Closing Times

Well I felt like this last week of programing was a bit hetic just because there is so much going on in getting prepared to leave and end out master's program. But I had a good week. The all day group was fun, the kids were great and the teachers were hilarious! I loved when the teachers rapped at the camp fire and got all into it. Overall this week was great and the weather was fabulous. Alright good year.

All by myself

On Friday I got to work on exploring nature (LAST ONE!) and the teacher was really nice and had to leave a little early so it took off the pressure for filling afternoon time because we only had time for a tractor ride.

This whole practicum experience has been interesting. I am sure that I learned a lot about teaching but you always learn while you are experiencing so... I also learned more about how I like to work. I like to be included in planning and implementing not just being told what to do.

One thing I would suggest is that it should be clear what the expectations are for students. For one example on Friday it was very unclear that I had to organize the wagon. What is the expectation? Not always clear on that.

Another example is that I feel unprepared still for change of plans, when there is rain. This said I am not looking for a guide but more conversations and things. We have also never had a big discussion talk which is surprising to me because where I have worked it was a huge concern (not saying it hasn't happened but it is nice to be in the loop since we are working by ourselves sometimes)

Another suggestion would be to encourage the use of the gifts we bring and not expect us to do everything. I believe that in a masters program you can assume some previous knowledge and experience. I think it would be nice for the staff to know my gifts and not gifts and encourage those as well as new skills, but Paul is great at edible hikes so he does them.

See ya.

Rock Cycle= crazy.

Well I felt like today was a really crazy day. The kids were nuts and off the wall and it was really muddy and wet, which made it even more crazy. This was the first time I have done Rock Cycle this spring so I was a little rusty. The group came really early which never helps with things, I just got the projector up and running when the bus pulled in. I was the only ML person working with Fransis and Richard. But overall the day was good but like I said... crazy. I was in the pit which I now see having 2 people work in the pit is good. I wasn't able to crush the rocks and talk to the kids about what they were finding so = crazy. Then for lunch I had the kids go over to the farmstead and then after lunch we split up into 3 groups and went on nature hikes. I led my group over to Cub Lake to make sure I brought the hike back to talking about Geology. Anyway good day but I now see that it is ten times more helpful when there is more than 1 ML grad/staff person there. Crazy day.

p.s. I'm on Rock Cycle next tuesday for the long day and I really don't want to do it so if there was a kind soul that would switch me for WW. maybeI'll just ask Paul.

Ending...

One thing I think I did to encourage learning with my group of 2nd graders was be interested in what they were finding fascinating -the snails. After tasting garlic mustard, Bryce's question of the day was, "is that edible?", Julia was enthralled with the acorns, nuts she was finding and Ethan's hands had over 10 snails cupped within.
After Bill's class, I think more about slope, drainage, and all that.
There was some high energy in the group and balancing that was an opportunity to learn more about how to receive things and channel it.

One challenge for me that has surfaced up during my time interfacing with groups here has been the questioning of where am I from. It's not something I am used to in the context in which it unfolds here, so realizing that has assisted me in being aware of my surroundings and by virtue of that deepening my awareness for the place I am from. Today, the first question Carson had for me, after I introduced myself and was going to start things off was -What country are you from? I responded with Chicago and my roots being from the south and seg-wayed into look what Nature is all about -out here, species and the different families they belong to -what diversity means to an ecosystem.

Did my first water quality and enjoyed getting to know the trail opposite of the vernal pond. The size of homeschool groups obviously feeds a different energy for the day. I enjoyed my group of boys.

Older Kids

So I got to work 2 days with Black Hawk Christian school.

With the 6th graders it was really good with the morning group because there was time and I felt that I made the connection with the water quality. Making sure that I said the word diversity a lot to connect it with what they would do in the afternoon or what they did do. One way which may have been a fluke was that all the groups were spilt between males and females. That worked really well for 6th graders, less drama.

Something that I would do differently is be on the page with what was happening with the biodiversity program. I was a little surprised that the Carol and Leah were also going to the vernal pond. Because that was the only thing I was doing, it made me fell a little pointless after I heard that. But it turned out ok because the afternoon group was late getting to the water quality so the walk took longer than the dipping. I think if there was more communication between the water quality and biodiversity we would have been able to use their time more wisely, instead of doing the same thing twice.

I really like that vernal pond. We found lots of caddisflies, and they walked around the bottom of the pail.

Tanya

Black Hawk Christian School...oh my!

I'm still pretty tired today from working with the 6th graders from BH. Whew. They were so full of life and energy that it was REALLY difficult to keep them on track. The best time during the whole day was working at the vernal pond. Both groups LOVED that and I think could have stayed there all day. I am not really sure if they got what I was saying- but they sure were excited about what they were seeing! I spent some time looking at the owlets with them with binoculars. They really enjoyed hearing about how the crows and the owls fight- we could even hear them in the distance!
The previous day working with the same school, but the 9th graders, was fun. I wish we got more of that age group here to work with at Merry Lea. They were great dipping in the wetlands and really got competitive about how many creatures they were finding. I have to say, that day was much less exhausting than today....
One thing I could have done differently with the group today was to find different ways to get their focus on what we were looking at..i think toward the end, I got so tired that I probably aided to their craziness. Next time it will be better :)

ohhh my gwad... I'm so freakin excited.

Last Friday was one fun day for me.

Those 1st graders were sooooo cute! At one moment I had three little hands holding mine and it warmed my heart. And I got a lot of little hugs too. My group was really excited and never got bored. I was surprised how they just threw themselves into what we were learning. We turned over a bunch of logs and saw tons of earth worms. And then we got lucky and one girl found a red back salamander. My group also found a ting garter snake under a log.

The only concerns I had from this day was that since the group arrived 15 minutes early it meant for a 2 hour hike which turned out to be really long towards the end and my kids grew really tired and hungry. Maybe there could be other activities that we could do with the whole group in the beginning to split up the 2 hour hike? just a thought.