I teach so that my past experiences and knowledge can be shared with other people, and to help shape thoughts and opinions through the inclusion of a multitude of beliefs and practices. My teaching methods will attempt to close the gap between the built and natural environment, showing how the two are interconnected. The belief that the two are separate is one idea I wish to dispute so that compassion and empathy that people share for each other can be further exhibited in relation to natural areas and the species that inhabit them. To ensure my teaching methods are comprehensible by elementary school students, my curriculum will include activities that incorporate multiple intelligences (primarily visual, verbal, bodily-kinesthetic and naturalistic) and I will ask students to repeat instructions back to me to confirm understanding of activities. Lessons are taught in the classroom and at Mount Pisgah Arboretum (MPA) so that real-world connections are made with teaching materials and it enables students to use all of their senses to explore the subject material. This is a very direct way to make an environmental change, by getting them to acquire a sense of place and how we are all interconnected.
During one field visit at MPA, Restoring Connection team members were leading first-graders through an oak savanna when one child leaned down and called everyone over. The other children in the walking group ran over to find an animal print embodied in the mud. The students immediately wanted to know what animal the print belonged to. However, through the art of questioning, I decided to ask the students to name some features the animal might have. The students were initially frustrated, but the goal was not to determine what the animal was through direct identification. Rather, by prompting the children to ponder why the animal was in this habitat and what specific features enabled it to thrive there, they were actively learning through scientific inquiry. After doing this same questioning activity for several different plant species, students that had initially been shy, presumably due to fear of answering incorrectly, began to speak up.
Restructuring the lesson to remove the pressure of having a right or wrong answer increased students’ courage to speak up and note how the plants differed in their specific defining features. This enabled students of multiple intelligence levels to interject their opinions and become engaged in the curriculum. This activity allows students to use multiple senses to come to a consensus on why specific plants or animals reside in the oak savanna habitat and increases interest by enabling students to draw conclusions on their own by not immediately providing them answers. The interest in species at MPA increased as the field trip progressed, and after returning to fellow classmates for lunch, the recollection of species seen and their features was shared with excitement and passion.
Reflection on Teaching Experiences
Throughout this term, my knowledge and confidence in my teaching capabilities have improved immensely. Upon initial enrollment in this program, the thought of teaching classrooms of elementary students did not sound appealing, as my ability to speak in front of people has never been a strong suit of mine. However, as weeks progressed and I became more comfortable with my surroundings and the material I was teaching, I noticed my mannerisms beginning to flow more smoothly and interjections of my own style was witnessed when leading trails at MPA. The classroom lessons included around 25 students, while the field trips consisted of smaller groups with no more than 9 students per group. I found that when teaching in front of larger groups of students that it was easier to ask students to raise their hands to answer questions, noting once it was time to move on and that questions could be saved for the end if unanswered. In contrast, the field trips at MPA enabled the students to have more hands-on experience with the subject material and so their questions were sporadic and often without warning. So when out in the field, it was more beneficial to stop occasionally to note a specific feature or plant, and then have the students make careful observations without my interjection of facts too soon. This proved to work, as once the students knew the name of the species in question their interest in it began to falter. When the students were able to make their own observations, with the help of some inquiry, their brains were able to form more in-depth questions and theories to answer them. This program taught me not only how to be flexible and adapt to conditions that may change rapidly, but also how to adjust my teaching so that it can suit students of a variety of backgrounds and intelligence. The topics covered could range from looking at the parts of a flower to explaining what healthy pH of water means and indicates. Through the enactment of verbal, written, and active activities, students experienced multiple teaching strategies, learning which they understood and enjoyed most. In the future, one aspect I would change would be how I verbally interacted with the students. It was hard not to talk down to the students in the Kindergarten to Fourth Grade levels, and I found myself talking in a voice that I would not speak to adults in. Being able to treat these students as adults is one change I have been attempting to improve this term, with the need to consistently check in on how I talk to and treat the children. As the term progressed I began to improve my ability to interact with the children, such as focusing less on those students who were distracted or disruptive, and continuing the lesson for those that were invested, and I found the students attaining more respect for me and in turn, my teaching experience improves in strength and effectiveness.
Photo by: Kathryn Lynch
Reflection on Teaching Evaluations
Summary of student/teacher evaluations One of the greatest resources throughout the progression of this term was the accessibility to feedback from peers who directly witnessed my work. After each pre-trip and field trip, a debriefing session would occur so that any positive aspects could be recognized along with ways to improve my teaching experience in the future. Being able to go over these changes directly following lessons enabled me to apply these changes immediately and reform my teaching skills for the better. Upon leading one of my first field trips at MPA, I found my group testing boundaries and verbally expressing their disinterest in the activities. This was difficult to move past, but upon discussion with team members, I found that I needed to establish that I was the leader at the beginning of the day, indicating when necessary that those not listening were being disrespectful to me and that the lesson would not continue without their full attention. This was hard for some students to grasp, but the establishment of rules and guidelines at the beginning of field trips resulted in a more controlled and beneficial field trip. Having input from a variety of sources including fellow ELP students, project managers, teachers, mentors, and community partners only strengthened my capability to effectively educate the students. Without these outside inputs and critiques, my teaching abilities would be less rounded and my ability to adapt to trying situations, such as how to handle behavioral issues, would be poor. The consistent debriefing and brainstorming sessions have also enabled me to acquire the ability to effectively teach while still maintaining the inclusion of both types of environments. Achievement of this is evident with information and activities being implemented so that students can have a good time while simultaneously learning something new.
Summary of community partner evaluations In addition, our community partners (Mount Pisgah Arboretum and Adams Elementary School) provided insight on how to improve teaching techniques so they were more widely applicable and able to envelop multiple types of intelligence and perspectives. For example, upon initial creation of our curriculum for fourth graders, most of our activities included didactic teaching approaches, the current leading form of education where teachers lecture to students. After testing out the curriculum at MPA, our community partner Jenny Laxton provided us with some alternative resources and activities that would enable the students to be participants in the learning process, such as getting to draw the macroinvertebrates they saw or actually conducting their own pH test of the Willamette Valley River. MPA was also able to supply us with background information on the region and how well our implementation of the curriculum was going. Every year, new guides lead students through MPA, and it is thanks to the assistance and knowledge of those that work here that this program is able to continuously succeed in educating future generations.
Summary of Environmental Leadership evaluations Over the course of this program, the skills I learned and developed were not only relevant to teaching practices, but also my overall professional development. When this project first started, my experience working alongside team members was minimal and I was not adequately able to communicate with everyone nor come to an agreement on a lot of decisions. Within a couple of weeks, working with my team members became second nature and we all began to advance our communication skills not only between us but also with our project manager, Aimee Okotie-Oyekan, and teacher, Kathryn Lynch. Both of these women provided feedback on my performance and ability to adapt my teaching skills subsequently. Aimee provided me with information and tips on how to improve my performance not only as a teacher but also as a team member. For instance, she brought to my attention that sometimes I jump ahead in discussions and get distracted from the task at hand. Initially, I was surprised as I felt the information I was bringing up was pertinent to the discussion, but then I realized the implementation of her comment would help our team meetings flow more smoothly and ensure all topics were addressed thoroughly. Since the application of this adjustment, I have taken the time to ensure that everyone has stated their comments regarding a topic before moving on, and it has eased the confusion that often arose at the end of meetings due to some topics being glazed over. This ability to take constructive criticism and adjust it to improve my ability to work alongside my team is just one valuable skill that I have developed during my time in the Environmental Leadership Program.