Whoops…. Forgot to Get on Here…..

Well then…. looks like I seem to be a tad forgetful and need email reminders to post….. huh. Ah well.

Since I last posted I can say that a lot has happened! I have successfully taught 2 different classes by myself! They included a pond class, A candle making and wagon packing class. I have also lead groups around for GPS classes.

Now, onto the first one. The pond class was relatively straightforward. The class walked down to the pond (which is really a lake, but it has the same invertebrates) and I then gave a small explanation about why it is a lake and not a pond, then we talked about adaptations of the flora and fauna in the aquatic environment. After I finished talking, that’s when the fun began! The children were let loose with nets and buckets to catch critters! I also grabbed a net and bucket, after all, the teacher needed to interact with the kids and have fun too! I also needed to make sure that we caught some important critters. After we finished catching stuff, we brought it all back to the big bucket and combined it together. Students were then asked to identify some of the critters with guide books we provided. After all that was done, we moved to wrap up the lesson and walked back to the assembly building.

The candle making class was less active, but still entertaining. first, earlier that morning, we had set up cans of wax around a fire to melt down. this took a couple hours. Then when the students arrived, we gave them a small piece of cotton string and talked about what people in the 1800s who were planning to move west of the Mississippi had to prepare for and what they did when they got there. after we had finished that, the students got up and formed a line behind a can of wax. The line was to give each student a chance for the wax to cool on their string. If they dipped for too long in the wax, they would just melt off the wax that they already had on it. While they were doing this, we talked about what candles are made of and what the frontiersmen used for wax. (beeswax and animal fat). when they finished making their candles, we sat the kids back down, and talked about the journey itself. This was something that took very little time, as the next activity was simply putting checks on a page. Wagon packing was just making a list of stuff we provided with the weight of each item, as there was a 400 pound limit on what they could bring.

there were other classes that we taught but I will summarizes those throughout this week as I will be mostly cleaning the office and doing chores around the DBOC. This is because the groups that are supposed to come out have all cancelled because of the flooding.

The Schools Can Sometimes be Interesting. Also I’m Designing a Trail (or Two)

Over the first week and a half of working out here at the DBOC, I have made what I believe to be a very important piece of information. The schools that come out to SNR have a very different idea about how to learn about outdoor education. Only one of the schools seemed to have any idea of what was going on around the area. Funnily enough, it was the second graders. The 5th and 8th graders couldn’t care less about what was happening here. their interest was finally peaked when we actually took part in the classes. I helped teach pond to both the second graders, and as far as I could tell, the 2nd graders knew more than the 8th graders did! I found this interesting as I noted that the 2nd graders came from a school that seemed to be similar to TFS in the younger grades. It was not however a Montessori school.

After the two pond classes I have helped with, I do believe that I would be able to co-teach one of these classes.

As a side note, I have also been researching information for an pair of interpretive trails that will be built around the area. One will pass near a small pond that only shows up when we have had intense rain (like in the past week), and the other will go through the wooded area behind the cabins.

The trail by the pond will be an animal focused trail, with information about beavers, woodpeckers, deer, frogs and other local animals. The other trail will be plant based with information relating to native trees and medicinal plants in the area that we will try to locate. Due to the interests of my supervisor, It will also have an area that is devoted to mushrooms. Mainly morels during the spring and other more common fungi during the summer and fall.

My afternoon of yesterday consisted of me doing an activity which I normally going out of my way to avoid. Gardening. I helped transplant some plants from areas where they were doing maintenance on the trails, and the most interesting plants were probably the may-apples, which are very interesting, umbrella like plants.

I can say with great confidence that I greatly enjoy what I am doing out here.

First Two Days at SNR

My first two days at Shaw nature reserve were spent at the Dana Brown Overnight Center (DBOC). My main focus was shadowing the class leaders. Unfortunately, due to the rain, we had to change our original lesson plan to one that had an indoor aspect. It was supposed to be a series of classes about living off the land and forest ecology. The themes were still there, but it was dry. We had a class on cordage, which was the making of cords from plant fibers. We also had a wagon packing class. This was an idea where the students were given a sheet of paper with a list of supplies, and they then had to limit their “wagon” to 400 pounds of stuff. This class was to show the students how easy they have it today, and how the settlers had to know how to do everything they needed to in order to survive.

The second day consisted of the original outdoor classes. These included woodworking and candle making. I spent the day at the woodworking station where the students split rails, smoothed shingles and used a two-handed saw. My main job was to make sure that no one hurt themselves. In the afternoon, we (the staff and interns) split up with separate groups and helped lead them on a GPS scavenger hunt. I greatly enjoyed my first two days and I can’t wait to continue this project more.

 

 

March 7th, 2017. Summary

During my project, I will be spending the entirety of the 6 weeks at Shaw Nature Reserve as a student volunteer and assistant. I will be working mainly with school groups and learning how to teach several classes, including wetlands, prairie and some night classes, including astronomy and nighthikes. I will also be working with people who work on trail maintenance. Along with the trails, I will also be working on upkeep of the buildings and facilities. With this time I will hopefully learn about ecology and more about teaching large groups of people, as I intend to hopefully work with people as a future career.