Educator Spotlight: Michelle Malalang

Michelle Malalang, an education specialist and information educator with Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, has completed the NC Environmental Education Certification.

Michelle develops and administers the Wild Watch program, a series of outreach programs for 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th graders that promotes environmental literacy within the framework of the NC State Standards. “Wild Watch is a hybrid of formal and informal teaching, using the BEETLES approach to learning with student led, hands-on experiences both indoors and outside. Being the education specialist for Grandfather combines two of my passions, education and nature, into one rewarding career. My hobbies include always biting off more than I can chew, making life harder (and sweeter) by acquiring domestic and farmyard animals, forever modifying programs because I never stop reading and searching for more information or better ways of engaging students, developing my newfound ability to draw so I can avoid doing housework. I also gently encourage my grown children to expand their world with new experiences, acquisition of knowledge, involvement in social and civic organizations and to pull the plug on electronic dependency and isolation by plugging into the real world by making meaningful relationships people around them.”

Michelle says her favorite part of earning her certification was the networking. “This vast web of like-minded educators and nature-loving citizens that form a partnership connecting people and places across the ecosystems of North Carolina gave me the confidence to teach environmental education. I love being part of this ‘Wood Wide Web’ of ethical and caring folk who create symbiotic alliances with schools, organizations and groups to further our common goal of conservation. Meeting and maintaining the relationships made in workshops gives me hope that we can hold the line against the destruction of the natural world by being the guiding light in the darkness. It is exactly this hope that is needed to keep growing the network of environmentally literate global citizens, and continue to weave, thread by thread, the net that will catch and heal what has been harmed.”

When asked about an experience that stood out to her, Michelle says it was a workshop taught by now retired education specialist for NC State Parks, Brian Bockhahn. “His lesson was my aha moment because prior to taking his workshop, I was struggling with how to teach informally because twenty years of my professional life was as a formal educator in the elementary school setting. I knew how to teach effectively this way, but how do I teach a science standard in 60 minutes or less, outside in nature, assess for understanding and capture data on the effectiveness of my lesson and as a teacher with young learners I don't see on a regular basis? Brian gave me tools that unlocked my understanding of environmental education, a subject I never knew existed before moving from Florida to North Carolina. I had only wonder and admiration for EE and desired to be the best environmental educator I could be, but I didn't know how to take off the formal hat and put on the informal one. His workshop showed me how to model being in nature and experiencing the peace and wonder of it through our senses. His lessons taught me how to let go of my anxiety over cramming facts and forcing learning on students so they can generate high test scores that would boost the school grades and my annual year end evaluation. Instead, I started to understand that providing an opportunity to explore, and be curious, to ask questions and to wonder was the springboard to encourage children to make personal and deep connections to nature and that would, in time, inspire them to participate in the protecting the world they've come to love. This experience was both an eye opener and a door opener. I'd been hitting a wall with my transition to an environmental educator because the baggage I lugged around as a public school teacher blinded me. The relaxed, playful approach I learned that day influences my current teaching style ; it gave me the permission and the freedom to delight in experiencing nature with a sense of wonder.

For her community partnership project combined reading literacy with environmental literacy by using fireflies. “Their other name, lightning bugs, describes what the focus of my partnership - sparking curiosity and introducing the wonders of nature in young minds that it lights a fire for lifelong learning and conscientious conservation.  By providing a space geared for elementary age children that promoted the theme of Grandfather Glows, I gave them an area to relax into learning with a low key, experiential approach. Children had a choice of how they wanted to engage with the materials presented and for how long. The ‘Larva Lounge’ kindled questions, provoked answers and invited ideas - all behaviors that are goals of environmental education and teachers everywhere. Connecting with children and creating space for them at adult-centered events lets the up-and-coming generation know that they matter and they can indeed change the world for better. Once the community values these lamp bugs and understands the peril many species face with the loss of habitat and light pollution, then individuals will be fired up to save these golden sparklers.”

Michelle says participating in the program changed her approach to teaching. “I have more confidence in what I teach and how I teach it. I have been able to release my need to be in control of every second and every interaction to produce data and test scores that have zero meaning to the child. I am finally able to let go of these external requirements and stressors and instead focus on truly being a guide to children, modeling joy and curiosity about learning. Since I am no longer hamstringed by a system mired in generating an overabundance of data, I can immerse myself and my students into experiencing the natural world which grounds us, heals us, and is an endless source of awe.”

Michelle says she still worries about environmental issues, but she is a hopeful pessimist. “The certification process keeps me treading, keeping my head above the water so I don't drown in hopelessness if I focus on the process, the mission and the vision. If I concentrate on planting seeds of knowledge and implant confidence in their abilities, the children I teach will blossom into civically engaged citizens of a global community. Environmental Education and all I've learned in the certification process is the lifeline I needed to keep hope for the future alive.”