Teaching in the Outdoors - Day 1

Today was he first day of class for my Teaching in the Outdoors class. We've had a full, long day and as I write this I'm sitting in Panera bread (free wireless wohoo) sipping a chai and trying to remember the entire day as well as I can.

We started with the typical introductions, then went outside. The first activity was a silent walk, we walked from the entrance of the Harris Center to a tree-shaded lawn. As I listened to the typical noises of morning birds waking up to song, we all heard one that we weren't expecting. It went hoo-ho-ho-HOO... hoo-ho-ho-HOO and come to find out it was a pair of Bard Owls. How neat is that?! It's so rare for them to sing during the day so they must be gathering food for new chicks. I could tell that this would be one of those special classes at that. We played a few great group games before going down to the lower part of the field to journal using all of our senses (see previous entry for an excerpt).

Another neat activity followed when our teacher brought out paint swatches (the kind you can pick up at the Hardware store) and asked us to find that color in the open field below us. I first got yellow and found a yellow leaf and a dandelion, then a purple card had me picking other purple wildflowers. Each person in the class took their find and laid it out on a white bandanna, and it really tuned us into the colors other than the dominating green in the grass. I love how with the conscious attention of the mind, our senses can be so much sharper, more discriminating. Throughout the rest of the day I felt my eyes picking out sudden flashes of color - the yellow butterfly's wing glinting, the bright green beetle on the rock, the wildflowers within the grass.

After that, we were allowed to take plants in the area and smudge them onto small pieces of paper to make a drawing. I took an Indian Paintbrush and created what turned out to be a very beautiful sunrise (or sunset, depending on who you ask) behind mountains made with clover leaf smudging. I'll try to scan it if I get a chance.

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!