During my experience at School of the Wild, I was fortunate to see both the gardening session and the wetlands session. During the gardening session, the instructor, Jason showed the students different types of plants that are grown in the garden (Photo included). He discussed the life cycles of the different plants and what they need in order to survive. I thought the instructor did a great job discussing new terms with students and thoroughly explaining the terms. After he discussed different plants such as Pa pas, various types of peppers, garlic, basil, and tomatoes, he taught the proper way to pick the vegetables and let everyone try them. After he discussed the plants, he cut up some summer squash, garlic and basil and let everyone try it. I thought letting everyone try the different vegetables allowed students to make a connection with the food (Photo included). I also thought this was a great opportunity to teach students about the different life cycles of plants. Jason thoroughly explained that plants could either be an annual, perennial, or biennial. He provided students with examples of each type, which I thought was extremely beneficial. He also had the student repeat the terms after he said them, to help their pronunciation of the terms. I thought the information that was shared was presented and explained great, however, I would have liked for the experience to be more interactive with the students. I thought it was a very long time to be standing and listening to someone speak, and although it was very informative, I think a interactive lesson or game would enhance students; learning. Within the, “Environmental Education in the Schools” article, there are 5 objectives for environmental education. These objectives include awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills and participation. I think the objective that was most successfully met during the gardening session was knowledge. The knowledge objective states, “help students acquire a basic understanding of how the environment functions, how people interact with the environment, and how issues and problems dealing with the environment arise and how they can be resolved” (Braus & Wood, 3). I thought Jason did a great job providing students with knowledge about the garden. He also shared with students’ issues that could arise during gardening and solutions to those issues. For example, Jason discussed the Three Sisters that are the agricultural crops of Native American groups in North America. These crops include squash, corn and beans. He explained the importance of each of these plants the connections they have to when and how they are planted. The information he provided to the students was age-appropriate. From this experience, I will take to my own future teaching the ability to provide students with hands-on materials to develop connections. I will also attempt to make connections between students’ lives and the material they are learning in the classroom. I believe with hands-on experiences and connections to real life, students will learn most efficiently.
I was also able to experience the wetlands session. During the wetlands session, we walked to a pond called Spider pond. This pond was very shallow and had ropes connecting to trees all around. The ropes are used to move the canoes that the students explore in (Photo included). 3 students and a teacher were able to explore on the canoe at a time with 2 canoes moving around the pond at a time. All students on the canoes were provided life jackets and nets to try and catch wildlife. In the pond the wildlife included fish, turtles and frogs. When we were on the canoe, we saw 2 frogs but were unsuccessful in catching them. There was also a lot of plant life in the pond. The instructor discussed the use of the ropes and not paddles to move around the pond with the students. Not only would the paddles disrupt the wildlife, the mud from the bottom of the pond would be moved around and disturb the environment. The instructor explained the different types of plants that are within the pond and displayed them to the students. I thought the students really enjoyed being on the canoes, however I think they became bored after awhile because we did not see much to catch. However, the group before us caught a bull-frog so when students were not on the canoes they were able to hold the bull-frog and the instructor taught the students about the frog (Picture Included). I believe the participation objective was thoroughly displayed in this session. The participation objective states to, “help students acquire experience in using their acquired knowledge and skills in taking thoughtful, positive actions toward the resolution of environmental issues and problems” (Braus & Wood, 3). In this session students were able to experience nature and use their knowledge to do their best attempt of catching wildlife. For example, students had to remember to be quiet and move slowly when trying to catch a frog or turtle. Students were required to use their prior knowledge in order to be successful in this session. As a future teacher I will always want to have a plan B in case the lesson I want to teach falls through. I think it is very important to be flexible and understand that things come up in the classroom. I also want to teach useful knowledge that students can use in their lives in the future.
Lesson: I originally signed up for the Birds session but because of different circumstances I ended up doing different sessions.
The Cycle of Bird
(Egg, Chick, Adult)
Tine McCracken
Procedure:
This activity is modeled after the game that many educators are familiar with, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Explain to students the three stages of a bird. For this activity each of these stages is represented by a movement or posture.
• Egg – holding your knees huddled near the ground
• Chick – crouching a bit taller than egg wiggling fingers
• Adult Bird- standing up straight, flapping wings
1. Practice the posture or movement for each life stage, repeating the name of the stage with the movement.
2. Once students understand the stages and how they can show what stage they are in, review the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
3. Rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Two players stand opposite each other and count to three. On three they both display a hand shape: Stone-fist, Scissors-two fingers stretched out like a pair of scissors, Paper-hand out flat. Stone beats scissors, scissors beat paper, and paper beats
stone.
4. All students begin the activity as eggs.
5. The winner of Rock, Paper, Scissors will advance into the next stage (egg to chick, chick to adult bird.) and searches for a new partner in that new life stage. Students must pair up with a similar life stage to play Rock, Paper, Scissors – egg with egg, chick with chick
6. The loser continues in the same stage and searches for another matching partner to play against until he wins and advances to the next life stage.
7. The activity continues until all or most students have reached the adult stage.
