Have you ever moved to a new neighbourhood, school or job and wondered about what that new place might be like? I did all of the above in the last few weeks. I moved into a new neighbourhood, school and job. Last week during professional development (pro-d) we had the most amazing opportunity to get to know our staff through an outdoor classroom. Allowing us to get to know the sense of place we were exploring. We were led by David Strich a UBC PhD student from Bellingham, Washington.
I wondered what this neighbourhood might be like around my new school? We had the opportunity to explore an outdoor classroom as a staff in the local parks and forested areas neighbouring our school community. This pro-d allowed us to see what areas we could potentially bring our outdoor classroom too. Along, with activities and exercises we could do with our classroom and connecting it to our curriculum.
Think back to when you were a child. What did you love most about your childhood? Were those memories mainly indoor or outdoor? Most of our childhood memories consist of having fun outdoors. Children thrive when they are outside and we tend to learn so much about a child during an outdoor activity versus indoor classroom experiences such as through: outdoor field trips, outdoor games, morning, recess or after school supervision outside. As stated by Joseph Sheridan in "A Holistic Approach to Educational Exhibit Design: Linking Educational Theory to Popular Culture and Economics" participatory consciousness is what we all experienced as a child, having your heads in the clouds and the clouds were in our heads (Sheridan, J). Sheridan states that children want to stay outside to continue to tell the story of the place they are in.
As we get older we tend to loose the connection to our sense of place and surroundings of where we are at. We can learn so much from our land and the history of the indigenous land we live on here in BC. However, most importantly so can our students. I can't wait to take my students to an outdoor classroom and watch curiosity unfold.
"If we can accept that knowing the land and how to dowse the meaning of the place entails knowing how to tell its stories, then we can see that the only way the stories can be legitimate is to somehow be grounded in (a) location(s)." -Joseph Sheridan
To read his full article visit this link trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/290/427
I wondered what this neighbourhood might be like around my new school? We had the opportunity to explore an outdoor classroom as a staff in the local parks and forested areas neighbouring our school community. This pro-d allowed us to see what areas we could potentially bring our outdoor classroom too. Along, with activities and exercises we could do with our classroom and connecting it to our curriculum.
Think back to when you were a child. What did you love most about your childhood? Were those memories mainly indoor or outdoor? Most of our childhood memories consist of having fun outdoors. Children thrive when they are outside and we tend to learn so much about a child during an outdoor activity versus indoor classroom experiences such as through: outdoor field trips, outdoor games, morning, recess or after school supervision outside. As stated by Joseph Sheridan in "A Holistic Approach to Educational Exhibit Design: Linking Educational Theory to Popular Culture and Economics" participatory consciousness is what we all experienced as a child, having your heads in the clouds and the clouds were in our heads (Sheridan, J). Sheridan states that children want to stay outside to continue to tell the story of the place they are in.
As we get older we tend to loose the connection to our sense of place and surroundings of where we are at. We can learn so much from our land and the history of the indigenous land we live on here in BC. However, most importantly so can our students. I can't wait to take my students to an outdoor classroom and watch curiosity unfold.
"If we can accept that knowing the land and how to dowse the meaning of the place entails knowing how to tell its stories, then we can see that the only way the stories can be legitimate is to somehow be grounded in (a) location(s)." -Joseph Sheridan
To read his full article visit this link trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/290/427
Photos from our outdoor classroom experience August 29th and 30th