Teachers on tour

In the next two weeks or so, most Oregon schools will release students for the summer. For many kids, the summer provides a much needed break from the classroom. There really is nothing like Oregon in the summer. Having lived in New England, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, I can tell you that I would take a beautiful summer day in Oregon over any of the best that these three places have to offer.  

 

Just because the kids are out of school, that doesn’t mean that teachers are off for the summer as well. Many teachers use the summer months for professional development, including continuing education, workshops and conferences.

 

As a leading natural resources education organization, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute takes advantage of teacher availability in the summer to organize an annual high school teacher tour. At the end of June, OFRI will host thirty high school teachers from across the state on a two-day tour with the goal of increasing teacher knowledge of mass timber construction.  

 

The teachers will tour mass timber buildings in the Portland area, visit the World Forestry Center, and learn about mass timber manufacturing, design and construction during educational sessions at Mt. Hood Community College. This tour is part of OFRI’s broader effort around the development and support of career technical education (CTE) programs and ensuring strong linkages between these programs and Oregon’s network of community colleges.  

 

These teachers don’t have to devote two days of their summer to learning, but they do so because they care about the students in their programs and want to be able to set them on a path for success. At OFRI, we look forward to this opportunity every year, and this year is no different. We are eager to spend time with these high school teachers and learn as much from them as they learn from us.

 

For the forest,

 

Erin Isselmann

Executive Director