This spring, learning will look different for Vermont students. Fortunately, innovative local educators have been quick to respond to the current situation, posting online activities to keep our adolescents learning — and engaged with each other — while at home. Below, find a selection educational resources for older kids and teens.
• Inquisitive teens can sign up for the University of Vermont Extension’s virtual science cafés, where scientists share their work, followed by an informal discussion. On Wednesday, April 8 from 3-4 p.m., maple specialist Mark Isselhardt shares his research.
• UVM Extension has also started Distance Learning Socials for ages 8 and up. Tune in on Mondays at 3 p.m. to learn about topics related to science, healthy living and civic engagement, with fun do-at-home challenges. Return on Thursdays at 3 p.m. for a follow-up group share.
• In addition to accepting creative work online, the Young Writers Project has launched virtual workshops. Aspiring writers might remember Toni Morrison’s advice: “We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” The April issue of the Young Writers Project’s literary journal, The Voice, is all about coronavirus.
• The Poartry Project will host a Voicing Art poetry reading event on Saturday, April 18, 2-3 p.m. Submit creative work with themes of “connection” and “independent interdependence” by April 17, then join the Zoom presentation.
• Audubon Vermont created a free online educational resource: Get Outside and Learn. These nature-focused lessons are suitable for younger and older students, and include a virtual sugar-on-snow party and an early spring scavenger hunt.
• Middle school teacher Ann Braden invites virtual students of all ages into her online thee-part series, “What to Write When You Don’t Know What to Write (And You Don’t Think You’re a Writer.” Kids VT interviewed Braden about her debut novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, in 2018.
This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
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