Recognizing that teachers often have the right perspective to shape their students’ classroom experiences, Broad River Electric Cooperative and our Charities Board offer Bright Ideas Educator Grants to local teachers to help make their visions a reality.
In October, Broad River Electric awarded $13,000 to 18 local teachers. One of those teachers was Kristie Camp, an English teacher who has taught at Gaffney High School for 26 years. With the help of the grant, Camp was able to purchase 30 camping chairs and stools and 20 clipboards for outdoor classroom literacy lessons. Camp says the chairs and clipboards create a more comfortable environment for the class as they learn outside.
“I appreciate your support of public education,” Camps says. “These chairs will be essential to our exploration of the outdoor classrooms and a key element of my action research as well.”
Camp, a doctoral student, recently received the Distinguished Paper Award for the SC Educators for the Practical Use of Research (SCEPUR). Her paper, “Outdoor Capital: A Call for Outdoor Literacy Classes for Adolescents,” advocates for incorporating outdoor literacy lessons into everyday classroom instruction to foster academic, mental and physical benefits for students.
Camp will present her paper at the SCEPUR Conference on Feb. 24 in February, as well as the American Education Research Association annual meeting in Chicago in April.