The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:41 p.m. by Tim Scharks in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.
Present: President Tim Scharks of Green River Community College (GRCC), Vice-President Meghan Hoyer of St. Philomena School [arrived at 6:56 p.m.], Treasurer Heidi Morgan of the National Geographic Society's (NGS) Grosvenor Council, Secretary Richard Kennedy of the NGS's Grosvenor Council, and Director Pat LeRoy of St. Francis of Assisi School.
A motion to approve the draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of September 1, 2009 was made by Tim and seconded by Pat. The motion passed unanimously.
Tim completed the Puyallup Fair staffing schedule on September 8. He emailed Meghan that the dimensions of the Washington State Giant Map are 22 feet high by 32 feet wide and it weights 80 pounds. GRCC was unable to print B&W copies of our three-fold brochure in time for the Puyallup Fair. The survey of last year's Summer Institute attendees and a report on this year's Summer Institute are on tonight's agenda. Tim emailed the board a list of names and addresses of persons to be invited to join the WGA Board and/or Steering Committee on October 5. The NCGE Annual Convention is on tonight's agenda. Tim has yet to print the names of each giant map on their reverse. He invited attendees of our NGS Live! reception to join the WGA. Tim has yet to write institutions that do not grant credit for AP Geography asking them to do so. The search for our new institutional host is on tonight's agenda. The 2009-2010 NGEF Program Grant was submitted on September 13. Tim has yet to contact George Scarola of the League of Education Voters to request their support for the WGA endowment. Tim has yet to schedule meetings to discuss endowment funding with Judy Hartmann, Executive Policy Advisor for K-12 Education.
Pat's planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map are tonight's agenda. The NCGE Annual Convention is on tonight's agenda. Information on grants available from the Tulalip Tribes is available on their web site at http://www.quilcedavillage.org/charitable_fund/charitable_funds.asp. The address of the Charity Trust Board of the Puyallup Tribe is 3009 E Portland Ave, Tacoma, WA 98404; telephone 253-573-7800. I sent Sandra Barton Smith, assistant superintendent for curriculum development for the Archdiocese of Seattle an email about the WGA Post Card Contest and asked that she forward it to the schools of the Seattle Archdiocese.
Meghan's planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map are tonight's agenda. The mailing and map lists are on tonight's agenda. She has yet to email her giant map documents to Richard for conversion into Adobe PDF format. Meghan has limited knowledge on using SurveyMonkey.com as the mechanism for obtaining giant map use data. Tim offered to help her create a survey on the University of Washington's Catalyst system. The Newspapers In Education Program is still pending.
Heidi completed the guest book and other materials for the Puyallup Fair. Heidi is categorizing our 2008-2009 grant moneys held by GRCC using the Unified Chart of Accounts for nonprofit organizations developed by the National Center for Charitable Statistics. The 2009-2010 NGEF Program Grant was submitted on September 13.
Richard emailed all board members a copy of their action items. The corporation's annual report to the Secretary of State was mailed on September 5. Puyallup Fair tickets and maps were mailed to volunteers. As Richard received input from only one attendee of the NCGE Annual Conference, no combined list could be created. Richard emailed a version of our logo with a transparent background and the artwork for our three-fold brochure to Tim. Richard's contacts with Stan Cross, Education Building Superintendent, to get a listing on the "Special Activity Days" web page were unproductive. The 2008/2009 NGEF program grant application was submitted on September 14 and copies were mailed to board members. Meghan has yet to send Richard any files needing conversion to PDF files. Richard has yet to contact the Burke Museum about our Giant Traveling Washington State Map. Richard has contacted On September 4, Richard emailed Dean McColgan, Senior Manager for Global Corporate Citizenship — NW Region for The Boeing Company about getting company executive to serve on our board. Mr. McColgan forwarded the email to Sam Whiting, Community Investor for Education. Richard has yet to receive a reply from Mr. Whiting. The automatic withdrawal program is the next item on tonight's agenda. Our proposed uses for Earth Station One and our proposed revisions to the travel and expense policy are pending.
The checking account balance as of August 31, 2009 is $887.42. There was one deposit during August:
There was one withdrawal during August:
The checking account balance as of September 30, 2009 is $877.42. There were no deposits during September.
There was one withdrawal during September:
Chase Bank has informed us that in order to use Automated Clearing House (ACH) for automated deposits we would need:
A motion to authorize Heidi to look for and use more cost-effective banking options was made by Richard and seconded by Tim. The motion passed unanimously.
Tim will contact NGEF and ask them how we may best withdraw our funds from Green River Community College so that we will have access to them.
Tim, Meghan, and Pat attended the National Conference on Geography Education (NCGE) National Conference on Geography Education in San Juan, Puerto Rico from September 23 - 27, 2009.
Tim reported, "I arrived Wednesday night. Thanks to the generosity of Doug Andersen from the Utah Geographic Alliance, I shared a room with him and he has indicated that they are not expecting reimbursement for my portion of the room, a very generous offer.
On Thursday morning, I attended the session held by NGEF for the alliance network. Danny Edelson, Chris Shearer, John Roush, and Virginia Pitts all spoke.
Danny and Chris went over a presentation they had given to the NGEF board of directors on the planning grant applications. Nearly 1.3 million dollars in grants were approved, including the WGA.
The overall tone of this meeting was positive. Danny reminded everyone that it might seem easy to get lost in the process but that the overall goal was still to achieve great things in geography education.
John Roush spoke for a while about the planning process. He said that planning is only the first step in a cycle of plan-implement-evaluate-replan. My impression of his talk was that we are really moving forward with the planning process now.
Dr. Virginia M. Pitts, who Danny recruited from Northwestern University where she was conducting research on educational theory, will be coordinating the Capacity Building Course (CBC). She spoke enthusiastically for quite a while about her hopes for the course. The classroom portion would be fours days long followed by ten weeks of online class work.
Thursday afternoon I spent time with the Utah Alliance discussing their planning initiatives and ideas. The Utah Alliance has the advantage of a large network within the K-12 education system, as the co-coordinators are a high school teacher and an administrator who was previously a curriculum specialist.
On Friday, I attended a session on the history of the Summer Geography Institutes held at NGS headquarters. The session was interesting but not particularly useful for anything the WGA is doing now or planning. The speaker appeared to be arguing that more Summer Geography Institutes should be held but did not present other than anecdotal evidence of their efficacy. Randy Bertolas from Nebraska presented on his experiences as a relatively new AC. I found the information to be very practical for my own role as AC. I also attended a poster session because of my interest in the posters on virtual field trips and study abroad experiences.
Friday afternoon I had lunch with Katy Kennedy of the Alaska Geographic Alliance and Jose Miguel Ortiz of the Puerto Rico Alliance. Katy is excited about the notion of a giant map of Alaska and I spoke with her at some length about our programs.
Later on Friday, I joined the all-conference field trip to Old San Juan. I had scheduled time at 4:30 p.m. to meet with Emily Schell, Bob Dulli, Chris Shearer, and Danny Edelson. Unfortunately, Danny had to leave earlier that day and Bob and Chris were unable to join us. I had a beer and some dinner with Emily while I caught her up with some of our progress. We were joined later by some other NGEF liaisons.
Saturday morning I had breakfast with Stephen Cunha, the AC for California. I also met Gwenda Rice, the Oregon co-coordinator. Stephen, Gwenda, and the Utah coordinators are in favor of taking the CBC course at the end of June. We discussed having it in Portland or Salt Lake City. Both have the advantage of being major airline hubs (especially SLC); Portland has the advantage of having a host institution (Portland State) where meetings can be held. I have communicated this to Bob Dulli since the list of Alliances participating in the June CBC has been sent out."
Meghan reported, "I attended the NCGE conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico from September 23-27, 2009. While at the conference I presented a 45-minute workshop titled: Canada in the K-12 Classroom. The presentation began with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on the ways that Canada is important to the U.S., I finished the session by sharing various teaching resources and websites the attendees could use in their classrooms to help them teach about Canada. The presentation was well received by the attendees.
I also had the opportunity to attend a variety of sessions on geography that I could use in my classroom and in future presentations. Some of my favorites were:
While at the conference I was able to explore the Yunque Rain Forest, Old San Juan, and Ponce. I also had the opportunity to talk with NGS associates about the Washington Geographic Alliance. Some of the contacts I made were with Dan Beaupre and Kim Hulse.
Thank you for the opportunity to attend the NCGE conference, it was beneficial and rewarding."
Pat reported "On September 24 I attended:
Session 1 — Making Geography Count Using Children's Literature. Presentation went well although was not able to completely finish as time went by too quickly. There was an attendance of 15-17, the information was well received, and feedback was extremely positive. I have a few adjustments I would make if I presented again. I would create CDs to hand out of my Microsoft PowerPoint presentation rather than having people email me.
Session 2 — Geography in Elementary! A School-wide Theme. Presented by David McCormick, New Hampshire Geographic Alliance. This presenter has promoted and developed professional development for his school so that geography is integrated in every subject area. He provided pictures showing how grades K-4 have brought Geography to the fore front of their curriculum areas. Geo caching during PE and locating origins of different music genres on the map in music classes were just a few of the examples shown. It was very impressive.
Session #3 — Change Over Time and Space: Creating Historical Maps to Teach American History. Presented by Andy Mink Virginia Center for Digital History University of Virginia. This session featured the use of the ArcGIS Explorer. The example shown was the question Where were Jim Crowe laws enacted in the United States? It was fascinating to see how the use of the historical map representations broadened the concepts. It was so clear the patterns and changes that we were able to see. We also looked at the counties of Virginia and saw the interesting patterns as we saw the layers of change. I think this might be an interesting approach when looking at our Washington state map.
Session #4 — Get A Clue: A New Way to Combine Math and Geography. Presented by Meghan Johnson, Oregon Geographic Alliance. Meghan presented a series of activities which utilize the on line atlas developed by the Oregon Alliance which also require students to follow a sequence of clues to solve problems related to mapping. This was a really effective idea and I am looking forward to developing some ideas of my own.
I also plan to attend the session on Friday morning by the Oregon Alliance that will present the process of creating a free, on-line state atlas for our alliance. I think this has some promise for us in Washington.
Session #5 — Globalizing Your Classroom Through Videoconferencing. Lynn Tilley, Oklahoma Geographic Alliance. Presenter showed a few of the videoconferences that students in her building have been involved in from the Great Barrier Reef to the Iditarod. Interesting concept but school would need to investigate the expense of the equipment needed for this experience. She was not aware of the total cost as they received grant funds however she did give an outline of what would be needed.
On September 25, I visited vendors and saw a couple of interesting ideas. ArcGIS Explorer and ESRI provide training opportunities for teachers who want to learn how to use GIS materials in their classrooms.
I also looked at a product called Visual World Geography that is about $400 but would be a great product to use in relationship to our family groups at St. Francis School. Students K-8 are placed in smaller groups of 17-20 with mixed grade levels. These groups meet once a month to promote student relationships at a cross grade level and specific character building opportunities. The names of the family groups are countries in Asia this year. We want to add a component for students to learn about the country the represent and this material may just answer this need. IT also has a unique way of teaching country location and shape. I picked up a sample of this CD.
Session #1 — Geography as a Novel Idea. Presented by Lisa Draper Bethlehem School District. This session has some interesting comprehension activities but she didn't really show the relationship with geography. Not that it couldn't be done it just didn't seem to be an objective of the session. She did however give everyone a copy of Facing the Lion and Tea for Three, which I believe, would be excellent book choices for my students.
Session #2 — Promoting Geography Using State Student Atlas. Presented by Gwenda Rice, Oregon Geographic Alliance. I was especially interested in this presentation since I think this might be a great objective for our alliance in the future. The alliance gave each of the participants a copy of the hard copy atlas that was of very high quality. It is a project that would take several years to execute but could be a great support piece to our giant map. I especially like the idea of an online atlas that could be used by anyone in the state. I have the opportunity to attend training in Portland on using the atlas in the classroom and activities for the classroom.
Session #3 — The Geography in History: Using Historical Fiction. Presented by Joseph Enedy. The ladies that were also presenting were very good and I would have liked to have had more information and ideas from them. The gentleman was very boring and made it hard to stay focused on his presentation. I do believe I can use some of the ideas. It just didn't seem that cohesive a presentation.
On September 26, I attended:
Session #1 — Pirates in the World Again. Presented by Tim Lehman, Indiana. This session was a bit disappointing. The presenter had difficulty with his laptop and none of his links were working. (I felt bad for him.) He did however show a video he found on the Internet that was more of a political statement than educational. (I was shocked by this.) There was one activity I might consider using but more of a Friday afternoon fill-in. Overall, this session was not worth the time.
Session #2 — I Want My Mummy. Presented by Norma Mahler. This session was more of a craft and wasn't really connected with geography. The activity probably wouldn't work with a large group."
During the Puyallup Fair, visitors questioned a number of items on the map. They include:
The following were also reported but upon investigation proved not to be errors:
Megan and Pat have developed nine activities for the giant traveling Washington State map including watersheds, grocery store geography, latitude and longitude, and finding cities. Meghan will email copies to board members.
David Blacketer of Southridge High School presented the giant map and some limited activities to a district-wide in-service meeting at the start of the school year in September. He has been patiently waiting ever since for lesson plans and activities to accompany the map so that he can arrange for it to travel around the Tri-Cities.
The giant map Lewis visited Shaw Island for a meeting of a consortium of four one-room schoolhouses. Joanne Colman Wester of Shaw Island School arranged for the map's pickup and return. Tim has requested a report from Joanne.
Tim has finished modifying the Teacher Consultant survey and emailed it to the participants in the 2008 Summer Geography Institute. He will send a reminder next week and then collate results in a few weeks.
If the next WGA Summer Institute is going to be held in conjunction with another group (e.g., IslandWood), coordination needs to start soon.
Tim presented the following report to the board.
"I'm pleased to report that the results are in from our 2009 Summer Institute, held July 6-10 at the Kent campus of Green River Community College are in.
Of the nine teachers who participated in the Institute, all responded to the survey (the first questions reflect an artifact of one participant re-starting the survey). The responses from participants were generally positive; the teachers from this summer's institute also gave valuable feedback for ways to improve future programs.
Overall, 50% were public school teachers, 40% private school teachers, and 10% home school. Of these, 80% are employed full time, 10% part time, and 10% are not presently employed in education.
Detailed results from the survey follow.
| Great: top 10% | Good: top 25% | Average: around 50% | Poor: bottom 25% | Bad: lowest 10% | Rating Average |
Response Count |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall quality of presentations | 22.2% (2) | 66.7% (6) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.89 | 9 |
| Field trip to Orting/Enumclaw | 55.6% (5) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.44 | 9 |
| Field trip to West Seattle | 44.4% (4) | 55.6% (5) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.56 | 9 |
| Overall quality of field trips | 55.6% (5) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.44 | 9 |
| General geographic knowledge learned | 55.6% (5) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.44 | 9 |
| Theoretical geographic knowledge learned | 55.6% (5) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.44 | 9 |
| Applicability of the Institute to your classroom | 33.3% (3) | 55.6% (5) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.78 | 9 |
| Very Likely | Likely | Unlikely | Very Unlikely | Rating Average |
Response Count |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| incorporate more geography into my teaching in the next year. | 88.9% (8) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.11 | 9 |
| talk about ideas learned in this Institute with my coworkers. | 75.0% 6) | 25.0% (2) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.25 | 8 |
| give a professional development presentation on geography at the local (school district) level. | 77.8% (7) | 22.2% (2) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.22 | 9 |
| give a professional development presentation on geography at the regional level. | 22.2% (2) | 22.2% (2) | 33.3% (3) | 22.2% (2) | 2.56 | 9 |
| give a professional development presentation on geography at the state level. | 12.5% (1) | 25.0% (2) | 37.5% (3) | 25.0% (2) | 2.75 | 8 |
| recommend this institute to other teachers. | 66.7% (6) | 22.2% (2) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 1.44 | 9 |
| apply to future WGA programs. | 55.6% (5) | 33.3% (3) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 1.56 | 9 |
| contact my representatives in support of geography education. | 44.4% (4) | 55.6% (5) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 1.56 | 9 |
| Very interested | Somewhat interested | Somewhat uninterested | Very uninterested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| giving clock hours? | 66.7% (6) | 22.2% (2) | 0.0% (0) | 11.1% (1) |
| giving undergraduate credit? | 11.1% (1) | 22.2% (2) | 33.3% (3) | 33.3% (3) |
| giving graduate credit? | 22.2% (2) | 22.2% (2) | 33.3% (3) | 22.2% (2) |
| of one day in length on a weekend? | 33.3% (3) | 66.7% (6) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) |
| of two days over two weekends? | 22.2% (2) | 33.3% (3) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) |
| combining Internet coursework with meetings? | 11.1% (1) | 55.6% (5) | 22.2% (2) | 11.1% (1) |
| on Geographic Information Systems? | 22.2% (2) | 44.4% (4) | 22.2% (2) | 11.1% (1) |
| on community mapping with GPS units? | 11.1% (1) | 44.4% (4) | 44.4% (4) | 0.0% (0) |
| on physical geography? | 55.6% (5) | 33.3% (3) | 11.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) |
| given at your school? | 44.4% (4) | 33.3% (3) | 22.2% (2) | 0.0% (0) |
| of one week (5-6 days) in duration? | 55.6% (5) | 33.3% (3) | 0.0% (0) | 11.1% (1) |
| of two weeks in duration? | 11.1% (1) | 44.4% (4) | 22.2% (2) | 22.2% (2) |
| taking place in Canada? | 44.4% (4) | 33.3% (3) | 22.2% (2) | 0.0% (0) |
| taking place internationally? | 66.7% (6) | 0.0% (0) | 22.2% (2) | 11.1% (1) |
The WGA exhibited the Giant Washington State map at the fair from Sunday, September 13 through Tuesday, September 15.
The number of persons who experienced the map were:
Richard requested of Stan Cross that we exhibit the map the first three days of next year's fair (Friday - Sunday).
Tim reported on his September 4 telephone call with Bob Dulli about the search for a new institutional host. Bob's main concerns were lack of an institutional host and a small board of directors. Tim will contact Bob with the details of our efforts to expand the board of directors.
Tim reported on his 45-minute meeting with Drs. Andrew Shouse and Philip Bell, both of the University of Washington College of Education, on September 10. They discussed their research and Tim explained the WGA. They are interested in discussing possible collaborations of the WGA and their centers for science and experiential education.
Our 2009-2010 Planning Grant, that has been approved, budgeted for $2,000 for a facilitator who will help strategize who should be on the board, craft a compelling invitation, plan logistics, and run the first meeting. Based on board consensus, Tim will contact Susan Howlett.
The meeting will be held on November 7 in conjunction with the Association of Washington Geographers (AWG) meeting at Bellevue Community College. We had budgeted airfare for one person each from Spokane, Walla Walla, Bellingham, and Vancouver to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The lunch allowance is $12.50 per person. Local transportation is estimated at $25 per person.
Here is the announcement to go out with the Association of Washington Geographers (AWG)announcement:
"Immediately following the fall meeting of the AWG, the Washington Geographic Alliance invites all geography educators to consider serving on its Board of Directors. A meeting about the WGA and the duties and benefits of being a Director will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. with a break around 3 p.m.
The Alliance is beginning long-range planning for increasing geographic literacy. For those who attend the entire meeting, the WGA will reimburse mileage from their home travel to Bellevue College.
For more information about serving on the WGA Board of Directors, please contact Tim Scharks at president@washgeo.org.
The Washington Geographic Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the geographic literacy of our state's residents. Visit the Alliance online at http://www.washgeo.org."
Tim has corresponded with the following persons about serving:
Tim will approach the following candidates from education schools:
Tim will approach all our present Teacher Consultants (TCs) to see who volunteers to represent K-12 teachers. Tim and Richard will look for representation from:
The announcement of the WAGIC's 2009 strategic planning grant, is at http://wagic.wa.gov/2009GISPlanning/WAGICFlyer.pdf.
Tim plans to attend the Everett WAGIC planning session on October 27. He has expressed an interest in collaborating with the WAGIC organization in the future. WGA would like to see mapping skills, especially GIS, taught more broadly in our schools — Tim expressed the view that he is certain that WAGIC's membership would agree that broader geographic literacy would help our state's citizens.
Pat has been invited to attend a workshop by the Oregon Geographic Alliance where the Oregon Atlas and large state map will be the focus. She am eager to see what ideas they are sharing with teachers and how this is presented.
Meghan and Pat continue to work on activates for the giant map.
Pat will email a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on the making of the Student Atlas of Oregon to board members.
Heidi offered to look for an independent bookkeeper to manage our funds.
The next regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at Bellevue College, Room D273, 3000 Landerholm Circle SE, Bellevue, WA 98007-6484.
Respectfully submitted,
/ss/ Richard T. Kennedy
Richard T. Kennedy
Secretary
Approved November 7, 2009