Teaching About Bird Life

By Outdoor Learning School & Store

Join us for this FREE inspiring and practical virtual workshop to learn how we can teach about birds using a variety of tools, techniques, and technology.

Birds can be found in all learning environments, rural or urban. Join our panel of knowledgeable presenters who will share resources, both analogue and digital, for learning about birds in formal or informal education spaces. This workshop will also highlight the work of Joseph Pitawanakwat, Andrés Jiménez and Junaid Khan to support the regathering and the education of Anishinaabe bird names and significant Indigenous bird knowledge. Included in this are their Anishinaabe Bird Names Nature Guide and Anishinaabe Winter Bird Names Nature Guide.

All registrants will receive:

• Access the recording, in case you can’t join us live
• Access a Certificate of Attendance
• Entry for some great prizes!

Offered in partnership with Take Me Outside. Please email [email protected] to let us know if there are any accessibility barriers you face to being included or participating in this workshop, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Educators who will be presenting:

• Julie Read is an outdoor educator, elementary school teacher, Forest and Nature School practitioner and enthusiastic naturalist with over 15 years of leadership experience within non-profit organizations. Julie created the Fanshawe Nature School while working as the Community Education Supervisor for the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and has previously worked as Community Programs Coordinator at the High Park Nature Centre in Toronto and as Program Manager at The Guelph Outdoor School. She loves helping people of all ages connect to nature and is deeply passionate about social justice, removing barriers and increasing equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in outdoor learning. Julie also leads birding walks at the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO)’s Birding with Pride annual event and is a hike leader for the Festival of Birds at Point Pelee National Park, home of Caldwell First Nation. In addition, she is a Director-at-Large with The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO).
• Junaid Shahzad Khan is a Muslim-Canadian from the Indus Valley, from the region that is now Pakistan. Junaid has worked as an ecologist for over 12 years, on issues of invasive species, plastic pollution, habitat revitalization, insect conservation, and bird education. Over the past four years, Junaid has committed himself to the understanding of ecologies within Indigenous cultures. Through the ongoing learning of Anishinaabemowin, and working alongside community members looking to rejuvenate Anishinaabek cultural practices, he hopes to help support efforts towards Indigenous land sovereignty across Turtle Island. Check out these Anishinaabe Resources & Learning Opportunities.
• Marisa Saelzler is a lifelong learner! One of her many interests includes exploring the intersection of literacy, technology, coding and nature. You will find her in the elementary school classroom joyfully learning alongside students or in class at the Ohio State University working on her PhD. Marisa has worked at Cornell Lab of Ornithology as the Teacher in Residence and at Hog Island Audubon Camp as an instructor. She was awarded the Excellence in STEM Teaching Award for the State of Ohio. She loves to go on family adventures with her husband, Mark, and their two daughters, Maizy and Marcella!