Winter Issue
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Winter 2018 • Volume 32, Issue 2 F ollowing a great NAI National Conference in New Orleans, in Region 6 territory the Region now sets its sights on Wichita, KS in February. - This newsletter will highlight some of the Region award win ners and takeaways from the National Conference. NAI Region Six Directors Report Jay Miller, Arkansas I loveDecember to plan, set goals and2018 look -881 members last fall to 998 mem- for new passions that allow me to bers at the time of this report; this charge into the New Year. There is amazing news keep, up the great is always room to grow and make work, and welcome to our new a bigger difference to our visitors, members! coworkers, and our resource. I look forward to hearing about your year Take time to plan for future suc- hope this newsletter finds our as we gather in Wichita in a couple cesses, enjoy your resource and I entire membership safe and of months. reinvest in yourself. sound and looking forward to an- other great year! The Regional Workshop in Wich- Do Today Well ita, Kansas in February is looking This time of year caused me to to be a great investment in our Jay look back to celebrate our suc- members. Registration is open and cesses and reevaluate our stumbles. ready for you! Our region continues to grow from Upcoming Workshops and Region 6 Director’s Report 1 Conferences Upcoming Workshops/Conferences 2 Reflecting on Practice: Upcoming Certifications 2 Coaching Workshop Why You Shouldn’t Go 3 vent & advance informal science Bats at the Library 4 Poems by Patience Strong 4 education in Texas. - Region 6ers receive National recognition 5 Join us as we work together to What if? 6 March 5-7, 2019 at the Houston explore ideas, actions and op - How to know you’re a Naturalist 7 State Reports Zoo in Houston, Texas. portunities to reinvent and Arkansas 8 advance informal science educa Louisiana 8 Would you like to improve your tion in Texas, and beyond. Our Missouri 11 Oklahoma 14 educational and interpretive engaging sessions, speakers Texas 15 practice, build a community of and posters reflect the dynamic Kansas 17 practice amongst your colleagues landscape of informal learning and earn NAI Certification CE across our diverse communities hours all at the same time? We’ve and institutions, from programs TM got what you need! and practices, to audiences and - Have an idea for a theme for operations-- and everything in a future issue? We’d love to Reflecting on Practice (RoP) is between. Be part of the conversa hear it! Send your ideas to a professional learning program- tion and experience of ISEA by - [email protected] specifically designed to build participating in and sharing your your understanding of, experi own stories of resilience, rebuild ences with, and integration of ing and risk-taking! best practices in informal STEM and environmental learning Conference highlights include: Upcoming environments. It is applicable to- • Hands-on and Minds-on pre- Certifications in cultural and historical settings as conference workshops (February Region Six: well. This modular program ex - 20th) Certified Interpretive Guide plores core concepts of teaching • On-campus lodging at Camp Courses and learning and activates strate Aranzazu gies for improving individual and •Keynote Speaker: Dr. Carolyn - team educational practice.TM - Kinney a writer, performer and cultural geographer deeply inter- January 15-18, 2019 | Odem, TX Reflecting on Practice is part ested in issues related to identity, Nueces Delta Preserve nered with the Association of difference, creativity, and resil Zoos and Aquariums, National ience. January 29 - February 6, 2019 | Association for Interpretation, •Keynote Speaker: Betty Siegel Dallas, TX and the Association of Science- an expert on topics related to Dallas Zoo Technology Centers. disability rights, compliance with- http://missionaransas.org/ disability laws and regulations February 8-11, 2019 | Little Rock, Toreflection-practice learn more and register please and accessibility to cultural pro - AR visit: grams and venues. - Witt Stephens Jr. Central Informal Science. Education •Option of “all inclusive” registra Arkansas Nature Center Association (ISEA)-Texas tion—lodging, meals and confer Annual Conference ence registration for one price- April 1-4, 2019 | Tulsa, OK CertifiedOxley InterpretiveNature Center Host Learn more about the confer Courses ence, including https://texasinfor how to register,- February 20-22, 2019 at Camp bymalscience.org/annual-confer visiting the ISEA conference- Aranzazu in Rockport, Texas webpage:ence/ - March 1-2, 2019 | Tulsa, OK “Resiliency, Rebuilding and Risk- Oxley Nature Center WinterTaking: 2018 Working together to •rein Volume 32, Issue 2 • Page 2 NAI National Conference: by Lyndzee Rhine,Why Naturalist You Shouldn’t Go Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, KS - ave you ever walked into a how I felt. I learned a lot along • Find free stuff at expos dis room full of strangers and the way, like maybe the national gusting suddenly felt like you’ve finally conference isn’t for everyone. • Scowl at those who have found your people, even though I’ve put together a short list of similar interests as you you haven’t met any of them yet? reasons you (maybe) shouldn’t • Are happy being stagnant in H - attend. your field As a first-year member of NAI • Feel exploring new places and first time national confer You should not go to a national (and eating fantastic food) isn’t ence attendee, that’s exactly conference if you: your oyster • You prefer finding inspiration on the back of a cereal box If you find yourself agreeing with any of those, you probably shouldn’t attend the conference in Denver next year, but maybe being A Mile High will help. 2019 NAI National Conference Editor’s Note:November 12-16, 2019 Denver, Colorado Winter 2018 • Volume 32, Issue 2 • Page 3 Bats at theA bookLibrary by Brian Lies (book review by Janet Price) ne evening, a worker left - swimming pool”). A library has thousands of doors,- a window cracked at the each opening into another time, library, and bats “squeezed to Then … it’s storytime. “Distant another world. Bats at the Li gether, wing to wing,” to “rocket voices...pull us in”, until everyone brary will make you want to open Othrough the opening” for bat “lives inside a book instead of the door to a new universe inside night at the library! simply hearing something read”. our head. Which door will you choose? At least that’s the way Brian Lies Bats at the Library speaks to the tells it in his children’s book Bats power of books. A good book Interpreters are like libraries. at the Library. Brian wrote a fun draws you in, stimulates your - We offer the key to doors leading story encouraging kids to read, imagination, makes you a part of to new worlds, new ideas. Our filling every page with intriguing the story. In a book, you live his visitors won’t open them all. We drawings. tory, travel the world and expose can’t force them to walk through your mind to new ideas. those doors. But as facilitators,- Here, bats “race together toward we provide them the opportunity. our favorite place”. Some “study But the night is short. “Lost We can stimulate their imagina guides to fancy foods” (i.e. field - within the tale, no one sees the tion, and help them want to look guide to moths). The youngest sky grow pale.” Readers fly off at something in a new way. We keep busy at first “shaping shad to “dream of things we’ve read, a make them a part of the story of ows on the wall”, and splash in universe inside each head.” life. Poemsthe water fountain by (a Patience“splendid Strong Submitted by George Kastler Welcome true, and the best be granted you Someday you will see them . glowing – “Welcome” is a lovely word. It Good friends to your door be means so many things – sent, and your heart be well growing from the hidden seeds. the warmth of human friendship content with what the day may and the pleasure that it brings; leave behind. Take a little time to ponder – true greetings of the kindly TimeTake be good A andLittle Life Timebe kind. hearts who share what they what is in your secret heart – possess; the cherry hearth, the cosy home Take a little time to – and joy and happiness , , , Take a little time for seeing – wonder – For hospitality does not depend grass and blooms with dew upon our store. impearled – in the silence set apart . Take a It’s what we mean by “Welcome” little time for living – when our friends are at the door. Take a little time for being – The Happy Day busy though your day may be – Quiet in your own small world . Take a little time for sowing – Take a little time for giving – Let this be a happy day – all the while and all the way. flowers amongst life’s many happiness to somebody. May the dearest dream come weeds – Winter 2018 • Volume 32, Issue 2 • Page 4 Region Six-ers receive National recognition NAI Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer Robert Pecoraro - (Historic Daniel Boone Home, St. Charles, MO) - For 39 years Robert Pecoraro, CIG, has been a tireless volunteer donating thousands of hours to serve as an advocate for his torical and cultural preservation. As a volunteer at the Historic- Daniel Boone Home, Robert brings the legacy of Daniel Boone to life. Robert interprets this era through the portrayal of John Fil son, a Revolutionary War veteran, surveyor, and the first official- historian for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. John Filson was the first biographer of Daniel Boone, and the only one to have actu ally met Daniel Boone.