Wow, what a week it has been! I was fortunate enough to experience two different settings of outdoor education – Outward Bound Canada and YMCA’s Camp Elphinstone.

With Outward Bound, I spent two days in their local office in Vancouver. During these days, I worked on a variety of tasks. This included organizing equipment for camp expeditions, taking care of participants’ program evaluations and records, and putting together first aid kits. Although these tasks were a great learning experience in different ways, I would have to say the most enriching aspect of my time so far at Outward Bound has been “conversation.” That is, listening in on and being a part of a variety of dialogues occurring at the office. In these, I have learnt so much about education in the “non-formal environment” (p.342) as labeled by Anderson, Lawson and Mayer-Smith (2006). Most importantly, I have gained a better appreciation for the complex process behind education in these different contexts. Having finished a 10-week practicum in the classroom, I definitely understand how much preparation is involved in just a day of school. I now know how this compares with education in other contexts. In just two days at Outward Bound, I have realized just how much of a collaborative effort education is. There has been a wide range of topics discussed; for example, organizing food for camp expeditions. To an outsider, this may seem like a fairly simple topic. However, when I witnessed this being discussed at the office, I quickly realized it is not. Coming back to the collaborative piece, there was not just one person organizing this – members of the office were involved along with another individual from outside the office, someone who had a lot of knowledge to offer. For example, there was discussion around what kind of food to purchase and more importantly where to purchase. This individual talked about so many details – the difference between local markets and chain stores, what time is best to buy, and where to get what. I also had the chance to listen to organizers at Outward Bound discuss participant needs. They literally talk about each participant and their background information in order to make the experience as beneficial as possible. This reminded me of differentiated instruction and reinforced the importance of addressing individual needs in any learning environment to enhance the educational experience. I believe I have a lot to gain from discussions like these, as I will get to learn about appreciating the variety of learners I will work with and how I as an educator/teacher can help each learner individually.

These conversations were a great transition into the rest of my week spent at YMCA’s Camp Elphinstone with my practicum class, where I actually got a peek into education outside of the school. I think the number one reason I chose Outward Bound Canada for my CFE was because I had never experienced the settings in which they work. As a child, I had quite severe asthma and this limited my ability to take part in any education outside of the classroom setting. I firmly believe only if I learn how to grow as an educator and individual generally only then will I be able to motivate students to do the same. That is, if I learn what it means to grow – the emotions, skills, mindset involved. And helping students to grow and recognize their potential is at the forefront of my teaching philosophy. Going to Camp Elphinstone, I was placed in a setting this is brand new for me. I had the chance to develop a beginning understanding of the fact that school is just a setting where learning occurs. But really the learning that takes place in this setting is a result of not just classroom material but also both the students’ and teacher’s experiences from a variety of contexts and settings. We all bring to the classroom a variety of skills, mindsets, and knowledge that have been acquired in vastly different places. Having had this experience, I have gained knowledge that I most likely would not have in another setting. Like Anderson et al. (2006) highlight the importance of “equipping educators with a wide range of skills that can be readily transferable across contexts, inside and outside of school settings,” (p.342) I will now be able to apply this knowledge to my teaching. For example, in the most basic sense, my school advisor and I were keeping a record of activities the camp counselors had organized for the students. These were great team-building and cooperative activities that could easily be brought into the classroom. In a more complex sense, I observed my students without electronics – something you do not get to see often these days. There were no laptops, internet, phones, music devices. I really did notice a difference in the students. I felt they were calmer in a sense. As a result, there were less little quibbles between the students which allowed them to better participate in the cooperative activities. This has now motivated me to look more into the use of electronics in the classroom; specifically, when they are most beneficial or the opposite – when they are the detrimental to learning.

I am so grateful to have had the experience at Camp Elphinstone and I look forward to the next two weeks at Outward Bound!

References

Anderson, D., Lawson, B., & Mayer-Smith, J. (2006). Investigating the impact of a practicum experience in an aquarium on pre-service teachers. Teaching Education,17(4), 341–353. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/pdf/10.1080/1047 6210601017527