NEWS RELEASE

Teachers are Invited to Bring Hands-On Learning Home

New classroom-ready skills, expanded professional networks, and renewed enthusiasm for teaching are benefits people report after participating in an immersive, hands-on learning experience at the Cottonwood Canyon Teacher Institute (CCTI) in June.

“I get to come and participate in everything for free and then on top of that, I'm paid for driving here, I'm paid for the time away. I think it's a really great deal,” said Denise Adams, a 2025 CCTI participant and teacher for the Diamond School District. 

“CCTI is really structured to remove barriers to participation,” said Eric Carlson, CCTI coordinator. “We provide food, lodging, travel support, and teachers get professional development units for coming.”

Applications for CCTI 2026 are open until May 15.

Designed to connect educators with place-based learning, CCTI is held in Cottonwood Canyon State Park, along the John Day River. CCTI brings teachers into the field to study river ecology, geology, and visual storytelling, all while collaborating with peers who share similar rural classroom experiences. Participants say the program not only strengthens their teaching practice but also provides valuable time for reflection and connection.

“We have so many shared stories with our profession, and it's really nice to just have time to connect with them. Typically, you go to a big teacher conference and it's dominated by people teaching in cities, which is a little bit different than our realities. So it's nice to have this kind of rural part,” said Ryan Campbell, a teacher in the Hood River County School District and 2025 CCTI participant.

During the institute, teachers conduct stream surveys, identify macroinvertebrates, and study plant ecosystems directly in the environments they later interpret in the classroom. Others explore creative approaches through courses like visual storytelling, learning how to help students better understand and communicate a sense of place.

“I'm going to try to be taking actually a lot of what the different groups here did,” said Chris Stanton, a 2025 CCTI participant and teacher at Molalla River Middle School. “We're going to be looking at doing a photography club where kids can learn through phones and our cameras that we already have at the school. And then later in the year when the weather might be better, getting them out to our local river and having them kind of understand their place, maybe through a different lens. Whether it be we're doing macroinvertebrate testing and riparian type parameter testing, or it might be something very different.”

Teachers can register for CCTI at www.revcenter.org/cottonwood-canyon-teacher-institute.

CCTI is coordinated by the Rural Engagement and Vitality Center with cooperation from Eastern Oregon University, Gray Family Foundation, Oregon Parks Forever, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and the Roundhouse Foundation.

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Note to editor: Video of the 2025 CCTI can be found here; information about CCTI can be found here.