Barbara Gowan is an Arizona children's book writer who attended the April 2009 nature writers' workshop presented by RTPI and the Highlights Foundation at Boyds Mills, PA. We're pleased to pass along this report affirming the value of this wonderful collaboration. Barbara says,
"I presented two sessions of my seminar, Sharing Nature through Picture Books, to 50 educators yesterday and it was very well received. They loved learning how to use the hand lens and discovering nature treasures in the "wonder bucket" that I filled with shells, flowers, rocks, etc. Nearly everyone commented that they would like to introduce their students to nature journalling. I included info on the naturalist intelligence, nature deprivation of our kids today and a bibliography of some of my favorite nature books - many actually feature nature journals as part of the text or illustrations. I paired Sarah Campbell's Wolfsnail with the fiction Snail's Spell by Joanne Ryder and the idea of fiction/non-fiction pairs was a hit for many teachers. I even wore my Highlights nametag. It was great to get back to my roots and to share the importance of nature with these educators from rural Arizona. Thanks, again, for all you did to make the workshop inspire me to focus on sharing nature through my writing and professional development seminars."
Thank you, Barbara, for multiplying the effect of RTPI's mission to promote nature-based teaching and learning! Please visit Barbara online at www.BarbaraGowan.com
