First and foremost I’d like to say that Cristina, Lisa, Christine and Audrey did a fantastic job on their lesson. I loved how we were put into clans and was then used as a way to keep us organized for the rest of the lesson. I also really appreciated the prey-predator game they chose and immediately I could see how it could be applied to a science lesson- I will most likely be using it!
Another big thing I took away was the realization that we really don’t have to go far when taking our students outside. We are so lucky to live in a city that is surrounded by beautiful green spaces and parks and you don’t need to always plan an extravagant field trip to Stanley park, deep cove or cypress to reap the benefits of an outdoor lesson. Those outings may not always be possible so in the mean time- JUST GET OUTSIDE! It seems kids are spending less time outdoors and I find this really unsettling. I spoke to my sponsor teacher about this and he told me that many of his students have never been to the beach before. They’ve never experienced the smell of fresh salt air, the sensation of wet sand between their toes, the excitement of gazing in a tide pool and finding tiny little creatures and I wonder, if they’ve never experienced these things, why would they care to learn about it? Why would they care if it were no longer there? How could they understand the importance of reducing our carbon footprint? How would they ever learn to respect and care for the natural world? And what would all of that mean for the future of our world?
Claire, all I can say about your response is that I agree ten-fold! You hit it on the head when you say that we don’t have to go far to bring our students outside! Vancouver has so many parks throughout the city and a bountiful of green spaces that we can use for P.E and other subject areas. It is so important, as you mentioned, to get our students outside! Outside is where we are all truly free to explore and use our imagination and to just go CRAZY! and the lesson last week shows, as you mentioned and again I completely agree, that is it easy for us to incorporate Aboriginal knowledge and culture into our teaching and that it does not need to be in a deep way; it just needs to pay respect and honour various Aboriginal knowledge and culture and bringing that into instruction. 😀
I found your statement from your sponsor teacher also unsettling. As someone who comes from a “beach city” (Penticton is nestled between 2 pristine lake and has over 10 beaches) I find it odd that people can live in Vancouver/the lower mainland and not have been to the beach. The beach is a perfect place, especially one on the ocean, to learn about sea life and erosion, and currents; they are amazing educational places. Your questions at the end are truly inspiring as you ask the hard questions that we as educators need to ask ourselves when we are teaching students who are coming from diverse backgrounds and countries.