Janet Altobello
altobello@harriscenter.org
Janet’s love of the outdoors began as a young child in the aromatic white pine-rhododendron forests and blueberry swamps of northeastern Pennsylvania. She declared “outdoor therapy” as her career path at age 18, and has been honing her craft for over 40 years: as a science teacher in Fort Morgan, CO and Damariscotta, ME; as a writer of curriculum for the National Geographic Society and the National Gardening Association; as an instructor at Antioch University New England; and as a Harris Center naturalist, where she’s been exploring the wild edges of schoolyards with students and teachers in the Monadnock Region since 1989.
Janet holds a BS in middle school science teaching and outdoor education from the University of Northern Colorado and an MST from Antioch New England.
Janet’s favorite places for her own renewal are in the garden, on alpine and subalpine ridges, and in Muscongus Bay, ME. She is currently jazzed about renewing her practice of Slow Birding as we enter winter with our familiar winter avian friends.
Patti Bailie
patti.bailie@maine.edu
Patti Bailie is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Maine at Farmington. She was also the Assistant Director of the Nature-based Early Childhood Certificate Program at Antioch University New England, teaching the first course offered, Nature-based Early Childhood Curriculum. She has worked in the field of early childhood environmental education for 30 years at three different nature centers in the Midwest: as founding director of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Preschool in Milwaukee, WI, Co-Director of the Early Childhood Outdoors Institute at the Fontenelle Nature Association in Omaha, NE, and as an early childhood environmental educator at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes in Cleveland, OH. Patti contributed two chapters about nature preschools to David Sobel’s book Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: The Handbook for Outdoor Learning. She also wrote an outdoor learning curriculum for the PreK for ME public preschool curriculum developed by the Maine Department of Education and was part of the writing team for the Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook. She serves on several advisory boards including as steering committee member for the Nature Based Education Consortium in Maine and the Council on Nature and Forest Preschools for the Natural Start Alliance. She enjoys kayaking, snowshoeing and skiing in Maine, where she lives with her husband.
Paul Bocko
pbocko@antioch.edu
Paul Bocko is a faculty member in the Education Department at Antioch University New England (AUNE). Specific roles include Concentration Director for Place-based Education and Educating for Sustainability, Director of the Antioch Center for School Renewal (ACSR), Project Manager for the Horatio Colony Nature Preserve in Keene, NH. He is a graduate of AUNE and a doctoral candidate in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Extensive experience and skills for offering nature- and place-based learning professional development: Experienced naturalist, land manager, instructor of integrating the natural, cultural, and built environment with teaching and learning. Most recently, Paul has taught Ecology of Imagination, a graduate course that engages pre-service and practicing teachers in using their own and children's imagination to inspire meaningful writing with Pre-K to grade 6 students. Ecology of Imagination can readily be adapted into a professional development series for practicing teachers. Participants in this learning experience write their own stories that reconnect them to nature and inspire them to create the same type of experience for their young students.
Amy Butler
amy@northbranchnaturecenter.org
Amy Butler is the teaching assistant for the Risk Management for Early Childhood in the NbEC Certificate program at Antioch New England. She is the Director of Education at North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, VT and has been connecting adults and children with the natural world for more than 20 years. She founded Vermont’s first forest preschool and has nurtured its growth to serve the needs of local children and their families. In 2010, Amy founded ECO (Educating Children Outdoors), a standards-based nature immersion program that serves nine public schools in the central Vermont area. Each week Amy and her team facilitate outdoor learning with students and support teachers in extending their classrooms into the outdoors.
Cheryl Charles, Ph.D.
ccharles@antioch.edu
Cheryl Charles, is an experienced educator, author, consultant and widely-sought speaker, recognized as one of the leaders of the worldwide movement to reconnect children with nature. She is the Co-Founder, President and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network. Cheryl is founding Executive Director of the Nature Based Leadership Institute at Antioch University New England (AUNE) and adjunct faculty, teaching the course “Nature-Based Leadership.” Cheryl was founding national director of both Project Learning Tree and Project WILD, K – 12 environment education programs. Cheryl is author, editor and designer of a wide variety of evidence-based publications including books, articles, and educational materials. Cheryl has given hundreds of public presentations including scores of keynote addresses; and has facilitated a wide variety of civic, business and educational meetings on a range of topics from developing community leadership to leading the worldwide effort to reconnect children with nature.
Ellen Doris, Ed.D.
edoris@antioch.edu
Ellen Doris directs the Nature-based Early Childhood Certificate program at Antioch New England. She teaches the Natural History for Early Childhood course and has taught Working with Parents and Communities. Her bachelor’s degree is from Cornell and her EdD is from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Ellen has served as an early childhood and elementary teacher and administrator, consultant, and museum and outdoor educator. Her books include Doing What Scientists Do, a landmark book in science education for the early grades, Life at the Top: Discoveries in a Tropical Forest Canopy and the Real Kids, Real Science books series which includes Woods, Ponds and Fields, Entomology, Meet the Arthropods and others.
Kit Harrington
kit.harrington@ymail.com
Kit is the co-founder of one of the country's first urban outdoor preschools, the Fiddleheads Forest School at the University of Washington. In 2015, Kit founded the Washington Nature Preschool Association to support the regional growth of nature-based early childhood education and successfully advocated for the passage of the first licensing regulations for outdoor preschools in North America. Today, she continues her work to support the field as a member of the leadership team for the Council on Nature and Forest Preschools. Kit was part of the writing team that crafted the Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook, and is now the Policy and Professional Training Coordinator for the Natural Start Alliance, helping improve equitable access to nature-based early learning experiences and develop meaningful supports for educators around the country.
Liza Lowe, M.Ed.
elowe@antioch.edu
Liza Lowe teaches the Working with Families and Communities course in the NbEC Certificate program at Antioch New England. She earned her BA in Environmental Studies and Psychology from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota and received her teaching certificate and MEd in Early Childhood Education with an Environmental Education concentration from Antioch University New England. For over ten years Liza taught children of all ages through outdoor, environmental education in Maryland, Michigan, and Vermont before founding Wild Roots Nature School, a nature-based preschool/kindergarten in New Hampshire in 2013. In 2016 she was awarded the Environmental Educator of the Year award. Liza enjoys supporting teachers in the important work of engaging children with nature and outdoor learning.
Eliza Minnucci, M.Ed.
eminnucci@antioch.edu
Eliza Minnucci teaches the Nature-based Early Childhood Curriculum course in the NbEC Certificate program at Antioch New England. She was raised in Deerfield, New Hampshire and now makes her home in Tunbridge, Vermont with her husband, Keith and two sons. Before teaching kindergarten in Quechee, Vermont, she taught young children in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, Chicago, Seattle and Fort Yukon, Alaska. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, teacher certification from the Upper Valley Educators Institute and a master’s degree from New England College. On hiatus from the classroom, she supports teachers in cultivating nature-based play and learning for their students through her Forest Kinder consulting program. She is the co-author of A Forest Days Handbook: Program Design for School Days Outside. She loves snow-rollers, jack-in-the-pulpits and indigo buntings.
David Sobel
Professor Emeritus, Antioch University New England
dsobel@antioch.edu
David Sobel is the founder of the Nature-based Early Childhood Certificate program at Antioch New England. He consults and speaks widely on child development and place-based education with schools, environmental organizations and the National Park Service. He has authored eight books and more than 70 articles focused on children and nature for educators, parents, environmentalists and school administrators. Titles include Beyond Ecophobia, Place-based Education, Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators, and Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens. He was recognized as one of the Daring Dozen educational leaders in the United States in 2007 by Edutopia magazine. He lives in the Monadnock Region of southwestern New Hampshire and is committed to cold water swimming, the exploration of landscape nooks and crannies and to joyfully embracing the gift of life on earth.
Anne Stires, M.Ed.
astires@antioch.edu
Anne Stires teaches the Risk Management for Early Childhood, Teaching in Winter, and Business courses in the NbEC Certificate program at Antioch New England. She is the founder and former director of the unique Juniper Hill School for Place-based Education, in Alna, Maine. Anne has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and English from Hamilton College in New York and a master’s degree in Education from Antioch University New England. While pursuing her education, she worked at several local marine and environmental stewardship programs, local public schools, and private childcare centers. She also directed a professional development program for Maine educators through the Quebec-Labrador Foundation's Marine Program. Anne is one of the contributing authors to Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: The Handbook for Outdoor Learning by David Sobel. In addition to speaking at workshops and conferences dedicated to outdoor learning, Anne is now Juniper Hill School's Director of Development, Outreach, and Advocacy, so she teaches and consults with schools across the country.
Meg Teachout
megteachout@gmail.com
Meghan Teachout was raised in the suburbs of New York City and now is settled in Strafford, Vermont with her husband, Cabot and their three children. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and completed teacher training at the Upper Valley Educators Institute. With Eliza, she co-founded the Forest Day program at the Ottauquechee School in 2013. She now supports teachers in cultivating nature-based routines by team-teaching, and leading professional learning communities. She is the co-author of A Forest Days Handbook: Program Design for School Days Outside. She loves spring ephemerals, cloud watching and snowflake shapes.
