Environmental Literature Institute at Exeter

Join us for the 5^th annual Environmental Literature Institute at Exeter!

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I invite you to join us for the fifth annual Environmental Literature Institute at Phillips Exeter Academy. ELI is a transformative experience that will expand your thinking about environmental education and revitalize your work with students and colleagues. This week-long teacher training institute aims to cultivate a community of educators interested in environmentally-focused teaching and learning. Throughout the week, we will emphasize how the methods and approaches of disciplines in the humanities, including English, Language Arts, Foreign Language Study, History, and Philosophy, can enhance environmental learning. The various workshops, speakers, and events will offer rich ideas for teachers in all disciplines, including the natural and social sciences.

I’m pleased to announce that ELI 2020 will feature a Keynote Address and workshop by renowned ornithologist and environmental writer Dr. Drew Lanham. We are also extremely excited to announce that we’ll be joined by Dr. Renee Lertzman whose innovative work will help us develop strategies for navigating the emotional contours of teaching and learning about climate change.  ELI 2020 will also feature workshops by the ELI Leadership Team, Jason BreMiller (Phillips Exeter), Dr. Stephen Siperstein (Choate Rosemary Hall), and Dr. Susee Witt (San Francisco University High School).

I hope you will consider joining us for your professional development work this summer. I can say without hesitation that working with this community of teachers has been the highlight of my professional career. The work this community is doing in the realm of environmental education feels important, deep, and relevant. For many of our leaders and participants, ELI has become an intellectual home, and I know I speak for the ELI Leadership team when I say that I hope it will become yours, too.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email or cell. In the meantime, for a detailed glimpse of what we’ve been up to the past four summers, please see Michael Brosnan’s blog piece about ELI 2017 and our ALSE news pieces from ELI 2019, ELI 2018, ELI 2017, and ELI 2016.  Additionally, participant feedback from past ELI’s will help provide a sense of what the program has been like for the attending teachers.

Sincerely, Jason BreMiller, ELI Director

jbremiller@exeter.edu

(845) 705-4453

2020 Leadership Team

Jason BreMiller, ELI Director, Phillips Exeter Academy

Dr. Stephen Siperstein, ELI Co-Leader, Choate Rosemary Hall

Dr. Susee Witt, ELI Co-Leader, San Francisco University High School

Dr. Rochelle Johnson, ELI Advisory Board Member, College of Idaho

Dr. Mark Long, ELI Advisory Board Member, Keene State College

Dr. Annie Merrill, ELI Advisory Board Member, Davidson College

ELI is open to any middle, secondary, or post-secondary educator. While ELI signals an English-specific approach, it is a professional development experience inclusive of all educational contexts, forms, and disciplines. In the past, we have welcomed teachers from English, Science, Art, Foreign Language, and History Departments. We also welcome Administrators, Sustainability Coordinators, and Outdoor Educators. We believe the experience is enriched by these multi-disciplinary encounters. In order to enhance cross-disciplinary and intra-institutional dialogue, some schools have elected to send multiple colleagues from the same school, including colleagues from various departments. In past years, some of the courses represented by ELI attendees have included:

• Traditional Literature, Art, Writing, History, and Science courses
• Collaborative and Interdisciplinary courses
• Experiential Place-based courses
• Project-Based, Design Thinking, or Applied Learning courses
• Service Learning courses
• Field-based courses

ELI is fortunate to have the support of ASLE (The Association of Literature and the Environment), ORION Magazine, Milkweed Editions, The Hopper, and Allagash Brewing Company. In addition to the standard items covered in the registration fee (see General Information), ELI participants will enjoy the following items to enhance their immersion in the environmental humanities:

Two-Year ASLE Membership that includes:

• Access to the online ASLE Member Community, where you can join existing discussion groups, establish new groups, begin or respond to topical threads, or search for member interests and expertise using the ASLE Member Directory
• Four issues per year of ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment) Journal
• E-updates on the latest news published at our website
• Conference, grant, and publication award opportunities
• Discount on new or renewed subscriptions to ORION Magazine
• Discount on titles from Ashgate Publishers
• A copy of Teaching North American Environmental Literature

One-year membership to ORION magazine that includes:

• ORION Magazine
• Texts from ORION’s Nature Literacy Series

Copy of The Hopper magazine

Selected texts from Milkweed Editions

Previous selections have included Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, Gary Paul Nabhan’s Cross-Pollinations, Amy Leach’s Things That Are; Drew Lanham’s The Home Place.

Middle Schools

• Cambridge Montessori School, MA
• Harpeth Hall, TN
• Howitt Middle School, NY
• Saco Middle School, ME
• Shore Country Day, MA
• The Westminster Schools, GA

Secondary Schools

• The Athenian School, Danville, CA
• Belmont Hill School, Belmont, MA
• The Branson School, Ross, CA
• Breck School, MN
• Burr and Burton Mountain Campus, VT
• Cate School, CA
• Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall School, MA
• Chatham Hall, VA
• Deerfield Academy, MA
• Dublin School, NH
• Emma Willard School, NY
• Exeter High School, Exeter, NH
• Friend’s Central School, PA
• Heronfield Academy, NH
• Iolani School, Honolulu, HI
• Loomis Chaffee, CT
• Millbrook School, Millbrook, NY
• Miss Hall’s School, MA
• Morristown Beard School, NJ
• Morrison R. Waite High School, OH
• New Mexico School for the Arts, Sante Fe, NM
• National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), WY
• Northfield Mount Hermon, Mount Hermon, MA
• Northwest School, WA
• OneStone Lab School, ID
• Oyster River High School, NH
• The Pennington School, NJ
• Pingree School, South Hamilton MA
• Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
• San Francisco University High School, CA
• Sky Valley Education Center, WA
• Southridge School, British Columbia, Canada
• Spence School, NY
• St. Anne’s-Belfield School, VA
• Swiss Semester, Switzerland
• Tower Hill School, DE
• Union-Endicott High School, NY
• University School of Milwaukee, WI
• Vail Mountain School, Vail, CO
• Vermont Commons School, South Burlington, VT
• Webb Schools, CA
• Worcester Academy, Worcester, MA
• The York School, Toronto, Canada

Colleges

• Colby-Sawyer College, NH
• Exeter College, UK
• Graceland University, IA
• University of Miami, FL
• Penn State Wilkes-Barre, PA
• University of Oregon, OR