Information for Canadian Teachers

"Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies”:  An exciting professional development opportunity for Canadian teachers

Each fall, monarch butterflies from Canada begin a 3,000 kilometer migration to Mexico.  The following spring, their great grandchildren return.

This coming summer, an exciting opportunity for teachers is returning to Canada. "Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies" is a 3-day professional development experience based on the monarch's epic journey.   It provides teachers with a multitude of inquiry-based activities in science, social studies, language arts, art, math, and technology.   Teachers also learn to develop community support and involvement, school butterfly gardens, monarch parades and ways to incorporate other key environmental and social topics.  Activities are based on education standards; they support performance-based assessment and are suitable for students of all abilities.   Participants receive books, videos, posters, rearing equipment, curriculum materials and refreshments.  The workshops are taught collaboratively by experienced Ontario, Manitoba and U.S. teachers.  

"Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies" is about much more than butterflies.  It's about the past, present and future of North America.  It's a personal journey of discovery into a world you've known your whole life... but never really knew.  It's teaching and learning at its best, for you and your students....

Monarch Teacher Network’s 3-day workshop was first offered in August 2001 at EIRC's facility in New Jersey, near Philadelphia.  Eighteen teachers attended.  Interest has grown ever since.  The Monarch Teacher Network  has  grown to, and now includes teachers from Ontario, Manitoba, and a dozen provinces and U.S. states.  In August 2003, 225 teachers participated at five workshops, including the first one in Canada (Kingston, Ontario), with 28 teachers.  Four Ontario teachers spent a week in Mexico in February/March 2004 visiting the monarch winter sanctuaries, accompanying 31 other MTN  teachers participating in this additional training experience.  Two of the Ontario teachers were partially funded through MTN fellowships.  In August 2004 the project did workshops in Kingston and Hamilton, Ontario, training another 96 teachers.   Several Canadian teachers traveled to Mexico that winter partially funded by MTN fellowships. Nearly 100 additional Canadian teachers were trained in summer 2006, including the first teachers from Manitoba.  Canadian teachers again received fellowships to travel to Mexico with Monarch Teacher Network in Feb/March 2007.  As the project continued to grow a Monarch Teacher Network – Canada emerged.

What Canadian teachers are saying:

 • "An empowering workshop." 
 • "Great people, organization, delivery, materials." 
 • "The most awesome learning experience in my 30 years of teaching."  
 • "Endless possibilities in my classroom, school and community." 
 • "I'm leaving with renewed passion, enthusiasm and commitment." 
 • "To hear the children share what they know is amazing - this has been magical." 
 • "Wonderful to see the sense of awe in parents as well as students." 

 In the summer of 2008, MTNC will hold the following workshops in Ontario:

1) Kingston, Ontario - July 23, 24, 25th - Frontenac Secondary School
2) Brighton, Ontario - July 29, 30, 31st - Brighton Public School
3) Wiarton, Ontario - August 5, 6, 7th - Peninsula Shores District School

For more infomation and applications for the 2008 Ontario Workshops, visit the Monarch Teacher Netwok - Canada website: www.monarchcanada.org.

In the summer of 2008 (July 22, 23, 24), Monarch Teacher Network - Western Canada will conduct a workshopin Winnipeg, Manitoba. For more information visit: www.monarchteachernetwork-westerncanada.com or contact Jan Kushnier at both@mts.net.