Canyon Wren .Org LLC
Where People, Environment, and Learning Converge
ABOUT US &
CanyonWren.Org LLC
For us, home is the Rio Grande’s watershed. From its highest mountain tops to its cottonwood and willow lined riverside forests, the landscape creates many of our classrooms and work spaces. There, across its ecological and human communities, we work with students, teachers, schools, social-profit organizations, and government entities to create and support opportunities for people, environment, and learning to converge.
Cathy Bailey
Multiple Subject Teacher. For 30 years Cathy's exemplary work as an elementary, middle, and high school classroom teacher earned her the enduring respect of her students, their parents and guardians, her colleagues, and administrators. Although Cathy has taught across and developed and implemented student-centered, hands-on curriculum across a variety of disciplines, most of her classroom career focused on being a middle school science teacher.
High Energy and Effective Educator. Cathy’s students have used hand-tools to dig down and find the riverside water table, turned dirt lots into gardens, and slid down sand dunes and climbed up volcanic basalt, all of which grounded students in their world. Her students built rockets, directly interacted with astronomers, and came to understand the formulas to use when calculating how to keep something in orbit – which is to say, she taught her students how to reach for the stars. From the ground beneath their feet to the sky above, Cathy’s students are always exploring the universe and their place in it.
Attentive to Individual Student Needs. To be one of Cathy’s students has always meant a person is known, seen for who they are, challenged to become the best version of themselves, and provided with individualized teaching. Cathy’s expertise in supporting student achievement and helping students master writing, reading, math, and learner assisting technologies has been honed in both one-on-one and classroom settings. No student of hers is lost in a crowd. Cathy, drawing on decades of experience as a lifeguard and water safety instructor, understands that every child is precious and deserves her full attention.
School Leader. Arriving at Albuquerque’s Bosque School in its second year, Cathy embraced the opportunity to guide the creation of a school, its curriculum, culture, stated and lived values, outdoor education programs, and sports teams. Across 26 years she served in a wide variety of positions including as a middle and high school science department leader, grade level dean, and member of key accreditation and hiring committees.
Faith-based Steward and Listener. Across more than 20 years Cathy has and continues to hold leadership positions in her faith community at the congregation, regional, and national levels. She has particular expertise in helping congregations going through transitions as well as listening carefully to them as she assists them discern what sort of work that they are called to do.
Social Profit Board Member and Officer. Cathy was an early board member and officer in the start-up Environmental Education Association of New Mexico. She also held similar positions for more than 8 years on the board of a well-established regional conservation organization with a multi-million-dollar budget.
Daniel Shaw
Environmental Educator. In June 1979, while working as a mountain guide in northern New Mexico, Daniel stopped a group of his backpackers in the middle of a stream they were crossing. He than had them flip over a few rocks and consider the aquatic macro-invertebrates living there and what the tiny animals could tell those hikers about the water quality. Ever since, Daniel has employed the landscape at hand to guide discovery and learning for thousands of learners in both formal and informal educational settings.
Educational Innovator. For greater than 25 years Daniel’s classrooms have been learning laboratories. His students design and carry out original investigations. They regularly present their findings at scientific meetings. His classes have functioned as the testing grounds for his oft stated purpose, of having, “school kids do science that matters beyond the classroom.” After designing, pilot testing, and refining curriculum and community science experiences for his students, Daniel often takes the best and most replicable activities and scales them up to be used by tens of thousands of other students.
Curriculum Developer and Program Leader. Daniel has been and remains a collaborative developer and program leader for substantive environmental education programs. He likes very much that the prefix “co-” sits at the front end of many of the job titles he has held. He is the cofounder and for more than 20 years he was a co-leader for a community science (citizen science) program along the Rio Grande that by the time he handed off those duties to others, it had a staff of 20 full and part-time employees, a $1million annual budget, was gathering more than a million data points a year, and had reached over 100,000 participants. All of this was accomplished through a lattice-work of partnerships both within and beyond the organization.
Author and Creator. Daniel has written or co-authored more than 50 technical, general interest, wildlife, and other publications, including several environmental books for young people. Additionally, his photography and other creative works focus on wildlife and the environment.
Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Director. For more than 40 years Daniel has been some combination of firefighter and/or New Mexico licensed Emergency Medical Technician. This includes five years as a county district fire chief, 15 years leading a school-based EMS program, and more than 30 as an emergency response instructor.
Award Winning Educator and Community Member. A wide range of entities have presented Daniel with various awards. This includes state and national recognition for his classroom teaching, environmental education accomplishments, and coaching, as well as state and county level awards for his work as a wildlife professional, riparian researcher, and firefighter. Though the honors he treasures most are the thank you notes he receives from his students.