Teaching in the Outdoors (class journal)

Below me ferns spread rising and splayed to meet the sun, star shaped flowers and vines creep along under their cover. Lichen spreads lazily on the rock, the wind picks up and I hear bugs buzzing, trees rustling and it almost sounds like running water. A big black ant crawls across my smudge painting, a spider starts and stops hesitatingly on the rock face, in a hauntingly mechanical manner. A dragon fly sits for a moment on a leave then another, then rests beside me.

Beetles, bees, ants, moths and butterflies dance in and out of view, in and out of earshot. Above my head a dead pine reaches up into the cloudless sky like the bristles of an inverted broom, as poplars and aspen flutter in a high breeze. Dots of yellow buttercups on the ground in the grass are navigated by bees ad butterflies in a lazy but precise path. A green caterpillar inches up my leg, then arm to check me out.

I can feel the weather chance as a cold breeze seems across my exposed skin. I am in awe of how many bugs and plants and flowers I've never stopped to watch or hear. How many different buzzes, flicks, whines, flutters, rustles, chirps, peeps and whistles there are to hear, and how many more I do not yet hear, awaiting to be heard.

Interviewing... the pressure!

So this morning I got all "spruced" up and drove to Wells, Maine for an interview for a practicum opportunity. Perhaps I should back up. Through my grad program at Antioch, we are required to take a total of 8 credits as a practicum or internship. Usually this is done as 2 credits in the summer, 2 in the fall and 4 in the spring. The practicum consists of 150 hours per two credit practica which is quite reasonable. I've been looking at programs in the seacoast area both because its a shorter drive and I've got a background in marine biology, so the coast is a natural choice. I have been a little behind in finding a practicum because of other academic work, so it was awesome when a fellow classmate recommended one for me. "It would be perfect for you!" she said.

And boy was she right. I went to Wells to interview at the Wells Natural Esturarine Research Reserve for an environmental education position. The position itself involves being a second teacher for their young kid day long programs and their older week long programs for kids from 9-12. The topics are fun, the courses are outdoors and the camp is exceptionally education focused.

I got on well with th director that I ws interviewing with, and though I have little experience with direct teaching of kids, I think I deomonstrated that I knew a lot about estuaries, bogs, oceans, intertidal areas and that I didn't mid getting muddy.

She said she was interviewing a couple of people this week - I know of at least one more from Antioch - and that she'd give a call at the end of the week.

Thankfully, I have a lot to do this week, so it'll keep my mind of the suspense.

After the interview I walked around the place and it was absolutely gorgeous. I hope that I get the position and that I can come back with my camera to take pictures of the place. It was the first day in a while that it wasn't rainy, and I saw all kinds of wildlife. I saw deer tracks, coyote scat, a garter snake, birds, seagulls, swallows, ducks, fish, butterflies, flowers - it was so picturesque and perfect.

Wish me luck!

Spring?

Ahh spring break is here, but I say that with the most sarcastic of all "ahhs." I'm not really getting a chance to relax this spring break, but I am a little encouraged that I'll have some time to catch up on what I'm reading - it's all quite interesting, I have just had little time to work it into my schedule lately.

Spring pops its head out every now and then here, though I'm completely jet-lagged by daylight savings time from this past weekend. I think I've said this before on this blog, but I'd much rather allow my body to naturally adjust to the few minutes difference in the timing of the sunrises and sunsets throughout the year than I the thought of being so jarringly thrown back into darkness.

I did see a robin this past friday, which for me is a sure sign that spring is on its way. Though, now it's 22 degrees out again, so my green suede coat will have to wait a few more weeks to break out of the closet.