What I have noticed the most while practicing my facilitation skills in the field during Canopy Connections 2015 is that I have become more attuned to my students needs and personalities. My reflections written directly after each field trip show a trend in my confidence growth with middle-school aged students, as well as comfort level with the curriculum.
Another trend I noticed in my reflections is my interest in each lesson plan. Often I would end the day feeling like I needed to change or tweak the way I taught a lesson in order to make it more interesting and fun, which I could then bring to the next week and see how students reacted. Doing this helped me to bring the theme of "Nurturing Naturalists" to life each week, because I would find places in the lesson plans to stop and take in the forest more fully.
My favorite moment during my time on the Canopy Connections team occurred in between lessons as we were walking to a new station. We stood in front of a fallen log, one that I had been standing in front of every week, and on this particular day, lots of bright orange bubble-like fungi had grown all over the surface of the log. Students could not contain their curiosity, and spent about five minutes observing them, poking at them (they were filled with bright orange goo!) and talking about them. Although I didn't know the name of them, we could drop what we were about to do and spend time in wonderment at these strange little pods. Then, all of a sudden, a student had the idea to record their findings of what the fungus looked like in their field notebooks, without any prompting from me. Not only was I pleased with the students for taking initiative and wanting to record their findings, I felt like I had facilitated a field trip that day that encouraged my group to become naturalists.
Overall, I found Canopy Connections 2015 to be an incredible growing experience, where I learned alongside students about the ecology of one of Oregon's old-growth forests.
Another trend I noticed in my reflections is my interest in each lesson plan. Often I would end the day feeling like I needed to change or tweak the way I taught a lesson in order to make it more interesting and fun, which I could then bring to the next week and see how students reacted. Doing this helped me to bring the theme of "Nurturing Naturalists" to life each week, because I would find places in the lesson plans to stop and take in the forest more fully.
My favorite moment during my time on the Canopy Connections team occurred in between lessons as we were walking to a new station. We stood in front of a fallen log, one that I had been standing in front of every week, and on this particular day, lots of bright orange bubble-like fungi had grown all over the surface of the log. Students could not contain their curiosity, and spent about five minutes observing them, poking at them (they were filled with bright orange goo!) and talking about them. Although I didn't know the name of them, we could drop what we were about to do and spend time in wonderment at these strange little pods. Then, all of a sudden, a student had the idea to record their findings of what the fungus looked like in their field notebooks, without any prompting from me. Not only was I pleased with the students for taking initiative and wanting to record their findings, I felt like I had facilitated a field trip that day that encouraged my group to become naturalists.
Overall, I found Canopy Connections 2015 to be an incredible growing experience, where I learned alongside students about the ecology of one of Oregon's old-growth forests.
"The tree was really fun but I liked sitting and writing the most."
-Benson, 6th grade, Fern Ridge Middle School
"I just liked being out in the forest all day!"