Teaching Reflections
Reflections on teaching experience:
Over the course of teaching kindergartners and first graders, I have gained more confidence educating, managing, and playing with children. From the first in-class lesson, I felt overwhelmed by the children’s energy and was worried that I would not be able to manage a group so squirmy and excited on the field trip to Mount Pisgah. Ironically, I did feel overwhelmed on the first field trip, but it was due to the difficult challenge of ramping up the students’ enthusiasm for our activities in the pouring rain. I came to the conclusion that kids drain my energy, and that I am just no good with them. Luckily, and kind of unexpectedly, the subsequent field trips felt better each time around. I learned how to be more engaged with the students, by embracing my inner child and engaging with my surroundings. To inspire children (or anyone) to connect with nature, you have to be inspired by it. I worked in groups of 4 to 8, and while less students is more manageable, more students is more fun. If you get a bigger group with an energy that matches yours, the fun and learning takes off naturally, and it is hard not to smile the whole time.
Over the course of teaching kindergartners and first graders, I have gained more confidence educating, managing, and playing with children. From the first in-class lesson, I felt overwhelmed by the children’s energy and was worried that I would not be able to manage a group so squirmy and excited on the field trip to Mount Pisgah. Ironically, I did feel overwhelmed on the first field trip, but it was due to the difficult challenge of ramping up the students’ enthusiasm for our activities in the pouring rain. I came to the conclusion that kids drain my energy, and that I am just no good with them. Luckily, and kind of unexpectedly, the subsequent field trips felt better each time around. I learned how to be more engaged with the students, by embracing my inner child and engaging with my surroundings. To inspire children (or anyone) to connect with nature, you have to be inspired by it. I worked in groups of 4 to 8, and while less students is more manageable, more students is more fun. If you get a bigger group with an energy that matches yours, the fun and learning takes off naturally, and it is hard not to smile the whole time.
The more and more I went out on these field trips, the more confidence I got allowing the activities to be flexible and catered to the interests of the group. This is definitely an important part of teaching environmental education, but one thing I needed to be better at was finding the balance of flexibility and staying on track with the schedule. I got caught up in what they wanted to see and talk about that I did not follow the schedule very well, cutting out important activities and shortening the crucial sit spot and journalling time. Finding this was balance more difficult than I imagined, and I believe this important skill comes with practice.
Reflections on teaching evaluations:
Overall, the teachers and chaperones were very pleased that we brought the students to spend a day learning at Mount Pisgah. When I had one of the teachers in my group, she gave me some valuable lessons on managing her wild students. She told me not to be afraid to tell them to stop running or to hold their own water bottle. At first, I felt bad about disciplining kids that weren’t mine, but I eventually had to. They would listen to me and still like me! Group management is one of the most important skills I learned throughout these field trips.
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Adam's Elementary school loves the Restoring Connections program. This is what their Principal, Kevin Gordon has to say:
Q: What are some things you have noticed in or heard from students after their field trips to Mount Pisgah? A: Kids come back beaming, even in the pouring rain. Some say, “I’ve been to Mount Pisgah before, but never like this.” Kids mentioned doing sit spots and practicing listening in their own backyards. They gain skills and have the opportunity to appreciate nature fully. [Restoring Connections] inspires kids to spend more time outdoors and unplug. Some kids are always plugged in at home, such as on the tv or ipads, and it’s really powerful to get them outside. Q: How does Restoring Connections fit in with your Adam's Elementary? A: [Restoring Connections] fits in great with us. We are a Premier Green School, and are very proud of that. The experiences kids have with ELP preserves nature and encourages environmentally conscious behaviors at school, such as composting and recycling, and our School Garden Project which we are hoping to expand to all the grades. Their attitudes help to protect Mount Pisgah for the future. |
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Our project manager Kassandra and project director Katie, both gave us constructive feedback after the field trips and in-class lessons.
For the field trips, timing was a troublesome component during the field trip - such as when one group walked past my group two separate occasions as we were sit spotting, which disturbed the solidarity of the activity. Going back over the curriculum, we found the timings that were off and adjusted them, so our final kinder field trip went smoothly. Another large comment was that we needed to improve our inquiring skills to get the students thinking more. By the end of the field trips, I recall Katie excitedly telling us how our inquiring skills improved so much, and that we really engaged the students’ curiosity.
For the in-class lessons, one comment Katie gave me was to not trail off at the end of my sentences because I would lose the students’ attention multiple times. Another comment was that my transition from telling the story to having them go to their desks to do the activity was messy since I tried giving instructions as they all went back to their desks, but they all talked over me and most students didn’t hear the instructions. The second time I did an in-class field trip, I took her feedback and the lesson went along much more naturally. I kept my voice steady and kept their attention the whole time. This is hard for me since I generally am a quiet and unauthoritative person, but practicing keeping the attention of these students really boosted my confidence. As for transitioning from story to activity, I kept the students in the circle after story time and explained the activity in a recipe style manner while demonstrating what I wanted them to with the activity sheet. Making sure they understood everything I told them, I sent them back to their desks to do the activity and there was overall much less confusion.
For the field trips, timing was a troublesome component during the field trip - such as when one group walked past my group two separate occasions as we were sit spotting, which disturbed the solidarity of the activity. Going back over the curriculum, we found the timings that were off and adjusted them, so our final kinder field trip went smoothly. Another large comment was that we needed to improve our inquiring skills to get the students thinking more. By the end of the field trips, I recall Katie excitedly telling us how our inquiring skills improved so much, and that we really engaged the students’ curiosity.
For the in-class lessons, one comment Katie gave me was to not trail off at the end of my sentences because I would lose the students’ attention multiple times. Another comment was that my transition from telling the story to having them go to their desks to do the activity was messy since I tried giving instructions as they all went back to their desks, but they all talked over me and most students didn’t hear the instructions. The second time I did an in-class field trip, I took her feedback and the lesson went along much more naturally. I kept my voice steady and kept their attention the whole time. This is hard for me since I generally am a quiet and unauthoritative person, but practicing keeping the attention of these students really boosted my confidence. As for transitioning from story to activity, I kept the students in the circle after story time and explained the activity in a recipe style manner while demonstrating what I wanted them to with the activity sheet. Making sure they understood everything I told them, I sent them back to their desks to do the activity and there was overall much less confusion.
