Thank you letter from Geographical Association

This is the lovely letter I received from the President of the Geographical Association for School Teachers on the talk I gave at their Annual Conference.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig talking to geography teachers at the GA Conference

12 April 2016

Dear Mya-Rose,

I simply had to write and thank you for all the time you gave up to come and talk at, not one, but two sessions at the Geographical Association conference. You will be pleased to hear I am sure that your contributions were a key talking point around the conference and that the points you were making have been discussed in a wider community - the geographers. I am so grateful to you for contacting us and for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. I know the young people in the morning were intrigued with what you had to say and that they found it especially useful to have someone of a similar age talking to them as opposed to someone of another generation. The teachers in the afternoon were deeply impressed with your confidence and presence in presenting and the messages you so clearly articulated. Many of them will be using your ideas in their future lessons.

I am only so sorry that my Presidential duties prevented me from spending more time with you and attending the sessions myself. But it has been good to receive so many positive and lovely comments about what you offered the conference. I do hope that you enjoyed the experience and that you felt it was a worthwhile event to attend.

Thank you for your kind invitation to the Bristol event you are involved with - I am hoping to be there - it really does depend on availability at the time. My colleague Jeremy Kraus who lives in Bristol is hoping to be there anyway so I will hear of another success from you.

My very best wishes for the future - I know it will be a bright one.

And thank you again for joining us.

Steve

Steve Rawlinson

President, Geographical Association

Geographical Association Primary Geography Champion

Consultant to the Geographical Association

Chair of the Primary Geography Editorial Board

http://www.geography.org.uk/

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig talking to geography teachers at the GA Conference

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. 

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter

Speaking at Teaching Unions' Conferences 2016

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in RSPB Big School Birdwatch
Photograph copyright Chew Valley School

A while ago, I wrote two blog posts which were open letters to BBC Wildlife Magasine about my thoughts on getting children into nature:

http://birdgirluk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/letter-to-bbc-wildlife-magazine.html

http://birdgirluk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/second-open-letter-to-bbc-wildlife.html

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in Camp Avalon

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Since then, I have been speaking to science and geography teachers’ Unions and will be talking at both their annual conferences about conservation and environmentalism being taught consistently in science and geography lessons, as well as in English and other broader subjects. I will be speaking about how this is really important for our future.

The message I plan to get across is that at the moment, I don't think teenagers know or care about nature, environmental and conservation issues. They are the future and so if we want to save our planet and everything on it, this needs to change. You can't care about something you don't know about. I feel that even without these topics specifically being added to the national curriculum, geography and science teachers have a lot of scope for including them into their lessons. I appreciate that many teachers are already trying to do this.


Geographer's Association - 9/4/16 Manchester

Title - Educating our young people to be environmentalists and conservationists

Summary

13 year old Mya-Rose Craig is a writer, blogger and speaker. She is passionate about saving our planet and everything on it but realizes that most teenagers don’t know or care about these issues. She believes that as young people are the future, unless we can interest them, we have no hope. Hear her thoughts on essential topics to teach such as re-wilding, fracking and palm oil plantations and engaging your students so that they care.

http://www.geography.org.uk/cpdevents/annualconference/ 

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in a school trip

Photograph copyright Chew Valley School

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in a school trip

Photograph copyright Chew Valley School

ASE (The Association for Science Education) Union – 10/01/2016 Birmingham

Title - Educating our future environmentalists

Summary
13 year old Mya-Rose Craig is a young conservationist, environmentalist and activist and writes the successful birdgirl blog. Hear from her why you should teach your pupils about wildlife and conservation issues. How can our next generation care about nature and the environment if they do not know about it?

http://www.ase.org.uk/conferences/annual-conference/

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in Camp Avalon

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

Young birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig taking part in Camp Avalon

Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig 

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about nature and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and is looking forward to watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose is a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol 2015 Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter