I really enjoyed this week’s lesson on outdoor education. I’ll admit that I came into this class at the beginning of the term quite apprehensive about the prospect of teaching PE, let alone teaching it outside with all the extra layers of considerations and complications! However, I thought the group did a great job with their lesson, helping us all understand more about alternative environment and outdoor education and how it doesn’t have to be such a scary thing. I love how Audrey’s knowledge of Gitxsan dance was incorporated into the transition to bring us outside for the lesson. I also appreciated the review of safety protocols and ensuring that we have plans in place for situations that could arise from being in open, public spaces (e.g. if a child gets lost, injured, etc.). The team did their due diligence by scouting out the location for potential risks and safety issues the day before teaching. In practice, we should also gather support from parents, volunteers, and other teachers, as well when organizing outdoor activities. There is so much we can learn from different environments, and we should provide opportunities for our students to experience this.

In our small group review of the readings, we discussed the components to planning a lesson. Christina pointed out the importance of organization and having a “Plan B”, especially when it comes to outdoor education where conditions can be unpredictable or uncontrollable (e.g. weather). We also talked about how outdoor education is not limited to physical education. There are many cross-curricular connections that can be made – to art, to science, to math, to social studies – the possibilities are endless.