                   |
        |
|||||
|
|
||||||
TIPS
FOR TEACHING OUTDOORS Here are four personal observations from a very active outdoor volunteer that I hope will give you some ideas to think about as you begin your new roles: Know your group. Know how many students are in each class and their basic level of understanding so that you can adjust your program to the specific group and can keep track of everyone at your outdoor site. Establish clear discipline. Be aware of the need for discipline. Much of what you will be doing in an outdoor setting will be “hands-on” experience that needs to be done alone or in small groups to be effective. This sets up discipline and control problems, especially for middle school boys. Be aware of it and plan for it.
As a part of good discipline in the field, wear your Wildlife Stewards name tag. It sets you up as someone special and worth listening to even if, after a time, most children know your name. Because, let’s face reality, a “field trip” – even if it’s just going to a remote part of the school’s grounds – is an excuse for cutting up and letting off steam. You remember this from your own school days. And that’s when accidents happen. So clearly define the rules, and you will spend less time keeping order and more time teaching. You also will be a happier – and therefore more effective – volunteer. Avoid judgments. Stick to the science and the facts. Avoid political judgments that are not appropriate for the instructional setting. Your strongly held environmental views are not a concern to the children. They’ll make up their own minds as they grow. They don’t want to be preached to. They immediately recognize when someone is talking down to them, and they reject a condescending attitude. |
||||||
_____________________________________________ COPYRIGHT 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
||||||
 |
||||||
Some
of you may be new to volunteering. Some may be new to working with children.
And some of you may be looking at teaching outdoors for the first time.
With all this in mind, I’d like to take a few minutes to talk
about some things I’ve learned as a volunteer for the past three
decades in outdoor-oriented youth programs, including the Boy Scouts,
the Girl Scouts, church youth groups and public-school activities. 
The
most important idea I am going to present to you is this: After more
than a quarter of a century of volunteering, I feel that a volunteer
is NOT a disciplinarian. Discipline in your natural area is an extension
of the normal discipline in your school. Traditional lines of authority
must extend into the open area. You must insist on this. Teachers and
administrators must state and enforce the rules and must support you.
Again, you must insist on this. Don’t let the teachers make you
a baby-sitter. This does not mean that a teacher must be present at
all times on your site. It means that teachers and administrators must
make clear to students that the same behavior that is enforced inside
the school will be expected in the outdoors.
Re-enforce
teaching goals. At the end of each field activity, do something briefly
that re-enforces your lesson for that session. When students are outdoors,
they encounter many distractions. Some of these –geese flying
overheard, birds singing, frogs croaking – can be wonderful support
for your teaching. Just remember to return the focus to the subject
at hand. The idea is: “Hey, it’s been fun out here, but
we did learn some things, too. What did we learn and why is it important?”