Jennifer's+Reflections

= First Walking Trip to the CVC = On Friday, February 10 I took my class on their first walking trip to the Island Lake Conservation Area since EarthKeepers in September. I was blessed to have two friends, colleagues, and outdoor-ed experts along for the trip. They were kind enough to take over the programming portion of the trip, leaving the logistics and behavioral management to me. It gave me a rare opportunity to see my students at work/play in the natural world.

We started and closed the trip by sitting on mats in a circle in the middle of our class. Walking in to this environment first thing in the morning signaled the students to expect a different kind of learning from the day. Closing the half-day trip with a circle allowed us to have our first real "knowledge-building circle" experience. Here is a list of key information from their collective knowledge post-trip:

We learned. . . - all about voles - scratching a twig to see if it's green underneath the bark will tell you it's alive (this green stuff is called the wick, though we don't know why) - branches that are dead above the snow layer could still have living roots below the ground, so don't rip them up - snow is a type of insulation for small animals - the layer between the hard snow and the ground is called the sub-nivian zone

We liked. . . - learning all about voles and their habitat - the pretty sights - doing sculptures from natural materials - Andy Goldsworthy's art (video watched the day before the trip) - that we only had 10 min to do the art - that was fun - that we got to use ANY material we could find in the forest (as long as it was dead)

We were surprised by. . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- being able to eat ceder seeds! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- that you can make real sculptures with stuff from the forest <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- the "warm body dance" (to get yourself warmed up when you're cold outside) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- the variety of materials we could find in the forest <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- that the shape of snowflakes can warn you of a coming snowstorm! <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- that you can see texture, colour and line in the forest <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information the students retained from the trip!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Strengths of the walking trip: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- high level of student interest <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- students demonstrated responsibility (for the most part) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- achieved the goal of education in, for and about the environment

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Weaknesses of the walking trip: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- I didn't do much of the leading in terms of program and so remain uncertain of how to run the program on my own <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- I get the sense that some students feel the journal is an onerous task that takes an otherwise fun morning and transforms it into a lot of work

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Questions: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- How can I best facilitate the journal reflections?