Today featured one of the best Farmcrafts I've taught yet. I'm not sure if it had to do with the students (first graders) or because there were only two adults in the group instead of five or six, but they were responsive, well behaved, friendly, and a overall a great group of students. I was also really excited to remember around five or so names compared to my zero-one a few months ago.
A few highlights: During our "migration" across the lawn I asked them to stay behind me just like geese stay behind the leader, and it worked much better. I hesitated to do the harvest for cottonwood leaves (for the goats) because I couldn't see many of them, and was about to change pace when they all seemed to find the leaves better than I could! At one point a little boy, Andrew, just sort of took my hand as we were walking, and it just sort of hit me: I could be a role model to some of these kids - scary thought!
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Enchanted Forest was a great experience! It was my first official "acting" role since elementary school. I've always wanted to be a character actor is some sort of feature, so this was a great opportunity to play the role of some non-human creature.
There was a bit of nervousness before the first group on both nights, but I quickly got into it. The guides were a relief, as there were many times where I wasn't sure of the timing or what to say or what to ask. For many of those awkward moments, the guides were quick to fill in the gaps and keep the conversation going. I was also really happy about my placement with other people.
Amy and I (skunk and owl) had a great interaction going as we transitioned. It was surprising to see how some groups would rally around the skunk to save it from the owl while others would try to give away her location.
The fox and coyote station on the second night was also really fun. We had a great back-and-forth going the entire night, with humorous antagonisms, and I think it went great overall!
The only downside is that I didn't get to see what everyone else was doing, but it was a great experience and I hope to get another opportunity again. This sort of teaching (dressed up as a character) is something I can see myself doing as a side job.
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I forgot!
ReplyDeleteIn one of the first groups while I was a fox, this little girl (3yr?)asked to pet me. As she patted the top of the mask I shoot my leg like a dog and all the adults laughed.
It became my tagline bit with the groups. Love it.
You are so funny. I loved being the skunk to your owl and playing off of each other. I just wanted to comment about farm craft having coordinated that day. You seemed so relaxed and I noticed the kids were really listening to you and enjoyed everything. I could tell you were feeling very comfortable in your role as teacher.
ReplyDeleteStill can't post anything but a comment on this blog so I just wanted to talk about my autumn adventures today.
ReplyDeleteI went into teaching today concerned that I wouldn’t be able to pull off the spores station successfully and for that reason I did a lot of thinking on it beforehand. It was such a success that the kids got really, really excited looking for spores on our hike. That was a great surprise to me. I also found that the key to me learning names is to add not only the Merry Lea name but also have the kids do a movement that relates to their name. I think spending that extra time was worth it in that I learned the names so much better but the kids really liked having that extra attention and bonded with me much quicker. All in all, a great day. I never felt like I’d run out of information to share with them or struggled to keep their attention. The weather was great and they all got into the games and wanted to share their knowledge of the outdoors with me too. And, I came up with a spores song, rap, poem (not sure) that I can share with all of you and maybe you can help me revise it. It's a work in progress.
The whole leg shaking while getting pet was great. A good laugh. And you tried to explain why you were shaking your leg...
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