Monday, October 7, 2013
Environmental Writing
I wonder what this scene would look like without the french broom, hemlock, and thistle? Would more water fill this vernal pool? Would this willow change from a tree to a thicket? What plants would fill this space in their stead? And how dense would they grow? What would the animals lose or gain from their removal? Would the spotted towhee lose a place of shelter and refuge? Would the oaks have room to breath and grow mighty? How did we allow this place to change? These conditions to be?
- Michael Mees
Monday, September 30, 2013
ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING Fall 13
23 September 2013
Violet Henderson-Green
Outside the Self Reliant House
After wondering around for five or so moments trying to figure out where I wanted to take a seat and begin writing, I looked up and down the hill reading the signs and taking in the sights until I turned around and spotted a sign that read “Edible Garden”
This is a cool space. Shady, and quiet. I hear the chirping of the birds and I see the scattering of little brow striped spiders as they seam to be investigating why on earth did I choose this spot to plant my butt down and write.
I guess it was the color purple that drew me in along with the green leaves.
The color combination always reminds me of a natural wonder of God’s perfect color combination.
It also makes me think about my name and how two of the most beloved men in my life named me. When I was born my dad named me Violet and when I got married I became Mrs. Green.
I wonder what other natural colorful name combinations there are in the world? How about Heather Blue, Grey Brown, Poppy Red or Golden Tan?
Or why people always seem to take on the characteristic of their names?
When we area not on one accord with nature either we change or the world around us changes. To evolve into something totally different and perfect once again.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
TREE TO SEA; A BAY AREA CROSS SECTION - Spring 2013 Syllabus ENVMT 40 (3 Units) Code 22958
Self-Reliant House (SRH)
Instructor Robin Freeman 510-434-3840 (o) 510-915-1452 (cell), robinf5713@aol.com and/or rfreeman@peralta.edu
NOTE: The field locations may change. Maps and directions will be given at the class meeting before and by email. CHECK BEFOREHAND!!
Monday, 4/1: 6:30 – 9:20 Environmental Center (SRH):
Introductions,
Brief Field walk, Purpose and
methods of the course. Responsible Ecotourism; viewing and visioning a cultural
landscape. Green Infrastructure and the San
Leandro Creek Greenway proposal powerpoint and the Upper Watershed. Gaps, Connecting the Dots and Strategies for
Community involvement. Call for scouts. Continued next week.
HEADWATERS
Sunday, 4/7: 10am Meet at Lake Chabot Park in front of gates by path up to the Dam (Looking at the creek below the dam)
Bring Lunch, Water, Dress For The
Weather (Showers?),Camera (If You Have One), Day Pack
9:30 SRH/Merritt If you need a ride and/or are giving
one.
Merritt College to Chabot Park
From Campus
Drive
Turn left
onto Redwood Road
Turn left
onto Mountain Blvd unmarked at bottom of hill below church and across from shopping
mall
Take the 1st right onto Carson
St Under Freeway (signs for State Hwy 13 N)
Turn left to merge onto CA-13 S/STATE HWY 13 S past 98th
and 106th TOWARD HAYWARD
to 580 4ish miles past to DUTTON AVE/ESTUDILLO
(see below for directions to the park)
MEET 10:00am CHABOT PARK,
SAN LEANDRO
DUTTON AVE/ESTUDILLO go along
frontage/McArthrur to ESTUDILLO LEFT UNDER FREEWAY Uphill from the freeway, Estudillo splits
left off Lake Chabot Rd. at the brown EB Parks Lake Chabot sign
BEAR LEFT ON ESTUDILLO a short
distance through houses BEAR RIGHT at Not a Through Street sign (Sylvan)
which takes you directly across a bridge into CHABOT PARK. Park where you can. Restrooms
Afternoon – scout bike
route in San Leandro TBA
Monday, 4/8: 6:30 – 9:20 (Sunset 7:40) LION CREEK EVENING HIKE
Meet at SRH Environmental
Center Studying the maps . Landscape and land use observations
UPLANDS
Sunday, 4/14: 9:30 am meet at Merritt/ Car shuttle to
10am Lake Chabot Park. Walk to Bort Meadows and Equestrian Center 6 miles minor elevation
change, then 200’ climb at the end. Grass
Valley Creek, Anthony
Chabot Park.
West side upper watershed
Saturday, 4/20:
Earth Day Bike Tour, BBQ and optional volunteer work day.
12:30 PM BBQ & Watershed
Festival. Free BBQ for all Earth Day
participants! Across from 678 Cary Dr. - lot
behind Bancroft Middle School. Park on Bancroft (by Haas Ave.
Bridge) and walk in
1:30 PM BICYCLE RIDE MEET @ Cary Dr BBQ (above) Near S. Leandro BART
Optional volunteer work sites
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Creek Clean Up
Meet at the Starbucks (185 98th
Ave. in Oakland)
10:00 AM– 12:00 PM Cobb Bench
Maintenance at Madison Middle School in Oakland. Meet on 105th Ave
behind the Community Reformed Church at 457 Capistrano Dr., 94603
9:30-11:00 AM Creek Clean Up Root Park E 14th at Hays St. San
Leandro
Sunday, 4/28: Tidewater Center MLK Shoreline San Leandro Creek Canoe Trip low tide 12pm high tide
4:30 TBA
Monday, 4/29: 6:30 – 9:20 Review Field notes,
update field trip sites
Sunday, 5/5: Parkridge Dr. Anthony Chabot to Valle
Vista Staging Area San Leandro Creek
Upper Watershed
Saturday, 5/18: Valle Vista Staging Area to Rancho Laguna
Park
Sunday, 5/19: San Leandro Creek Upper Watershed Southeast area TBA
Monday, 5/20: 6:30 SRH Assemble photography and
field observations
GRADING:
This course may be taken for a letter grade or credit/non-credit (audit). If taken for a letter grade, this course
satisfies requirements for several ENVMT majors. For Credit only; 80% class
attendance is required. For a letter grade attendance, participation, and
assignments are required. For non-credit you may choose your level of
participation.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Most of the work is done in the field where we will record data. The optional
text is the East Bay Watershed Center CD which contains the Intertidal Directory and the Feasibility
Guide. Review these, especially the
“Sample Flowchart” in the beginning of the Intertidal
Directory and the “Summary”, “Study Uses” and “Goals (focusing on
Stakeholders)” in the Feasibility Guide. Our responsible ecotourism assignment will be
to 1) research and coordinate with local creek stakeholders towards supporting
their goals where possible, and 2) enter the data we gather, including photos,
in the East Bay Watershed Directory format, or a format for stakeholder use to
be determined. You may also choose to help scout hike routes.
FIELD
DAY INFORMATION: Each trip will have its own information sheets which will be
handed out either the Monday before or the morning of the trip. NOT ALL FIELD
DAYS MEET AT THE SAME PLACE. Make sure you contact the instructor beforehand if
you do not have the meeting information.
In all cases bring a day pack with your lunch, water, sunscreen, hat,
sunglasses, hiking shoes or boots with lugs (ie not smooth soles except for on
board the boats) camera (optional), any medication you may need, snacks, long
pants and sleeves as needed and appropriate clothing for the weather conditions
including rain. The hikes are moderate to light and usually not more than 5
miles. We will carpool between the start
and ending sites. Some days we will be driving between several sites. R.
Freeman’s emergency cell phone 510-915-1452
80% Attendance or as agreed
|
Photographs
and/or field observations &
help assemble them
|
Scouting
or trip directions
|
A
|
70% Attendance or as agreed
|
Photographs
and/or field observations
|
Scouting
or trip directions
|
B
|
60% Attendance or as agreed
|
Photographs
and/or field observations
|
|
C
|
50% Attendance or as agreed
|
---
|
---
|
D
|
F – suggest you withdraw
|
F
|
Student Learning Objectives
1. 1. 1. . Identify and describe basic
landforms , plant community types, and aquatic system types
|
2. Identify and describe basic land uses
related to sustainability
|
3. Describe
and evaluate the health or sustainable characteristics of a land use system.
|
4. Discuss and document a land
use, restoration or design project with local community members.
|
Students with
Disabilities: Students with
disabilities who wish to receive services and/or accommodations are asked to
submit a form from the Disability Services Program (DSP). Receiving services
and accommodations will not adversely affect your grade. This information will
be kept confidential (FERPA). Please meet with me in private as early in the
semester as possible to discuss your learning needs. If you think that you
could benefit from the services offered by DSP, please contact a counselor in
R-109, 510-436-2429, or go to our College website for more information: www.merritt.edu, click on "Student Services," and
then click on "Disability Services Program."
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
ENVMT 8 - INTRODUCTION TO RANGER/ NATURALIST, OUTDOOR EDUCATION Spring 2013 Syllabus Code: 23597 (3 units)
Thursdays
6:30-9:20PM @ Self Reliant House, Saturdays; Sundays (see field instructions
available before each trip)
Team
Contact: Robin Freeman M.A., 434-3840, rfreeman@peralta.edu 510-915-1452
cell Call or email Robin for office hrs
@ SRH.
Nancy
Ceridwyn, MS, MEd., 415-640-4270, nancyceridwyn@comcast.net
FIELD TIMES AND LOCATIONS MAY CHANGE - CHECK EMAIL
NOTICES OR CHECK WITH ROBIN.
This
course is an overview of nature/culture interpretation and education
including planning for age-, theme- and
place-appropriate presentations for diverse audiences and settings; survey of
park management, planning and community relations.Content will include
resources and employment opportunities in the environmental management field.
Text:
Beck, Larry,
and Cable, Ted
|
Interpretation
for the 21st Century: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and
Culture,
2nd edition
|
Sagamore
Books
|
2002
|
1)
Thursday
2/7. Introduction
Instructors:
Robin Freeman & Nancy Ceridwyn
Introduction
to the Course; Brief introductions of class participants and professional
interests; Discussion about grades, attendance, mini-internships, journals and
presentations either oral or written.
Trail experience: Tour of
Environmental Center and Hilton Trail
ASSIGNMENT:
Please begin a class journal and begin with one of two questions: How is the
natural world part of our community culture or is it? OR What stuck with you
about the evening walk? Text: Purchase. Handout: Syllabus. Bring flashlights,
umbrellas for next week.
2)
Thursday
2/14. Defining the Profession.
Instructors:
Robin Freeman & Nancy Ceridwyn
History
of the profession, How do we define the jobs of ranger, naturalist,
environmental educator as professions and in what arenas do each work?
Trail experience: Leona Canyon
and/or Hilton Trail.
ASSIGNMENT:
Write directions to a local park. Text Reading:
Intro, 1, 3, 4, 7,15
Begin
to think about mini-internship sites.
3)
Sunday
2/17. Elements
of Interpretation: Cultural Interpretation.
Eugene O’Neill’s Tao
House, National Park Service Historic Site.
NPS
staff with Robin Freeman and Nancy Ceridwyn
Presentation
and planning for interpretation of cultural and historic sites.
Meet
at Merritt College at 9:00 am and drive to Danville where we will board the
Park Service van as a group. Bring
lunch, water and hiking gear.
ASSIGNMENT:
Make a rough first draft of the types of mini-internship sites which interest
you. Due Thurs 2/21
4) Thursday 2/21. Engaging Environmental Education: New
Techniques for Learning
Lynn
Barakos and Ken Beals-Lawrence Hall of Science, Better Environmental Education
Teaching, Learning, Expertise and Sharing (BEETLES)
Innovative,
practical strategies for making outdoor science experience more learner-and
discussion-centered.
Way Finding-
Preparing for the Experience
Instructor:
Nancy Ceridwyn/ Robin Freeman
The
importance of thorough directions.
ASSIGNMENT:
Text: Reading:
Chapters 2, 8, 12,13 Handout: Directions
to Big Break Visitor Center DUE: Mini-Internship draft list. Begin arranging
your site. You may ask Robin or Nancy for help.
These often take time to arrange.
4)
Saturday
2/23. 10:00
- 1:00 Elements of Interpretation
Kevin
Damstra, Naturalist, East Bay Regional Park District with Robin Freeman and
Nancy Ceridwyn
Meet
at Merritt College at 9:00 am or meet the group at Big Break Visitors Center @
10:00 am.
What
is interpretation and why do we interpret? Explore the difference between
interpretation and information, techniques, styles, and methods.
Bring
lunch and outdoor clothing
Trail experience: Big Break,
Antioch
ASSIGNMENT:
Journal notes on your impressions of Big Break, developing your style of
interpretation and your thoughts on the presentation content.
6) Thursday 2/28. Organizing Volunteer Programs and First Aid
for Participants
Instructor:
Robin Freeman
Megan
Hess Lilla- Volunteerism and Friends of Sausal Creek
Kate
Freeman: Safety and First Aid
Discuss
Journal assignment
ASSIGNMENT:
Reading Text : 6
7) Thursday 3/7. Who Is the Audience? From Pre-school to Older Adults.
Instructor:
Nancy Ceridwyn Making programs
appropriate for various ages, physical and mental abilities. Matching the
program to the learning styles
ASSIGNMENT:
Reading Text: Chapters 9, 10. Journal:
What audiences do you feel most comfortable with and why?
8) Thursday 3/14. Teaching without Talking: Outdoor Activities;
and Coordinating with Large Park Organizations
Bob
Flasher, Golden Gate Park Conservancy with Robin Freeman
Interactive
outdoor games and interpretive activities make nature more accessible
supplemented with great ranger in-the-field stories.
ASSIGNMENT:
Reading Text: Chapters 11, Handout: Directions to Crab Cove
9) Thursday
3/21.Environmental Writing for Brochures and Panels
Michael
Charnofsky Naturalist, East
Bay Regional
Parks,Robin Freeman
Meet
at Crab Cove Visitors Center, Alameda 6:30.
NOTE: Brief proposal
of interpretive text and activity, or walk/talk ideas/questions/lousy first
draft due
April 4
Reminder:
Mini-internships will be due in less than a month
ASSIGNMENT:
Reading Text: Principles 14. Journal: What were your impressions of Crab Cove
Visitor Center? When has the non-personal
interpretation been most useful for you?
When is it less useful? Handout: Directions to Anthony Chabot Eagle
Campground
**Spring Break – 3/25-3/29
10) Thursday 4/4.
Park Management
Host:
Janet Gomes, Supervising Ranger, East Bay Regional Parks with Jim O’Conner,
Assistant Operations Manager EBRPD, Eric Folmer, TreeWolf Tree Service and
former EBRPD Ranger Union President and Robin Freeman
Meet
at Merritt at 6:30pm and drive to Anthony Chabot Eagle Campground
The
panel will discuss changing views of park maintenance, preservation and
community interaction.
ASSIGNMENT:
Brief proposal of interpretive
text and activity, or walk/talk ideas/questions/lousy first draft due .
Research resources
for planning an interpretive presentation; Due April 18.
11) Thursday 4/11. Experienceology and Story telling
Instructor:
Nancy Ceridwyn
Examine
8 steps to a better visitor experiences at your site. Stories to make your program come alive.
ASSIGNMENT:
Journal: What was your best and worst Park or Museum experience? Why? Handout: Directions to Sunol Regional Park
12) *Saturday 4/13. Interpretive Plans that Work
with Park Activities
Instructor:
Nancy Ceridwyn, Katie Colbert, Naturalist, East Bay Regional Wildrness
Meet
at 9:00 in the Merritt parking lot and drive to Sunol-Ohlone Regional
Wilderness near Pleasanton or at 10 am at the Sunol Green Barn Visitors Center
Interpretive
plans connect the themes of a park with park programs. Participate in two programs generated from
Sunol’s interpretive plans.
ASSIGNMENT: Prepare for April 18 Presentation
13) Thursday 4/18. Class Presentations – potluck.
Present walk/talk/brochure and comment on each
ASSIGNMENT:
Prepare interpretive activities for volunteer program on Saturday
Class
members organize the event
14)
Saturday
4/20.
Class Volunteer Coordination in Action
Instructor:
Robin Freeman
Class
members coordinate volunteers for projects and interpretation of San Leandro
Creek.
GRADES: For a letter
grade (required for Certificate/Degree), reasonable attendance, class participation,
and completion of assignments will be used by students to suggest your own
grade and evaluate the course. If the
course is taken for Credit/non credit only, participation is required for this
option.
Mini-Internships consist of
5-8 hours volunteering at a park, nature center, camp, outdoor class, volunteer
environment clean-up or other venues where interpretation, parks management/maintenance
or outdoor/environmental education takes place.
Reporting back verbally to the class or in writing include the name of your
intern site, the leader who worked with you, date and times and your
impressions if what was most useful to you and what was least useful.
Presentations may be an
interpretation, an environmental
education activity of about 10 minutes, a site management activity or plan, or
a volunteer activity (on Earthday) or designing and writing a brochure or
interpretation panel.
Grading Rubric
|
|||
80% Attendance or as agreed
|
Mini-internship: 5-8 hrs,; report back verbally or
in writing
|
Presentation: oral or written
|
A
|
60%
|
Internship
|
Presentation
|
B
|
50%
|
Internship or Presentation
|
Internship or Presentation
|
C
|
50%
|
---
|
---
|
D
|
F – suggest you withdraw
|
F
|
Students with Disabilities: Students
with disabilities who wish to receive services and/or accommodations are asked
to submit a form from the Disability Services Program (DSP). Receiving services
and accommodations will not adversely affect your grade. This information will
be kept confidential (FERPA). Please meet with me in private as early in the
semester as possible to discuss your learning needs. If you think that you
could benefit from the services offered by DSP, please contact a counselor in
R-109, 510-436-2429, or go to our College website for more information: www.merritt.edu, click on "Student Services," and
then click on "Disability Services Program."
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