Teaching The Hudson Valley

Placed-Based Education Pioneer David Sobel To Keynote 2010 Institute

For Release June 24, 2010

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Debi Duke
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Hyde Park, NY – Area educators are invited to discover new ways to use the region's special places to teach all disciplines and grade levels at Reading, Writing, & Thinking the Hudson Valley.

THV's 8th annual summer institute will be held July 27-29 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Presidential Library in Hyde Park with participants choosing one of five off-site experiences on Day 2.

More than 20 workshops will connect educators with artists, historians, writers, and scientists, as well as their colleagues from schools, parks, and historic sites throughout the Valley.

This year's keynote address, "PLACE-BASED EDUCATION: Making School More Like A Farmer's Market," will be delivered by David Sobel, co-director of the Center for Place-Based Education, Antioch University New England.

"Teaching doesn't have to be limited by textbooks that crowd out real-life experiences," said Sobel. "Place-based education is a response to the alienation of schools from community. Let's bring education back into the neighborhood. Let's get the town engineers, farmers, museum curators, mayors, historic site interpreters, and environmental educators onto the schoolyard and inside the four walls of the schools."

Day 2 of the institute will be dedicated to in-depth field experiences where educators can learn about teaching the Hudson Valley at the following sites:

ALBANY COUNTY - Albany Heritage Area Visitor's Center, Albany Institute of History & Art, Crailo State Historic Site and Historic Cherry Hill
DUTCHESS COUNTY - Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook
ULSTER COUNTY - Mohonk Preserve, Gardiner
WESTCHESTER COUNTY - Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills (pictured above)
COLUMBIA COUNTY - Olana State Historic Site, Hudson

Photo by Bill Urbin, National Park Service: Student at Roosevelt Farm Festival.

"Field experiences opened up a whole new world to attendees last year so we are excited to bring them back again in 2010," said Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Acting Director Mark Castiglione. "I thank our destination partners for developing these special and valuable opportunities for institute attendees."

"The summer institute is where the magic of place-based education begins," added Sarah Olson, superintendent of the National Park Service's Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites. "I love watching the creative sparks fly when passionate educators come together to discover the rich, collaborative teaching opportunities all around them. This year's diverse presenters are sure to invigorate the teaching of all who attend."

Institute workshops run the gamut of grades and include subjects such as "Science, Surfing and Salamanders," "Don't Forget Eleanor," "Using Your Schoolyard for Reading and Writing," "How we Found Trails to Freedom in the Hudson Valley," "Student Scientists Aboard the Half Moon," and "Escape the Mob." Download detailed workshop descriptions (pdf/123kb).

While the institute is developed with teachers and site educators in mind, anyone interested in Hudson Valley culture, ecosystems, or history is welcome. Affordable registration is now open. For more information visit www.teachingthehudsonvalley.org/summer2010.

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About Us Launched in 2003, Teaching the Hudson Valley (THV) helps educators discover, appreciate, and share the region’s natural, historic and cultural treasures with children and youth. THV fosters collaboration among schools, museums, parks, historic sites, art galleries, libraries, and other groups.

THV’s growing collection of free K-12 lesson plans uses significant Valley sites to teach virtually all subjects. Our grant programs make it easier for teachers to get students out of the classroom and into the community. In addition, our summer institute and other programming offer rare opportunities for school and informal educators to meet and exchange ideas.

THV is a program of the National Park Service/Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation's Hudson River Estuary Program, & the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College. Additional sponsors of this year's institute include the Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial; Barnabas McHenry, chair, Hudson River Valley Greenway Council; the Mid-Hudson Teacher Center, & the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt Historical Association.