Welcome to the Rural STEAM Leadership Network
The Rural STEAM Leadership Network offers diverse virtual and in person opportunities for rural educators to join in and lead statewide conversations about what it means - professionally and personally - to be a rural teacher.
The Network is designed and facilitated by Cristina Trecha.
Scroll Down to See What's Happening for the '24-'25 School Year!
Become a Water Teacher - Learn More Here
Your name, email, school*, location, and grade level are all we need to activate your Water Teachers membership, with immediate access to exclusive films and teaching resources. *Available to individual K-12 classroom teachers and youth educators who provide a district/school/org email account (college and adult educators can opt for a paid membership through Freshwaters Illustrated). Including your mailing address will allow us to send photo prints and art for your classroom! Thank you to active Rural STEAM Leadership Network educator and partner Jim Grano for sharing this opportunity!
NATIONAL Opportunity for Native Youth - Applications for NYCALC 2025 open in December 2024.
View the NYCALC 2025 flyer and the NYCALC 2025 postcard.
OpenThe National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia will host the annual Native Youth Climate Adaptation Leadership Congress (NYCALC) in summer 2025. The mission of NYCALC is to develop future Indigenous conservation leaders with skills, knowledge, and tools to address environmental change to better serve their schools and home communities. The annual congress hosts guest speakers, workshops, a half-day career fair, student service projects, and a rafting trip of the Potomac River. Students will explore culture, tradition, and science to answer a “big question” posed at the beginning of the week and will have the opportunity to apply for a mini grant to make their project ideas a reality following the congress.
Requirements for Indigenous youth groups interested in joining the congress include: have between 3-5 students and accompanying mentor from the community, be rising high school seniors (sophomores and juniors will be considered on a case-by-case basis) and be a part of a federally recognized Native American Tribe or Native American based Indigenous group.
NYCALC 2025 will take place from Saturday, June 21 to Thursday, June 26, 2025.
STATEWIDE:
The Third Year of the Place-Based Rural Learning Collaboratory - Virtual and In Person Opportunities
Funded by the Gray Family Foundation and facilitated by Cristina Trecha
FULL!
Join other rural educators interested in place-based learning who are navigating what it means to learn more deeply about the history of the land and Tribal History/Shared History via the Nine Essential Understandings of Native Americans created by the Nine Federally Recognized Tribes of Oregon and other resources created by and centering Indigenous knowledge and voice.
Register by 10/17 to join and earn a stipend and PDU's by attending:
Seven webinar sessions presented by Indigenous scholars, knowledge holders, and elders via the Four Seasons of Indigenous Learning program that you can watch on your own schedule. This grant funding covers the cost of registration for this series.
Seven interactive 60 minute synchronous Zoom sessions to reflect and process what it means to teach in a place-based way on Native Land. This includes connecting with over 20 other rural Oregon teachers in real time. Thursdays 5-6pm PST: 10/17,11/14,12/12.1/23,2/13,3/13.4/17
OPTIONAL: Museums and school campus field trips that feature regional place-based campus initiatives paired with Tribal museums, parks, and other spaces of interpretation either created by local Tribes or in partnership with them. Examples from recent trips include the Museum at Warm Springs and the Coos History Museum.
'24-'25 Hybrid Learning Facilitator Institutes:
These hybrid professional development opportunities bring together rural teachers to build facilitation and presentation skills to build regional, rural, and relevant profession development by rural teachers for rural teachers. They combine learning together in person and online to prepare participants to facilitate in person and/or online themselves. Facilitated by Cristina Trecha.
Central Oregon - Funded by the Central Oregon STEM Hub
Registration and Information here
Virtual Sessions on Tuesdays 4:00-5:30pm PST: 10/22, 11/19, 1/21, 2/18, 4/15, and 5/20
Two In Person Sessions: 6/16 and 6/17 in Redmond
South Coast - Funded by the Oregon Coast STEM Hub
Registration and Information here
Two in Person Sessions on Saturdays 9-3pm at the OSU Port Orford Field Station 10/26 and 4/12
Virtual Sessions on Tuesdays, from 4pm – 5:30 pm: 12/10, 1/7, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11
North Coast- Funded by the Oregon Coast STEM Hub
Registration and Information here
Two In Person Sessions on Saturdays 9-3pm at the Hatfield Marine Science Center: 11/16 and 4/26
Virtual Sessions on Tuesdays, from 4-5:30 pm: 12/10, 1/7, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11
Community Partner and active network participant Jim Grano from Siuslaw Watershed Council pulls scotch broom with students at North Bay Elementary School on the South Coast.
Rural Lane County High School Teachers from Triangle Lake, Siuslaw, Creswell, and Marcola explore the coastal dune phenomena and ongoing restoration efforts in Florence.
Teachers from Rainier, Oregon and Seaside School District staff stop for a moment to take in the ocean view on a tour of the trails at the new Seaside Middle and High School on the central Oregon Coast.
Featured Rural Education Resources for '24-'25
Tribal History/Shared History (SB 13) Resources A curated collection of diverse resources including videos, websites, articles, podcasts and more (organized by Tribal Nation). Includes links to clarify the ODE compliance requirements.
Learning Facilitation Resources Explore both in person and distance (Zoom-based) facilitation strategies and methods shared in our facilitation training sessions. This work is based on the Oregon Science Project model of rural teachers leading from where they are art both professionally and regionally.
Inclusive Education Guide from ODE (Tribal History/Shared History, Holocaust & Other Genocides, and Ethnic Studies)
Cross-ESD Science Curriculum Adoption Collaborative Website Find resources around the science adoption process and more on this website for all Oregon educators.
Congratulations Jennifer & Ben: Learning Facilitators in Rural Oregon Since 2017
Check Out What We're Reading this Year!
The Art of Ceremony: Voices of Renewal from Indigenous Oregon
CENTRAL OREGON:
Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Practices in STEM in October and December. These sessions provide resources and explorations related to current research on teaching and learning in culturally relevant and sustaining ways specific to STEM teaching. There will be just in time and curriculum-specific support designed to strengthen the participants' connections to each other in a professional learning community.