A new journey has begun with my arrival at IslandWood, a school in the woods.
I had chosen to embark upon this path towards graduate level education initially to increase my competitiveness in the job market. Emerging from my undergraduate experience I did not have a clear career direction. Over the past ten years, I have gained an eclectic work history and finally discovered an aptitude for working with children and a profound respect for the majesty of our natural environment. At a professional conference I learned about IslandWood and knew that I had found an especially unique place in which to pursue my new-found loves. Out of this experience I hope to gain confidence in working with children and adults, leading folks through outdoor educational experiences and generally spreading a love and respect for nature. I hope also to be thoroughly inspired by my new community; this includes my fellow graduate students, staff instructors and elementary students that I will work with throughout the next 10 months as well as the larger Bainbridge and Washington community.
I am here with an open mind; open to whatever possibilities come my way, be they professional or personal. Partly because I am not sure what to expect. I hope that this experience does open up new career opportunities, although I am not feeling rigid about what those should look like. As long as I can wake up in the morning feeling excited about what the day may hold, then I shall be happy. While being “successful” is important to me, the meaning of that word has shifted over time. Initially, my understanding of the meaning of success was largely fueled by influences of family and traditional schooling, in other words a steady and respectable job, homeownership and ultimately married with children. Currently, my focus is on securing a job that I love and ideally makes a meaningful impact upon the world. This desire has lead me to the field of education with an environmental focus. I have found this sort of work to be profoundly rewarding and I want to foster and inspire stewardship in whatever community or organization that I am a part of. I strongly believe in stewardship of our Mother Earth, she is the only home that we have.
I believe being flexible towards opportunities will be instrumental in being successful in navigating my career path and life. For one never really knows where an opportunity or new connection could ultimately lead. This means continuously having an open mind in all situations. As well as being clear on what I need to be happy and healthy in life. I strongly believe that the universe does provide everything we need, but the challenge is being clear on what we really need in order to thrive. In order to achieve my goals of being happy and healthy, I aim to keep an open mind to whatever the universe sends my way.
Summer, it is interesting to read how you are seeing the gradual release of responsibility model in team-building! I think you have a terrific example of how it can be useful in the post. It was especially nice to hear about the ways you will use this technique going forward, as those little wonderings and tweaks provide lots of insight into your teaching philosophy. As a side note, though chaperones can be included in some team-building, they are excluded from being on a teams course element with students as their size and weight are a safety concern. In the case of human knot this does not pose an issue, so your ideas for muting them or having them take photos seem like a good compromise.
I enjoyed reading about this process! Asking the students to reflect and problem solve seemed to be an effective strategy, as well as the chaperone’s suggestion of squeezing hands. As you mentioned in your blog post, giving your chaperone a different way to be involved is a great way to keep them engaged while also having an activity in which the only participants are your students. I’m curious about how your intentional experience and reflection of Gradual Release this week will play into your plans for future teaching weeks.
Summer, this sounds like a great example of the realities of using any technique like this! You adjusted and jumped and tinkered with the level based on what you were seeing from them, ultimately resulting in them having some ownership of the success. Interestingly, the technique your chaperone described is one I model when I intro the Human Knot, just to get past the issue you described!
I loved reading your reflections about what worked, what was challenging, and the outside forces (weather, power outage) that influenced the week. Your realization about student energy level and how it might affect the outcome of an activity is so important and a great thing to be aware of and intentional about as you continue teaching.
Sounds like a good plan for the next teaching week, Summer! You might also try having the students set daily individual goals stemming from the community agreement each day. I could imagine that would provide a more specific benchmark for a student like the one you describe, with nice look-fors that they or you could observe and see progress soon after it happens.
I think your observations about what might have made the week run a little differently are all great ideas and really tangible things you can try and work on throughout your teaching weeks.
I appreciated the personal aspect of your blog post. Your commitment to being open-minded as you go through life is really cool and I hope will open up some unique experiences for you! I’m excited to learn about your eclectic work experience, what you’re thinking for the future, and to hear how your current thoughts and questions change and grow over these next 10 months.
I especially appreciate how you are re-thinking the meaning of success to something meaningful for you! I’m excited to see where IslandWood leads you on the journey.