Please complete this form and mail it in to register for the 2022 conference.
2022 AMI Conference Session Proposal Form
If you are interested in presenting at the 2022 AMI Conference, please complete the form below. If you would rather submit your papers by mail, there is a form you can download at the bottom of this page. The 2022 AMI conference will be held from September 20-22 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Proposals were due on July 10, 2022.
AMI Membership
A Message from the Membership Chair:
I hope this message finds all of you healthy and safe. I know this has been an interesting year for everyone and I am looking forward to a better 2021. I hope that in the past you have found your membership within this organization useful and enjoyable.
This letter is a reminder that your membership within AMI is up for renewal. Each year’s membership begins the first day of that year’s conference and expires the day before the start of the following year’s conference. The sooner you renew the sooner you will start getting the AMIgo newsletter. Please also remember if you are serving in ANY capacity for the organization (board member, member at large, committee member, etc) you are required to be an active member of the organization.
If you would like to renew your membership, please complete the form on the following page, along with your minimal dues which can be sent to AMI Treasurer Phillip Brinkley (see address following form).
Thank you for your continued interest in the Association of Missouri Interpreters. I look forward to seeing you at the next AMI conference in 2021 in Central Region. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Kemp Membership Chair
Listing of Free Nature-Based Resources
The listing below is a compilation of free nature-based resources available to any citizen during the COVID-19 school closures. If you have any further questions or need ideas in implementing these resources, please reach out to your local Conservation Educator in your region at mdc.mo.gov. We want your families to stay safe and healthy during this time period while taking the opportunity to explore and enjoy your backyard areas in a safe way.
K-12 Nature Activities and Family-Friendly
Citizen Science Opportunities
- Project Learning Tree – Listing of activities to do with children inside and within a safe space outside.
https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/activities-to-do-with-children-at-home - Kid Wings Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection – Dissect an owl pellet virtually and become a barfologist!
http://kidwings.com/virtual-pellet/ - Ranger Rick – Free digital access to educator guides, magazines, outdoor activities, and crafts.
https://rangerrick.org/ - Litzsinger Road Ecology Center – Litzsinger Road Ecology Center (LREC), has started a shared folder with resources for Outdoor Learning from Home. Simple activities suitable for teachers and parents.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qNQaWZ2EcCRnMWjt0sod5xowZj9IxuBa - National Geographic Kids – Explore mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/ - Butterflies and Moths of North America – Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) is an ambitious effort to collect, store, and share species information and occurrence data. You can participate by taking and submitting photographs of butterflies, moths, and caterpillars.
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ - eBird – The core activity for BioB takes advantage of the bugs in your own backyard, schoolyard, or neighborhood. Students can become citizen-scientists by surveying this diversity of insects and plants.
https://ebird.org/home - Project Feeder Watch – Participants periodically count the birds they see at their feeders and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. Your bird counts help you keep track of what is happening in your own backyard and help scientists track long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. With FeederWatch, your observations become part of something bigger.
https://feederwatch.org/ (App available for download) - Budburst – Budburst brings together researchers, educators, gardeners, and citizen scientists on a shared journey to uncover the stories of plants and animals affected by human impacts on the environment.
https://budburst.org/ - Nature’s Notebook – Tracking seasonal changes in plants and animals.
https://www.usanpn.org/natures_notebook - Project Noah – A global citizen science platform to discover, share and identify wildlife. Students can create and publish their own multimedia wildlife journal.
https://www.projectnoah.org/ - SciStarter – Over 3,000 projects and events are searchable by location, scientific topic, and age level, and by joining SciStarter, members can track their contributions and provide valuable feedback. Can also search for ongoing projects near you to contribute too as a class or family!
https://scistarter.org/ - Grow Native! – A great resource on learning the habitat need of native plants as well as connecting to resources to further this process. Families can start planning their own native rain, bird, or pollinator garden in their backyards!
http://grownative.org/
K-12 Nature-based Lessons and Curriculums
- Discover Nature Schools – Missouri-based resource curriculum available for K-12 grades. Digital access includes a teacher guide, student guide, and student notebook for digital or PDF downloads.
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/teacher-portal/discover-nature-schools - Missouri Environmental Education Association – Resources and lessons to promote outdoor learning in Missouri.
https://www.meea.org/ - Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Free e-Bird Lessons (K-12) – “The complete curriculum provides educators with fun, hands-on lessons that connect kids to nature through the world of birds. Each grade-band offers youth the opportunity to make careful observations, collect and explore data and patterns, and build STEM practices, all while addressing standards align science content.”
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/free-ebird-lessons/ - National Park Service – Lessons searchable by location, grade range, subject, and more.
https://www.nps.gov/teachers/teacher-resources.htm - US Fish and Wildlife Service – Conservation Education Curriculum to learn about migratory ducks by participating in the Junior Duck Stamp conservation program. Promotes the Arts and includes youth and educator guides.
https://www.fws.gov/birds/education/junior-duck-stamp-conservation-program/conservation-education-curriculum.php - Wild Classroom – Kids explore and understand the world around them.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/teaching-resources/ - National Science Teachers Association – Free 30-day membership providing access to more than 12,000 digital professional learning resources and tools, including lesson plans and science content.
https://www.nsta.org/?utm_source=realmagnet&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Educators%3A%20We%20Hear%20You%20and%20Are%20Here%20to%20Help%21&utm_campaign=NSTALearningTogetherEmail%231%20v2 - The Wonder of Science – Science-based lessons complete videos to explore the natural phenomena around you.
https://thewonderofscience.com/
Online and Interactive Field Guides
- MDC Field Guide – Identifies a variety of Missouri’s plants and animals, including fungi.
http://mdc.mo.gov/node/73 - Plant Snap – Identify plants, flowers, cacti, succulents, and mushrooms in seconds with the click of a button on your mobile device.
https://www.plantsnap.com/ - iNaturalist – App for phone and tablet that identifies photographic observations of plants and animals (suggested use with middle school through adults). This information is uploaded to fellow naturalists for additional identification and then used for citizen science projects. Activity Suggestion: Download the app and identify/observe every species of flower, insect, backyard weed you can find – then you are doing a bioblitz (inventory) of your own backyard!
https://www.inaturalist.org/ – (you will need to create an account first – video tutorials are available) - SEEK – App for phone and tablet that identifies photographic observations of plants and animals (suggested use with preschool to elementary students). “Use the power of image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you. Earn badges for seeing different types of birds, amphibians, plants, and fungi and participate in monthly observation challenges with Our Planet on Netflix.” Simply point your phone at any living thing. Activity Suggestion: Download the app and identify/observe every species of flower, insect, backyard weed you can find – then you are doing a bioblitz (inventory) of your own backyard!
https://apps.apple.com/seek – (you will need to create an account first – video tutorials are available) - Herp Mapper – Download the app to identify the reptiles and amphibians in your area. Upload to observations and contribute to the wider scientific community!
https://www.herpmapper.org/ - Arbor Day Foundation Tree Identification – Helps citizens in identifying trees in the Midwest.
https://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/ - Wildflower Identification – Wildflower Identification using the color of flower and number of petals.
http://www.missouriplants.com
UPDATE: AMI Conference 2020
After a lengthy discussion, surveying our AMI members, and working with the executive board, the AMI 2020 Conference Committee has decided to postpone this year’s conference. The committee would like to express our sincere gratitude to the northwest Missouri committee in allowing us to move our conference to 2021. Please SAVE THE DATE for the 2021 AMI Conference to be held at Lake of the Ozarks September 19th – September 23rd, 2021! We cannot wait to see all of your smiling faces when we can meet again!
Although a conference will not be held in 2020, AMI does plan to continue with awards and scholarships. If you or someone you know is deserving of an award or scholarship, please visit our webpage https://www.mointerp.net/awards-scholarships/ to find the scholarship and award forms. We are working on ways to virtually honor award and scholarship recipients this year as well as other opportunities for AMI members to socialize and gain continuing education, so please stay tuned for more information.
POSTPONED: AMI Conference 2020
CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATED ANNOUNCEMENT.
Good Afternoon,
At our committee meeting this afternoon, the members were all in consensus to postpone the AMI Conference that was to be held at Lake of the Ozarks this coming September 2020. The committee has made the decision after discussing survey results, personal thoughts, and reviewing the AMI Board’s e-mails from last week. The committee also decided to maintain the same committee and job duties and we will meet this September to discuss next year and rearrange as needed.
I will contact Lodge at Port Arrowhead and let them know our decision and see if we can get dates secured for next September 2021.
We did brainstorm ideas for virtual webinars through the year and Kendra will be bringing ideas to the board for discussion. Amber will be scheduling and hosting social hours as well through a web platform.
Thank you for your support and please pass on to those who need to be aware of the change.
AMI 2019 Conference Awards
Congratulations to all of the 2019 AMI award winners!
Outstanding Interpretive Volunteer
Interpretive Giant
Best Workshop Presentation
George Kastler/Aubree Schmid Student Scholarships
& Anna Skalicky , Macalester College, MN Marissa Ginger. Anna Skalicky, not pictured.
Outstanding Interpretive Media
Missouri Department of Conservation- Outreach and Education
Outstanding Service
AMI Interpreter Quiz
AMI Interpreter Quiz Champion
A Message from the AMI President
As we all know these are difficult times for our members and for people around the world. Many of us are reeling from the rapid changes in our home and work lives. For many of our interpreters, this may result in temporary loss of income or job. These are trying times but I know that we are a resourceful bunch who are capable of helping people see our sites in new lights – I urge you to find this inner light for yourself during this time. Although we cannot surround ourselves with interested guests, we can still help our friends and families through this time with our skills. Help them see the light at the end of the tunnel, there is one. we may have to slog through the dark for a long time before we reach it but knowing that the light is there can help us keep going.
We, interpreters, have ways to be social in our isolation, if you use social media please check out these pages:
I also highly suggest this article from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Even if you aren’t a bird person it might help you think creatively for ways to handle this time.
There is some upcoming AMI business that will need to be handled in the near future, look for emails soon! If you need us to email you at a different address due to changes in work email availability please let us know and we will handle that.
Sincerely,
Jordanya Raos
AMI President
2019 AMI Conference Program
This PDF will function as a paperless Conference Program that allows attendees to bounce between schedules, session descriptions, maps, and keynote.
2019-AMI-Conference-Program-Electronic2-1
“Let your Resources Roar!” Keynote Speaker: John Cunning
John says his work in parks started when he was four years old when his family visited the Grand Canyon. He picked up litter in the picnic area and could trade a bag of litter for ice-cream. Throughout his 34-year career with Missouri State Parks, he worked as a historic site manager, a museum director, and as director for the Resource Management and Interpretation Program. In 2013, John was awarded AMI’s Outstanding Professional Interpreter in and NAI Region 6’s Distinguished Professional Interpreter. John has helped plan and has been a trainer at the annual Spring Interpreter School for many years. He has presented living history programs as a snake oil salesman in a 1870s medicine show, guided countless historic building tours, interpreted Tom Benton’s capitol mural to Chinese diplomats, and interpreted interpretation to elected and appointed officials. And he loved just about every minute of it.
Now retired, John started a consulting business (Heritage Interpretation Services LLC), works part-time with an estate sale management company, and is planning a few motorcycle trips.