Gwenna Corvez is a Harborview Kindergarten teacher dedicated to integrating outside learning as a part of her teaching practice. In her eleven years of teaching in the Juneau School District she has taken hundreds of students outside to learn and connect with their local surroundings.
For many years she’s taken her classroom on weekly outdoor excursions. This year at Harborview she’s taking her students outside to play and learn in nature every week for an hour, regardless of weather. Gwenna has integrated science and art into outdoor learning excursions, with activities such as making bark rubbings and listening closely to nature sounds. She has made her outings funand imaginative, allowing her students to build pretend fires, play in and with the snow, and pile up leaves to jump in them. Gwenna has emphasized the value of being comfortable and playful in the outdoors and has passed this value along to her students. She has been an inspiration to colleagues in her building and across the district. Discovery Southeast is thrilled to honor her with the 2020 Discovery Award.
The Discovery Award recognizes one educator annually who’s gone above and beyond to engage her or his classroom in nature. It is presented at Discovery Southeast’s Award Banquet and Auction – this year March 14, 2020, 5pm at the JACC. Tickets are available at DiscoverySoutheast.org.
