On Thursday, I had Autumn Adventures. I love this program!!!! I could do a program like this all the time. A wonderful nature hike with a bunch of very inquisitive and energetic youngsters. We had the hike before the stations. I think that the program works well either way - hike then stations or stations then hike. Personally I would rather do the stations and then the hike. It is easier to reinforce the topics discovered at stations during the hike. The hike is so much fun. Aaron and I merged groups to play the bird migration game on the long, wide lane instead on just on the trail. I think this went over pretty well- more room for them to run. I had a great compliment from the students teacher - she actually used the word phenomenal. Again here at Autumn we were video taped. This time it was put up on a shelf in the library for the insect station. It was not as easy to notice the taping of this station. I did not have the urge to look at the camera, because it was out of the way - out of sight out of mind. There was so much else to do at the insect station than worry about the video recording. Too bad these programs are winding down, now back to us being the students...
Friday, November 4, 2011
Last Farmcraft and Autumn Adventures
My last 2 farmcrafts were for 2 different groups from the same Goshen school. They both went over well. It is such a great program for its purposes and the kids really enjoy them time at the farmstead. The second farmcraft was the very last farmcraft for the year. Too bad. The second group of students did really well. I would say the animals, toys/games and cider press are the favorites. It is getting hard to do garden at this late time in the season. The most interesting part, on the second day was Jane video recording the granary station. I thought there would be a small camera set up, maybe a hidden tripod. But no, Jane was standing behind the students with the camera getting all the action on film. It was hard not to acknowledge the camera. I caught myself looking at it and I could not help but smile at the camera. I can’t wait to see how silly I look on the video.
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Again, posting as a comment. Although, I will agree with Matt that I loved autumn adventures!
ReplyDeleteAnother autumn adventures under my belt and I am sorry to see it go. I would have liked more opportunity to hone those teaching skills in an unstructured (as in the hike) environment. Also because after friday's group, I really felt at the end of the day I wanted to start the teaching day over. There was so much more that I feel that I could have done better. I had a few boys that were pushing each other even before we got to the introductions and while I was able to rein them in I never addressed behavior specifically when I should have. I had such a great day with the first graders that I think that I thought the second graders would flow just as well. In my effort to work on learning names specifically I accidentally dropped my usual intro of giving the kids the layout of the day and letting them know what was expected of them. This created a situation where they had to interrupt me a lot and ask questions and left me feeling more scattered than usual. Again, this is hindsight telling me what would have made it a better day. I was also dealing with some girls that were doing something that I usually associate with older girls, and that is what you might refer to as the “mean girls” routine, making it apparent that some girls are being excluded from a group. Both of these dynamics came to a head when I had them divide up for scavenger hunt. Ultimately I had to regroup and make choices of who was grouped with whom. After separating the students that had issue with one another, things evened out and the kids relaxed and had fun with the hike. Given more experience as a teacher I think I would have realized sooner what was going on and made efforts to avert these behaviors. I am thankful for the experience in that it has made me mindful that I need to continue building upon my methods, keeping what works, rather than dropping one for another.
On the positive side, I was able to address the issues as I saw them rather than let them escalate throughout the afternoon. I think the kids had fun and they were super excited about showing me things that they found and relating it back to what they had learned at the stations. Some of the boys found an insect under a log with “red glowing eyes” and I’m still excited about it!
In response to Amy: It is great to have a wonderful experience. The truth of the matter is that each time we teach is a different experience. Even with hindsight, we can't really know how something may have gone differently. It seems like you did a good job of addressing concerns as they arose.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Matt: I didn't have the opportunity to try the autumn adventures in reverse. However, I think I would have to agree with you that my preference would also be to have stations first. Not only does it help to reinforce those things learned in the stations, but I would also suspect that having the more structured activities first can help set the tone for the hike.