Training in DC
My foot on the bronze plaque
Day 1
When I was named a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, I found out the dates of my expedition, but I was also asked to reserve dates in early April for a training at National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, DC. This experience was truly phenomenal.
On a Wednesday morning early, I departed from Baton Rouge just in time to miss a huge storm that had canceled my school district's classes for the whole day. I felt lucky to get out safe and on time, but I felt even luckier when I got to DC and found my shipmate Deb Holcomb Freitag waiting for me. She is AMAZING. She teaches elementary and middle school social studies at a small school in Monticello, WI. Have you ever had that feeling that you knew someone in another life? That's how I feel about Deb. She and I just get along. And we both love museums, travel, and adventure.
After checking our bags into our hotel, we spent the afternoon at the National Portrait Gallery where we took in the American Presidents Gallery and many other famous people. I got to see the original painting of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, in a pink silk dress by Edward Hughes.
Later that evening, our program began at National Geographic Headquarters. Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society purchased a small building that eventually morphed into a huge complex of multiple buildings in different styles. It was under construction, and with my eye for the mechanical, I immediately noticed that the giant crane towering above held a yellow rectangle dangling from it. And I took 18 million pictures of it.
At the entrance of the building is a beautiful bronze plaque inlaid in the floor, the official logo of the society. Just wandering around the complex was fascinating. But our destination that night was our opening reception. We heard from lots of people about the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship and how it got started.
Can you see the yellow rectangle?
Day 2
Deb and I were the first teachers there to take in the amazing building once again, get some breakfast, and gather our thoughts before we began an exciting day of learning. We got an overview of life aboard a ship, explored "explorer mindset" with the teacher Kip Hottman who talked about his journey to Antarctica, and learned about citizen science. We also discussed how to share our fellowship with media outlets. We ended the day by having dinner with some other teacher fellows. I was tired but invigorated by all I'd learned!
Day 3
If I had thought that Day 2 was crazy wonderful, Day 3 was 10 times as exciting. We started out hearing an exciting guest speaker, Alex Tait, the official geographer at National Geographic! He discussed the "geographic approach": observation > inquiry > data collection > analysis > visualization > communication > action. He stressed key geographic concepts to think of as we go our expeditions: 1. Place, 2. Pattern, 3. Layers, 4. Scale, and 5. Change through time. The biggest take-away for me from Alex's talk was the importance of STORY in geography. To illustrate this point, he shared storyteller Paul Salopek's "Out of Eden Walk."
After meeting with some fellowship alums to discuss mapping and sharing our expeditions, we heard from Rosemary Martin, the director of educational grants at National Geographic. I took copious notes because I feel as though one day, I want to apply for one!
Last today was a photo boot camp with photographer Alex Daley-Clark. She talked about the five-photo story:
Image 1: Take an establishing shot that introduces the subject.
Image 2: Reveal some detail.
Image 3: Provide emotional context.
Image 4: Add more content.
Image 5: End the story.
Since one of our deliverables with the fellowship is to write a five-photo story, this workshop was extremely helpful. As a professional photographer, she also gave us the following tips:
1. Get CLOSE!
2. Look for the light including silhouettes.
3. Get high or low.
4. Look for patterns and reflections.
5. Fill the frame.
6. Use portrait mode.
7. Go wide - show the vastness of the location.
After this short lecture, Alex had us walk outside and actually take some pictures. Inspired by her tip to study reflections, I took the shot below of the National Geographic building with the sky reflected in its glass doors.
Day 4
In the morning sessions of this day, we got down to the nitty-gritty details about our individual expeditions. We met with our Lindblad experts, many of them either experienced photographers or naturalists. Deb and I met with Kevin Rattue whom we found out later would be our field staff mentor during our time on the expedition. We were thrilled about this news! Kevin has a geology background. Now retired, he spends about half of the year working as a naturalist for Lindblad. He gave us great tips about Edinburgh and many other places that we would be visiting.
In the afternoon, we heard from GTF alums about their impact projects and work with students when they returned from the expeditions. They gave helpful advice on how to engage our students with an "explorer mindset."
The last part of the training introduced the deliverables that we would be required to offer as fellows:
Year 1: The Expedition Experience
1. Storytelling for impact: Choose five photos from the expedition that narrate a powerful and compelling story about illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. (Note to self - gonna be VERY challenging.)
2. Choose a platform to share the expedition experience with your community.
3. Give a short presentation aboard ship about your work as a fellow.
Year 2: Outreach after the Expedition
1. Plan an outreach event that highlights what you learned on the expedition.
2. Choose a leadership role within the fellowship either as a mentor to new fellows or as part of the education program at National Geographic.
Day 5
As I headed home, I was left with a sense of incredible promise. I can't wait to experience this journey with my students and school community. I took this picture during our photo boot camp, and I think it perfectly captures that feeling. The sky is the limit.
