I loved outdoor education! It was so nice to have a change of environment, and Lexi, Katy, Brianna, and Jackie did a fantastic job of having interesting and engaging activities. In order to tie in the activities with the reading this week, I am reflecting on things I would keep in mind when planning alternate environment/outdoor activities.

• keep in mind time and location. I wouldn’t want to spend more time getting to a location than engaging in activities
• the outdoors are inherently more active than a classroom, so activities that may not seem extremely active (like using natural materials to create a picture) can still be active when done outdoors (particularly if you incorporate walking to the location or other more active components to the lesson)
• there are many local resources that you can use so you can limit the number of materials, etc. that you need to bring along
• even if you haven’t planned specifically for an outdoor or alternative environment activity, you can take advantage of good weather or sheltered areas to teach “regular” lessons outside
• being flexible outdoors can lead to wonderful teachable moments! At Katy’s station, we watched a spider catch and eat a fly. It prompted questions, discussion, and wonder in the participants.

I think a lot of teachers find outdoor and alternate environment education to be daunting because of  safety and organization. As the text highlighted, routines are elemental in a well-planned PE program, and I think that proper planning, and instruction (including well structured and practiced routines) can make alternate learning environments more manageable. Also, recognizing that the use of local areas and resources can be just as, or more, beneficial as a distant trip can relieve pressure and encourage more of this type of lesson!

1. I think that our coordination at the 4 different stations worked well. We were able to execute smooth transitions between the instant activity and stretching activity for the warm up. I think we were successful in having a range of skills featured over all of the stations. For example, my station (air) allowed students to practice hand eye coordination as well as imitating how I put plane together step by step. Also involving upside down tree provided a link to the nature which increased a sense of awe around nature. The minefield activity allowed students to create a sense of trust in others and emphasized a reliance on auditory sense as a guide to completion. The echo circle station with creation of art using nature allowed students to think of being artistic outside the usual context of classroom: using pencil crayons and paper. Finally, the balloon relay game allowed students to move bodies in a limited fashion to reach the final goal. I contributed by brainstorming about the different versions of stations. I also wrote up the prescribed learning outcomes and ensured we met each of the objectives of the assignment. I was also checking for flow of the lesson in terms of spacing between the stations. I tried to also think of any safety protocols: 4 cones for the perimeter of the minefield. As well as, standing in a line and throwing the planes for the airplane station.
2. I noticed that planning helps to setup the context and content. However, as a teacher we have to be flexible in changing order of what is taught or the locations of stations as needed to meet the needs of learners. We ended up switching the positions of the stations so that some of them were within eye distance. Also, we just switched instant activity with warm up because it made more sense to have students do an activity first and then the stretching should have followed.
3. I noticed that students were happy and enthusiastic about doing each station. Cognitively, they seemed to be interested and curious to complete each station. The response physical was that by the 4th rotations students looked like they needed a rest or a quick break.
4. I think perhaps replacing one of our “cite possible-instant activity” questions: hugging 5 different trees because there is a safety concern as we did not check the surroundings of every tree for hazards like small fences around them or inclines where students could twist their ankles.

The notion of incorporating physical literacy and outdoor education in the daily routine of students seems obvious to me. Planning a lesson that is both educational and inspirational to the children can happen outside. Throughout the reading I was thinking of my grade 10 to grade 12 Gym teacher, Mr. Ray, who was both a coach and a mentor to me.

Mr. Ray, in conjunction with being the gym teacher, he was also my soccer and snowboarding coach. The reading emphases the differences and similarities between the roles a physical educator can take on for the class. I admire to be a physical educator who encourages students to become physically active, which means so much more than participating in sports. A great educator can focus on the fundamental movement skills and incorporate those into any environment or subject matter.

Congratulations to Jackie, Brianna, Katy, and Lexi for an amazing outdoor education class. Your directions were clear and direct (which in an alternative environment can be hard) and the lesson ran perfectly. During my time in Katy’s air station we observed a HUGE spider catch, spin, and eat a fly. By far the coolest thing I have scene in awhile. After observing the spider we discussed how we could incorporate that experience into a science or math project. The options for cross-ciricular learning are endless.