Meet MEEA's Educator of the Year: Lewiston High Teacher Laurie Haines

Monika Thiele and Lauire Haines

"Q and A With

MEEA Educator of the Year- Laurie Haines" 

As a public school teacher who is passionate about environmental education, I find it is always inspiring to meet other teachers in Maine who share this common passion.  When you meet Laurie her passion for all things natural and teaching others about the natural world becomes quickly apparent.  Laurie practically bubbles over with excitement when asked to talk about her views on EE and the work she has been doing with her students at colleagues at Lewiston High School.  The following article is an interview I did with Laurie after she received MEEA's Eberhard Thiele Environmental Educator of the Year Award this April.  I hope you enjoy hearing about Laurie's work and that it inspires you to get your kids outside learning!...

~Olivia Griset

Q: "How long have you been teaching?"

A: "18 years... 11 at Lewiston High School"

Q: "What motivates you to be a public school teacher involved with Environmental Education in the State of Maine?"

A: "I think EE is the most important subject matter that we have to teach students. If we don't have any kind of stewardship what else is important? Any where you can put any bits and pieces of EE in your teaching you will be successful... kids spend so much time indoors and not exposed to nature; exposing kids to the environment is really cool and the most important thing you can do."

Q: "What is your favorite outdoor project you do with your students?"  

A: "We take our students on one field trip a year (all we can afford) to a forest away from campus and they explore and see some really big trees- some of which they have never seen before.  We do all sorts of fun things- measuring trees, finding fungus, writing poetry, opening their eyes to the beauty and complexity of nature.  Many of the inner city kids where I work have never been to a forest in their lives. Seeing kids for the first time realizing that a forest is a neat place to be and it is important to keep healthy and is a vibrant and useful part of city is an amazing experience."

Q: "What keeps you motivated to do the all the extra work to help other teachers learn how to get their kids learning outside?   

A: "I think if teachers don't go outside they don't have the experiences to take their students outdoors for learning.  Until you take your kids out you haven't experienced fully what you can in education seeing the joy and wonderment on their faces.... this is such an important facet of education.  When working with other teachers I have seen their fear about teaching outside.  I realize I need to help other teachers get comfortable working in the outdoors with their students... I think it is really important to get other teachers to understand what they need to do to be successful getting their students outdoors."

Q: "How have you seen teaching and learning outside impact your students?"

 A: "There are so many stories of this... I will just share one.  I have kids do poetry and haiku outside... having students doing the haiku and reading them and finding how much beauty the kids see in the forest to me is the most special experience.  They write a haiku for what season we are in and it is descriptive of what they see and how they feel and that is very unique. If I have time we do it right when we are in the woods.  They sit down anyplace in the forest and write; it is important that they are out in nature seeing it as they write about it.  The poems reflect how experiencing nature has impacted my students."

Q: "What advice would you give to a teacher just starting out with environmental education?"

 A: "Don't' be afraid to try new things-more than anything- there is so much out there- so many resources! Always be looking for something new to add and see what works. If you try something and it fails then tweak it and try it again. Make environmental stewardship key to some portion of what you teach and try to have the kids become stewards of something...

Start small, then keep adding and changing and be versatile, don't be afraid to change course- go with your strengths and branch out from there."

Q: "When not teaching, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?"

 A: "I love the outside- gardening, kayaking, hiking in the forest and photography... I have a photography website that I have created called mainenaturediary.com- check it out!"

Q: "Any final thoughts for our readers?"

A: "You don't have to teach an environmental science course to do environmental education and outdoor work in school... it applies in any course and to any grade level! Nature and stewardship can apply and augment any topic of study- so take a risk and try something new with your students- you won't regret it!"