Each day that I teach, I learn more about myself, and how to interact with my students. This weekend was far from exception. The girls that I taught this week were strong, powerful ones with so much ahead of them in their future. They taught me the importance of connecting.
Today I ended a three day EE program with a group of Girl Scouts from St. Paul. I have to say, I began the weekend in a state of mind that lead me to feel as if I needed a day off, and this weekend seemed fun, but also seemed as if it could be a little draining. The girls seemed fun enough and were all energetic and well-behaved, I just wasn't sure how much energy I was going to have. I began teaching on Saturday morning already exhausted even after a full night's sleep and felt instantly rushed. This feeling remained throughout the entire day. I was teaching many classes and had less than feasible amounts of time in which to do it. I was having fun, but found myself getting frustrated at the same time with the constant time crunch.
On the other hand, these girls were very knowledgeable and inquisitive. I was very excited about the conversations we were able to have. They all had very interesting questions which allowed me to give them more information than I would give the average group. This happens to be my favorite type of teaching moment. I only wish there had been more time for that. I especially was grateful for the excellent conversation we ended up having on the man made water cycle. One of these days, I will blog about that. That great conversation ended when we got into the possibility of drinking Jesus's pee...you don't want to know. I just let the conversation wander with good information until this point...
On the completely unrelated note of teaching methods, it feels good when you get a group that doesn't need all the extra props in order to learn effectively. It's always good to throw a game or two in there, and to keep them active, but when you can keep them that engaged and learning just by sitting in a chair and asking questions... It's one of those things I live for. It makes me think that maybe I should be working with somewhat older kids. I might be able to have more impact. The maturity level of the students that comes with those who are purely entertained for 45 minutes at a time (you can see that they are genuinely not bored) is not all that common in younger students. Unfortunately, I find that it is more common in students who are more economically fortunate. What then, about those who are not? I think maybe that it's time to give them the credit of NOT assuming they will need the extra props all the time and try that conversation out on them. I'm certainly not saying that all kids learn through simple conversation, but how will you ever know if you're always trying to entertain them with media and games rather than teach them?
Anyway, back to the Girl Scouts. So we ended the night with Owls and got into a discussion about adaptations of all kinds of animals based on the owl adaptations. They ended up learning that many dog species are not necessarily natural and that many are bred to what humans see as helpful to THEM, not to the dogs. Hence the ridiculous (but cute) ears on the basset hound.
I came back in the morning to set up and grab a bit of breakfast, and found that my group had not yet made it to breakfast 15 minutes after they should have been. I went to see what was going on, and it turned out they were handling a sad situation. A few other groups were there, and it turns out that some felt it would be a good idea to eat the snacks that my group had left in their room. I felt pretty horrible but wasn't sure what to do other than contact my boss. It was a little disheartening that this happened. You would think you would be safe and able to trust those who are on camp. In our case that was not true, but it ended happily, which is why I chose to even include it in this entry. The three young men who had taken the goods were mature enough to step up and apologize for exactly what they had done individually. It takes courage to face those who may be looking at you negatively and try to make it right. I never did meet those boys myself, but I'm proud of them, regardless. They did the right thing, and I'm absolutely positive that it will be a lesson they won't soon forget, and may even help them to become better leaders themselves, after having handled it so well.
Once our kitchen staff helped by making my group some special hot chocolate for breakfast, they were in much better spirits. I also made a point to let them know that I had looked up all the questions I promised that I would and gave them those answers as well. They were instantly cheery again. :)
What did they want to know? They had and array of questions like:
- What is the larger part (turns out to be the clitellum) of a worm?
- Why is the St. Croix River so wide where we are?
- How EXACTLY do fish breathe?
Once all was sorted out, we finally got back to class, which now had been cut even shorter than it already was. We skimmed through Minimal impact, but had yet another great discussion on what environmental problems there are in the world, and what the solutions were. I absolutely needed to make sure that this class became a positive, not only because morale was a little low based on last night's events, but also because I had watched a National Geographic special the night before that was possibly the most depressing environmental movie I have ever seen in my life. It made me feel like the only solution was to wipe my horrible human self off the planet. I, of course, have no actual inclination to do such a thing, but one can see how helpful that morbid solution would be after watching this movie.
So that entire class basically consisted of them giving me solutions to what they saw as problems. Ones that THEY could do. Solutions are not just for adults. I always feel that this is important to stress. Empowerment is key.
The day ended with Aquatic Ecology, and I couldn't have been happier. We spent most of that time digging in the pod for macro invertebrates. When I noticed that some just weren't digging in the muck, and therefore weren't finding anything, I incorporated a...well, declaration.
I loudly stated that I was not afraid to get my hands dirty, and ran my finger in some nearby pond mud, making sufficiently dirty marks on each cheek. "If you are not afraid to get your hands dirty either, be a warrior with me!" Each and every girl became a warrior, even the one who had made the earlier statement that she was "someone who liked to keep clean". In fact, it was this girl who later said, "I need more mud!", just before she added another scoop to her cheeks. I couldn't have been prouder of them.
We then talked about their best moment, their worst, and what they looked forward to (aka rose, thorn and bud). It was a very positive ending. I sat with them for lunch as well, and was asked to fill out a questionaire...something about coke or pepsi in the title? I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but did it anyway. It was somewhat of a personality test anyway, in kid terms. I left to take care of some business, and when I came back, I was informed that they had given me a 99 out of 5 (!) on the survey done by them about my teaching.
They also honored me with some other goodies I couldn't help but feel pretty good about. The connections I will soon have to Thailand were very interesting to them, and they have now asked if I would keep them updated on my travels, as well as to try to set up a pen pal system between the kids I will work with there and the ones I had this weekend. What a cool idea! One of the GS leaders also asked me if I would do a presentation about my teaching at their school. If that wasn't flattering enough, the girls also informed me that they have to do a cultural table each year at a Festival, and they chose (you guessed it) Thailand! I plan on getting them a really cool souvenir for their display, and as much information as I can. I am completely honored, and see sooo much potential in these girls.
This weekend was, for the most part, an Environmental Educator's dream. I will now get to have a lasting connection and influence. This doesn't happen as often as you would think in my field based on child protection systems. It is completely up to the adults acting as liaisons to other adults acting as liaisons in order to keep in contact with kids now a days, and you can't just go writing them letters directly, no matter how angelic your intentions may be. I feel very lucky to have that opportunity, even if it is only seven girls. Those seven will hopefully carry on what I've given them. That's the best I can hope for, and it certainly becomes much more likely if I am able to continue my education beyond a two and half day period.
I end this day feeling at peace and energized for upcoming groups. I hope that if anyone else reading this is also in EE, they remember, like I did this weekend, that their most powerful tool is connecting with people on a personal level. You and your influence will less likely stick if you are spouting facts and dissociating your SELF from them. In the last couple of weeks, I have learned the importance of networking. I say this not just in terms of my career, but in terms of my soul.
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