PEI Training

After almost 5 full days with my coworkers at EEAW, I thought I might need a break. But there we were, off to another retreat. This time in Ocean Shores, with the Pacific Education Institute (PEI), one of our partner organizations. This was a training and planning retreat to help us new Americorps on board and informed about their philosophy and methods.

I have to say I was impressed in several regards. PEI does have a bit extra cash to throw around, so we were in a pretty sweet place with a beach view, and a kitchen, living room and fire place in our rooms. Sweet! I have been impressed time and again with the people and their enthusiasm for their jobs. An objective of PEI is to conduct environmental education that teaches essential math and science skills that are required for each grade level, according to state standards. It was an immersion into ‘school speak,’ with many terms that are very specific to education, and more specifically to Washington. The retreat also really introduced us to thinking about curriculum development, as well as taking us through several of the exercises, and methods that are used in their curriculums. One of my favorite activities we did was teaching about beak adaptations using a competition format where teams used different tools on different ‘habitats’ to see what was best ‘adapted’ to what. I definitely learned a lot through the exercises, activities, and all the interactions with people in the ‘field.’ We worked hard and played hard.