About Kirsten
Kirsten Franklin has been an elementary educator for 29 years, with experience teaching the first through sixth grades. From 2013-16, she was a teacher on special assignment supporting elementary science and Common Core implementation in the Petaluma City Schools. Her responsibilities included working with lead teachers participating in BaySci, a consortium of San Francisco Bay Area school districts that works with the Lawrence Hall of Science and the Exploratorium to promote quality science instruction. Additionally, she assisted her district with the planning and implementation of Common Core professional development and K-12 Curriculum Committee meetings. Two years ago, Kirsten applied to a pilot program to support districts in developing K-12 Environmental Literacy. Her district is now working with ChangeScale, an environmental education support organization, to create an articulated environmental literacy continuum over the next two years. Finally, Kirsten has been able to share her passion for project-based learning (PBL) as one of the Nexus instructors at Sonoma State University’s summer PBL workshop for teachers for the past four summers. Kirsten is now back in the classroom, teaching lots of integrated and project-based science that get her fourth graders outside and learning in the schoolyard as often as possible!
I enjoyed a much needed sojourn into the Eastern Sierras this summer. For two weeks, my husband, our two Queensland Heelers, and I cruised our truck camper in and out of the mountains north and south of Bridgeport, California. We hiked every day through quiet forests, alongside rushing rivers and churning waterfalls. The dogs frolicked […]