They were all rockstars.

After a tough week where the students were younger than planned for and the counselors were all new and uncomfortable, I feel as if all of the stars have aligned and the magic we perform here at outdoor school has multiplied tenfold.

Of course, let me start by saying that watching counselors make improvements last week was both satisfying, eyeopening, and educational for me.  I started the week by watching three counselors stumble over the word deciduous.  By the end of the week we were covering all of the information possible and keeping the kids engaged, for the most part.  Counselors were young, and I trust if they came back in a year, they would be much more smooth.  The basic results of the week were an exhausted head, a warm heart and a deep hope for a week that made a little more sense and proved to me why this whole system will make a difference.

Now, this week looks to be exactly what I hoped for.  Our students are bright and about 90% polite.  The counselors that I have for my field study are all friendly, enthusiastic and mature.  For many of them, it's their first time.  For all of them, they are already catching the attention of these wily sixth graders and getting them excited to learn about "dirt, buggies and green stuff" in the cold windy coastal forest.  I can't work magic, as I proved last week, but I think I'm getting the hang of motivation and quick teaching methods.  This week, with the right bunch of students who can contribute their bright personalities, we are working magic together and it feels amazing.

Trusting the Process

Today our group of kids coming in for Outdoor School was much bigger than last weeks, and I have to admit that I was a little scared about how I would be able to handle the extra attention needed.  The kids came and sat down for lunch after they hiked the long road into camp, and seemed a little rambunctious.  It worried me because I heard from many people that out last batch of students were unusually fantastic, and I am unsure about how unruly 6th graders can get.  Luckily for me, as soon as my first group of kids started up the hillside, it became apparent that they were not only bright, but also eager to learn.  I'm learning to trust the process; teaching and hiking have gone together as long as humans have existed, I figure.

Teaching is Stories

Here is a quick description of my job:

I arrive at camp (school) and there is a smart group of high school folks, high school grads, and college students who are playing counselors for the week.  I have about 4 hours to teach them my lesson plan for the forest field study.  If they were simply helping me in a classroom, this would seem like a good amount of time.  However, my field study is a hike through the coastal forest in which each counselor will teach about 80% of my field study.  This is necessary because taking 30 kids on a trail and teaching to all of them at once is obviously an impossible task.  So...

I find the easiest way to teach my lesson plan to the counselors is making as much of the material as possible into stories.  We have the "lichen" story, the "hemlock" story, the "succession" story, and some others that are both short and long.  Most counselors will have a much easier time remembering a story which highlights a lesson than remembering some list of scientific facts.  Because of this little discovery, which I'm sure has been made a million times before, I am going to do my best to compile a group of stories which will hopefully cover the majority of my field study topics.  The key is to make them simple enough to remember while also being able to expand and include details during or after the story.

In other news, my first week teaching at outdoor school went swimmingly.  I had a fabulous group of counselors working with me, a few of which had been counselors before and were real help.  The students were from Klamath Falls and were so eager to learn I'm afraid that students in the coming weeks will pale in comparison.  I suspect that they are similar to students everywhere with their wide eyes and curious minds.  I am excited to continue designing my lesson plan to make our studies run more smoothly for weeks to come.

Now, I need to worry about remembering how to play and sing some songs on my guitar and how to tuck a homesick child into bed.

Getting Ready To Move and Shake

After spending the beginning of 2010 in a cobb hut on Lopez Island, Washington, I have found a direction, however temporary. Beginning on March, 15th, I am going to be teaching 6th graders about forest ecology at my childhood sanctuary, Camp Westwind.

Camp Westwind is located between Lincoln City and the Salmon River, just south of Cascade Head. In fact, when picture's of "Cascade Head" are placed on popular Oregon Calendars, it is usually a picture of Camp Westwind taken from Cascade Head.

I finished college with a BA in Environmental Studies / Conservation Biology.  I took many