EOE224 Week 1 Outdoor Education. This is a bit of a new concept for me. Sure, I had the odd teacher in elementary and high school who would take our class outside, however, going out for classes tended to be unproductive subject-wise, so it was used as more of a reward. In grade six or seven, my class got the opportunity to build an outdoor classroom for our elementary school with benches and a small garden area with different species of plants and flowers, but the classroom has gone largely unused by most teachers.
So, I suppose my question (one I plan to explore in more depth throughout the semester) is, “what is Outdoor Education?” When I mention to people that I am taking EOE 224 (Outdoor Ed) I often get asked what that means and what I plan to do with it? At one point, someone was concerned that I would only be able to work at the school in Saskatoon which offers an extensive outdoor program. Clearly, this concept is one that is not widely understood. Now a few days into the course, I would like to start with my definition from first impressions. Will it change? I am not sure, but it will grow and expand either way. - Outdoor Education is an opportunity to expose youth to the wonders of nature while still being taught the school curriculum. I believe that an individual will learn better when learning styles are combined, and they can see the practical uses for what they learn. It is my hope that Outdoor Education will provide us future educators will the tools necessary to be able to combine curriculum and nature. Practicing stillness, as we are encouraged to do in this course, is something I have not done since I was young. I was introduced to the concept in summer camp, and we called this “Tree Time.” Encouraged to go into the forests and find a tree that was separate from everybody else’s tree, we were given a few minutes to sit and observe the nature around us. What did we hear? What did we see? What was special about the tree we chose to sit by? I loved this practice and would continue to do similarly when my family went camping. Looking back on it, I did this less and less as I grew older and became more immersed in the world of electronics. Just this summer when my family went tenting, we all had our phones out, and I never ventured into the woods alone once. Yes, we were outside, sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows, cooking outside, and sleeping in our tent. Not one of us noticed anything different from previous times we had done this, but for me, coming back was different somehow. I didn’t feel as refreshed as I normally would have. Looking back, I think perhaps that I felt this way because I did not acknowledge the nature around us. I made no connection to the land we were staying on.
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Here in ECS 200, I believe we will be discussing Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Biological Model of Human Development and tying it back into what we will learn in the lectures and seminars throughout the course. As this is my first official blog post, I would like to stray slightly from the 3-2-1 format that we will be experimenting with more in the near future.
Bronfenbrenner’s model lays out in simple terms, the basics of human interaction and development. How an individual reacts with the world and how that world will impact the life of the individual. The model is constructed of five ecosystems, defined in our textbook as “physical and social contexts in which we develop”; we have the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and the chronosystem. Having an understanding of these systems and the effects they can have in all aspects of a person’s life could help us as educators relate to and empathize with our students, perhaps leading methods of teaching that better fit our students. In our first seminar, we were divided into small groups and given a chance to discuss the impact each factor of the Human Development model. To summarize, my group spoke about how each piece of the model could be both positive and negative, affecting the individual’s world view to some extent. I learned the basics of the Bronfenbrenner model while taking psychology back in high school, however, reading the textbook's interpretation has clarified some aspects and built on others. For example, I was unaware of the chronosystem (the time period the individual lives in). I also had never considered that the systems could affect a person internally (hormone levels) as well as externally (beliefs, behaviors, values, etc.) So now I understand Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Biological Model of Human Development a little better, but how do we apply this knowledge for everyday purposes? I will likely explore this further in future posts. How Does an Educator Motivate? In ECS 100 this winter, we were placed in groups according to our choice of topics for the Topic Exploration assignments. Our task was to create a presentation that would teach the rest of the class about our papers.
In this way, I was able to collaborate with other students who also researched something along the lines of motivation. I learned a lot from my group in the time I got to spend with them. Together, we discussed the importance of motivation in the classrooms, and different ways that an educator can keep their classes motivated to learn. We discussed individual topics such as alternative seating, self-expression, the importance of choice, student-teacher relationships, and creativity. All of these components have a significant impact on motivation, and each section includes different ways to keep students motivated. Together, we talked about the key elements of all of our information and decided to create a video (attached below) to help get the key parts of our message across in a fun way. Observations in a Unique Classroom Stories from the Field: Things we'll always remember…
Synthesis of Field Experiences (final reflection) Altogether, I am very glad I got to spend my field experience in and SLC room. It was a unique experience that gave me insight into how I can better manage my classroom because they need to have that aspect down to a science in a class like this. I enjoyed getting to know the students, and it was made easier by the fact that there was a maximum of six students in there with us on any given day. I do not believe I would have ever gotten a chance to experience anything quite like an SLC if not for this semester. I have seen a regular classroom before, and I will get to experience a regular class again, but I am very grateful for the chance to experience a program like this one. We did not miss out on anything either, both teachers had taught in regular classes before teaching this one and were able to provide us with many tips, trick, and tools that we can use in the future. Motivation and the Educator Abstract
This paper explores the effect of the educator on student motivation. The goal of this paper was to determine the ways in which a teacher influences their students. Three articles were examined to view researchers’ theories on motivation in the classroom. The research detailed in these reports came from varying methods and sample areas. Multiple surveys, questionnaires, and observational methods were used to gather information. A common theme in each of these research articles is that it is how the educator handles their classroom and connects to the students that have the strongest effect on student motivation. Further research is being done in these areas to help teachers gain a better understanding of what they can do to contribute to student success. I intend to take what I learned from the research I did to write this paper and apply it my own future classroom. |
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