This week was outdoor education with lisa, audrey, christina and christine. I enjoyed this lesson and love watching people shine when they are teaching something they love – that was very evident in this class today.

Outdoor education can be overwhelming but we reviewed safety concerns, risk assessments, behavior expectations and boundaries. The activities were all well thought out and organized. I played prey and predator on a class field trip to the wetlands and it was a great example of incorporating pe into all aspects of a lesson. It was fun and we remember a lot through drama, movement and engagement. I feel less overwhelmed by outdoor education because of this lesson.

BC has so many opportunities forcreating experiential education opportunities. We learn so much more and internalize the information when we are given a chance to interact with nature. My practicum school is very close to the seawall, i plan to teach my students outdoors in my local, urban, beautiful setting. In the city it is so easy to feel trapped by all of the buildings and cars and it is important for us to show our kids places where they can feel connected to nature.

We can collect and analyze ocean rocks, kelp, sand and mussel shells. We can make art projects with leaves. We can study the snails, worms and spiders. We can play in the park. Connecting to the land is a part of who we are and outdoor education is very important.

I hope everyone feels empowered, educated and inspired to take their kids outside all the time! Inquiry based education depends on these real life experiences!

Group A
Week # 1 Post

October 21, 2015

Guiding questions:
* What were my positive and negative experiences in PE
* What is important to teach in PE
* Fears of teaching PE
* What is purpose, understanding of PE past & present

Sorry for the late post! My experiences in PE were mostly negative. I was self conscious of my body and was teased a lot by boys.  I was often left out of the PE activities and most of the times was able to sit on the sidelines and watch or I would skip class.  PE was focused around learning how to play sports that of which I did not have an interest in.  I did join basketball for midgets and senior high school, but fell out of interest because of small town politics.  I was always turned away from sports from players being too competitive and or aggressive.

In PE, it is important to teach students all aspects of health at not just focus on games and sports. I was absolutely terrified to take this course and my whole past PE class life flashed before me.  Honestly, I was wondering if I could sit on the sidelines and pass – this is how my past in PE had shaped me!

What I learned on the very first day of this course was a breath of fresh air and I was able to relax. Some of the key things I took away include:
~ Looking at the gym as a big classroom
~ Lesson planning for a purpose and giving every activity a purpose
~ On-going assessment of students
~ Emotional safety by setting rules and including everyone
~ Play safe, no province wide, school wide and classroom rules

Prior to this class I thought I could not teach PE and coming out I can honestly say this is one of my favourite classes and I look forward to every Tuesday!

Today’s P.E. class was conducted outdoors, which was an interesting change. I have always wondered what a lecture out in nature would be like and today was the closest to the real deal. I have done many summer camps outdoors but to see a group use nature as a possible cross curriculum activity was something special. It really aligns with my beliefs that learning and school isn’t just about books and listening to lecture all the time but it is also an active process between the students and the teacher. The great thing about outdoors learning is that it takes the class out of familiar territory (classroom) to a new environment that allow for hands on learning and connection with the world. Out in nature, the student can begin to see the real world and see relevance and relationships from what they have learned in class and experience it for themselves.

Another thing that struck out to me was the “trust” game we played today. It is hard to believe how it hasn’t been two full months since we started the program but everyone in the cohort seemed to have faith that everyone in their group was going to catch them before they would fall to the ground. It just amazes me how trust can go a long way.

Today’s class was such a wonderful experience and a really awesome example for us to learn from in terms of teaching outdoor education. I feel like I learned an immense amount from Cristina, Christine and Lisa about what I need to be aware of and think about when planning for an alternative environment activity. There are a whole new set of requirements when bringing a group of kids into the outdoors and we have to be aware of all the safety issues and risks. I appreciated being taught what to tell students if they got lost outdoors and also how to organize the activity in ways that quell parent and administrator concerns. We must enlist the help of parents, other teachers, support staff and even older students in order to have a good adult to student ratio. We also need to make sure we are aware of the liabilities and waivers that need to be signed before taking kids for a lesson outside. Furthermore, we must have sufficient knowledge of first-aid or have someone on the excursion who does have this knowledge. Teaching an outdoor education class, or simply teaching any class outside, is such a valuable and worthwhile thing for us to do. I feel much less nervous about doing it after today’s class.

After reading the chapters for this week, there is so much to consider when planning a unit or even a lesson. I think routines, organization, clear communication and relationship building are some of the most important strategies for enhancing the learning environment for students. Especially for the younger grades, routines are so important. They reduce time wasted on classroom management issues or confusion. They get the kids into an activity and learning much faster and more efficiently. This ties in with organization. The ways you organize your students for activities has a huge impact on their comfort levels, feeling of safety and also their engagement in the exercise. The clearer our instructions, the quicker we can start playing and getting active. It reduces confusion and also helps with relationship building between teacher and students. The respect that comes from those clear interactions will help us be effective in engaging our students and keeping them excited about P.E.