Who We Are -->Diane Gordon
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Diane Gordon brings a lifetime of experience and education to her passionate work to get children connected to nature from an early age. She grew up in England during and after the war, where the lack of structure gave her the freedom to enjoy a free-range childhood in the fields and bluebell woods of East Anglia. It was there that she developed her love of nature and the importance of connecting to it. Educated and trained as an early childhood/kindergarten teacher, her first position was in a one-room schoolhouse where she quickly experienced the benefits of taking her children outside daily, even in the inclement English weather! |
She came to California with her family in 1968, and since then has been heavily involved in a wide range of educational and social programs. She has been an educator and children's advocate, with focus on nature, early childhood issues, parent education and family literacy. She helped develop and present resilience seminars for teen girls and their mothers in East Palo Alto; developed and directed a Vietnamese/Hispanic Parent Literacy Program in cooperation with Head Start in San Jose; and for many years trained adult and family literacy tutors for several programs.
Diane has developed and presented programs for parents and educators that address the physical, emotional, social and academic imperative for children to experience and bond with the natural world. She has published articles addressing issues facing children and youth, and has presented many workshops across the US. As a long-time volunteer with Hooked on Nature, Diane receives no personal remuneration for her work. All fees go to support the educational work of the organization, where she is the Director of Children, Nature and You Programs. Her workshops, especially “Plant a Seed, Grow a Reader” have been featured at early childhood education conferences, at libraries, and at many parent and in-service pre-school teacher workshops throughout and beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. She has also been featured together with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, on the local radio call-in program “Childhood Matters”.
Diane has three children, five grandchildren and a year-old great-grandchild who loves to be outside! Her husband Roy also volunteers with her in Children, Nature and You, and is a community and court mediator. |
