notice the urge to say "be careful."

These days, the Teton Science Schools Place Network team is spread far and wide across North America, having the honor to work alongside so many of you in the summer/fall two-day workshops. I'm excited for my first trip to visit our schools in Crowsnest Pass in Alberta, CA, next week, and then to gather virtually with school leaders and network Advocates on Monday, September 11, at our first quarterly leadership meeting.

Here's what's bubbling up this week. 

New Information

Save the date!

The Place Network Spring Conference will be from April 23-27, 2024, on the Teton Science Schools' Jackson Campus, and the Place-Based Education Symposium will be on Friday, April 26. Details to come!

Network Highlights

Pullman Community Montessori opened with kindergarten through fifth grade in 2021. This year, as their students grow older, they are starting their place- and project-based adolescent program (AKA middle school). Wish them well with this new endeavor!

In her roundtable discussion at Mountain Academy last week, kindergarten teacher Molly Nash shared: "Listen to what the students are interested in and it will naturally become place-based." Simple and inspiring words to start the year!

Share This

For schools that are using Pinnacles Prep Passion Project Guide (and, if you haven't seen it yet, it's worth a look!) to support students through designing and carrying out a personal project that meets a community need, here is a parallel document that is for teachers' planning process: Pinnacles Prep Place-Based Project Guide. The teacher-facing document mimics the student experience in order to build empathy (for students) and develop common language across the school.

Reminders (Previously Shared)

Fall Professional Learning Series - FREE for Place Network

The Fall Professional Learning Series virtual workshops are free to Place Network School teachers with the discount code: TLC-TeachersFree.  We hope you will encourage your new and returning teachers to join us for these workshops! 

Block Off Time for Quarterly Leadership Conversations

Quarterly Leadership Conversations (formerly "meetings") will be interactive sessions in which you can share with and learn from other school leaders and Network Advocates from across the Place Network. You'll receive Google Calendar invitations. Please save the dates: 

Monday, September 11 - midday, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET

Friday, December 8 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET 

Monday, March 4 - midday, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET 

Friday, May 10 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET

Plan for the Student Leadership Committee

This overview of the Student Leadership Committee will help Network Advocates recruit the right students and prepare them for success. You can also print and post the SLC recruitment flier. And finally, here is a copy of a parent letter, which you can modify with details about your own school's implementation. Please note: SLC meetings take place on the same dates as the Quarterly Leadership Conversations, but only in mid-day to take advantage of some students' lunch times. All SLC meetings take place at 10:00 AM PT/ 11:00 AM MT/ 12:00 PM CT/ 1:00 PM ET. Please email kelly.gaskins@tetonscience.org for more information about the Student Leadership Committee.

For many of our schools, this week marks the first week back from summer break. If we're not with you in person, we're sending virtual wishes for a calm, centered beginning of the year. 

New Action Items

Block Off Time for Quarterly Leadership Conversations

Quarterly Leadership Conversations (formerly "meetings") will be interactive sessions in which you can share with and learn from other school leaders and Network Advocates from across the Place Network. You'll receive Google Calendar invitations. Please save the dates: 

Monday, September 11 - midday, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET

**MOVED FROM 9/12, BASED ON SURVEY RESPONSES

Friday, December 8 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET 

Monday, March 4 - midday, 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET 

Friday, May 10 - morning, 7:30am PT / 10:30am ET

Plan for the Student Leadership Committee

This overview of the Student Leadership Committee will help Network Advocates recruit the right students and prepare them for success. You can also print and post the SLC recruitment flier. And finally, here is a copy of a parent letter, which you can modify with details about your own school's implementation. Please note: SLC meetings take place on the same dates as the Quarterly Leadership Conversations, but only in mid-day to take advantage of some students' lunch times. All SLC meetings take place at 10:00 AM PT/ 11:00 AM MT/ 12:00 PM CT/ 1:00 PM ET. Please email kelly.gaskins@tetonscience.org for more information about the Student Leadership Committee.

New Information

Rural Schools Collaborative Grants

The Rural Schools Collaborative offers grants to rural classroom teachers from a select list of states, for a place-based project. Applications are due September 17. The application and more information can be found here.

Network Highlights

Bringing together nature and art can be an inspiring—and beautiful!—way to connect with place-based education principles. Infusing nature and art into place-based curriculum can further children's observations and deepen their learning. The images and examples linked here are from former Mountain River School teacher Jen Volansky. (We wish Jen and the Mountain River School team well in their next adventures in place-based teaching and learning!)

Share This

Copy this short Google form and use it to collect information from parents that might boost your community engagement.

Reminders (Previously Shared)

Now is the time to add your new teachers to the Asynchronous Onboarding to PBE Modules in Canvas. Click here to learn more.

We are also launching our Fall Professional Learning Series, which includes three virtual workshops on place-based topics in September and October. The workshops are FREE to Place Network School teachers and leaders with the discount code TLC-TeachersFree. We hope you will join us for these programs! These and the other upcoming online and in-person Professional Learning programs this year are all posted on our website.

Teton Science Schools is excited to release its first full-length course based on the Place Prism! Finding My Place is a place-based course for grades 4-8 that is designed to be facilitated by your teachers using the Canvas learning management system. Teachers can either add students directly to Canvas or display the course and facilitate whole-class. Finding My Place is free for Place Network member schools and $500 per teacher for other schools. You can watch a six-minute general overview video of the course contents here. To get your copy of the course, email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org.

Place Network schools have access to our slide deck "Introduction to Place-Based Education for Parents/Caregivers and Community." This can be used for 30- or 60-minute sessions for events such as district presentations or back-to-school night.

As many/most of you know, I'm the new Director of the Place Network, and I'm excited to continue the great work that Shannon, Charles, Leslie, and especially the coaches have done these past few years. As this hot, hot summer cruises along here in Austin, TX, and my teammates in Jackson, WY, are enjoying their cool, crisp summertime fun, I'm hoping you are able to make the most of your place and any places you visit this summer.

This year, we'll be emailing about every other week with Place Network updates. 

New Information

Finding My Place course for students

Teton Science Schools is excited to release its first full-length course based on the Place Prism! Finding My Place is a place-based course for grades 4-8 that is designed to be facilitated by your teachers using the Canvas learning management system. Teachers can either add students directly to Canvas or display the course and facilitate whole-class. Finding My Place is free for Place Network member schools and $500 per teacher for other schools. You can watch a six-minute general overview video of the course contents here. To get your copy of the course, email sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org.

Introduction to PBE Slides for Parents/Caregivers and Community

Current and Place Network schools have access to our slide deck "Introduction to Place-Based Education for Parents/Caregivers and Community." This can be used for 30- or 60-minute sessions for events such as district presentations or back-to-school night. Have you created other resources for parents/caregivers? We'd love to see them! Email them to sharon.laidlaw@tetonscience.org.

Network Highlights

Pinnacles Prep Charter School, based in Wenatchee, Washington has been one of our Place Network School Partners since they opened in 2021 and worked with us in writing their charter and in the planning stages. Two of their student scholars—Lilly Arias Martin (seventh Grade) and Frankie Endsley (sixth Grade)—wrote a blog post about passion projects at their school, with the support of their faculty advisor, Samm Rowland. For more information about passion projects at Pinnacles, please contact Place Network Coach Kate Gessford (kate.gessford@tetonscience.org).

Please email me or your coach if you have any questions.