Teacher to Ranger to Teacher

The intent of the Teacher to Ranger to Teacher program is to provide opportunities for teachers to have rich work experiences in national parks so that they can return to the classroom and share their experiences and knowledge of these American treasures with children. The program focuses on teachers from low income schools that have diverse student populations, who have had little or no experience with national parks, nor the opportunity to explore the relevance these areas can have in their lives.

 

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Program Overview
The challenge for the National Park Service (NPS) is to provide opportunities for all Americans to connect with their national heritage as embodied by national parks. The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) Program focuses on children and engages teachers from low income schools (often designated as Title I). This program offers children at these schools the opportunity to connect to their national parks through their teachers.

Teacher-Rangers spend the summer working and often living in national parks. Teachers are detailed as Park Rangers to parks through an Inter-governmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement between their public school district and the National Park Service. Teacher Rangers are usually paid directly by the park.

 

Ms. Dina making a point with some of her students during National Park Week.

The parks provide an official NPS park ranger uniform and a supplementary payment for the teachers. Park housing may be available. Teacher- Rangers perform various duties depending on their interests and the needs of the park, including developing and presenting interpretive programs for children and the general public, staffing the visitor center, developing curriculum-based materials for the park, or special projects.

During the school year, Teacher-Rangers bring national parks into the classroom by developing and presenting curriculum-based lessons that draw on their summer experience. Also in April, during National Park Week, Teacher-Rangers wear their NPS uniforms to school, discuss their summer as a park ranger, and engage students and other teachers in activities that relate to America's national parks.

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How to Apply
If you are a Title I school teacher, please apply directly to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA). Work employment at the CRNRA is for 6-weeks during the summer (with flexible beginning and ending dates). The selected candidate will receive a weekly salary stipend of $400, payable by the park. In addition, on-site training and a park uniform will be provided. Housing may be available. If interested, please e-mail or phone the park's Education Coordinator, Marjorie Thomas, for an application (e-mail: e-mail us; phone: [phone] or 678-538-1200).

Application deadline is March 9, 2012!

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Concepts Learned and Incorporated into the Classroom
This place-based experience provides opportunities for Teacher-Rangers to deeply connect with park resources. Exposure to our American heritage offers teachers a chance to gain a better understanding of civic engagement, of the relevance these places have for all Americans, and of the diversity of sites that have been set aside by and for the American people. They, in turn, can provide opportunities for their students and other teachers to discover their own connections to parks.

Teacher-Rangers learn about the complexities of interpreting and researching cultural and natural resources. For example, Teacher-Rangers learn how:

• the mission of the NPS focuses on both the enjoyment and preservation of natural and cultural resources for future American generations;
• national park interpretive rangers use interpretive skills to provoke and inspire resource connections for children;
• parks research and interpret American Indian heritage and regularly consult with tribes who have relationships with the park and its resources;
• a variety of park resources can be used for research, and how these resources will be used to tell complex stories from a variety of viewpoints;
• to increase their understanding of scientific research and the complex issues related to these resources;
• scientific research is applied and interpreted;
• adjacent lands that may or may not be managed under similar resource management philosophies affect park project outcomes;
• to apply National Park Service mission ethics to resource management decisions;
• the public becomes involved in the decision-making process; science in parks relates to urban areas and issues.

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Benefits to the School Children

• This program provides the opportunity for children to form new connections with their nation's heritage through the experiences of their Teacher-Ranger.
• A variety of resource issues, based on the teacher's summer experience, are discussed in class. These might include historic preservation, fire, exotic invasive species, endangered species, air quality, water cycles and global warming.
• Students learn about public service, National Park careers and summer employment opportunities.
• Children experience and learn through the enthusiasm of a teacher who has had the opportunity to be a National Park Ranger.
• Through their Teacher-Ranger, children can learn about America's national parks, which are preserved for all Americans.
• Children who have not been able to visit a national park will have the opportunity to learn about their parks through exciting updated classroom lessons in earth science, social studies, history, math, civics, American cultures and much more.
• School children will be exposed to the benefits and values of stewardship, conservation and preservation which they can apply at the local, regional and national level.

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Benefits to the Teacher-Ranger

• Participating Teacher-Rangers have the opportunity to develop personal connections with national parks.
• Teacher-Rangers develop a wide array of teaching examples based on real life experience in parks and create "curricula enhancers" that highlight issues surrounding heritage conservation.
• Teacher-Rangers learn new interpretive techniques to engage children in the process of developing life-long environmental values.
• Teacher-Rangers return to school inspired and energized. They form life connections with national parks.

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Benefits to the School District

• Teacher-Rangers return to school energized with a heightened understanding of American cultural and resource issues.
• Other district educators exposed to a Teacher-Ranger in their schools benefit from "curricula enhancers" and teaching tools learned at parks.
• Teacher-Rangers develop an ongoing, energizing connection with resource specialists, scientists, historians, curators and educators within the NPS and Department of the Interior.