Sandy Beck has served as the Education Curator for the St. Francis Wildlife Association in Tallahassee, Florida, since 1989 and developed The Wild Classroom in 1990.

In 1991, she received a grant from the Florida Advisory Council on Environmental Education to write, field test and publish an interdisciplinary curriculum guide for teachers, "Conserving Florida Wildlife." A 2004 Nature of Learning grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation enabled her to create "Wild Words for Wild Wings," a unique program for children that combines bird watching, poetry, visual arts and technology. The Foundation funded this grant for three years.

She developed an Environmental Studies curriculum for gifted students which she taught from 1994 - 2001 at the Academic Resource Center in Leon County, FL.

She has been a classroom teacher in elementary, middle and high schools in Miami and Tallahassee, Florida. She taught writing classes at Tallahassee Community College and at FSU's Center for Professional Development and wrote a monthly environmental column for the Tallahassee Democrat.

In addition to her work as Education Director of The Wild Classroom she currently teaches gifted and talented students at Astoria Park Elementary School, writes a monthly column about wildlife for the Tallahassee Democrat's Chronicle and, as a freelance nature writer, is a regular contributor to Florida Wildlife Magazine and other publications.

Mrs. Beck was the Leon Association of Science Teachers' 1998 Middle School Science Teacher of the Year and the Academic Resource Center's Teacher of the Year in 1997 and 2001.

She has presented at numerous professional conferences, from the Florida Council of Teachers of English (FCTE) to the League of Environmental Educators of Florida (LEEF). She was also Festival Director of the 2004 and 2005 Tallahassee Wildife Festivals.

She has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Florida International University and an M.S. in English Education from Florida State University.

Professional Resume

Publications by Sandy Beck

E-mail

The Wild Classroom

St. Francis Wildlife Association