Teaching

The first day of teaching preschoolers and kindergarten environmental ed. was definitely interesting. The preschoolers are adorable, but they're still getting over being too shy to speak and aren't used to paying attention for more than a minute at a time. I re-wrote my lesson plan for them today, and it was much more effective. They really need hand's-on activities.

I was amazed by the intelligence and enthusiasm of the kindergarteners. I decided to engage them in the process of thinking through rules for how they should act outside, which appeared to work very well. I asked them what their indoor rules were, and 10 hands shot into the air. The rules they mentioned were the typical - no pushing, no talking when the teacher is talking, no yelling. I must admit the "no biting" rule took me a bit aback (seemed rather too self-explanatory to need to be a formal rule), but then, they are kindergarten.

Then, I asked them if they could think of any rules for outside. Their hands shot into the air - some even stood up or shouted out rules in their enthusiasm. They thought all of the rules I had planned to mention, and a few more. I decided, just for good measure, to repeat all the rules a few more times, and the kids listened attentively. All was going according to plan (or so I thought).

After we entered the woods, I realized otherwise. Within the first 2 minutes, every rule we had just established had been broken - multiple times. In addition, the kids seemed to have a bit of trouble with the concept of a no-pick scavenger hunt where I was supposed to be the one reading out items to find. They kept on picking up things they found, poking them with sticks, and calling Ms. Crystal, Ms. Crystal, look what I found!!!! And, I soon discovered, it was not very easy to get them to listen to or discuss more complex ideas such as "Now where do you think that moth you found lives? What do you think he eats? Would you like to know the difference between a moth and a butterfly." We ended up dealing more with basics like "now lets not poke Mr. Moth with the stick, and now remember, we're not supposed to put things in our mouths."

Then, they started picking up acorns. They seemed to find this to be an infinitely fascinating pursuit, and they all seemed to feel the need to show me every acorn they found. "Ms. Crystal, Ms. Crystal, look what I found!!!!!" "Yes, Bobby, it's an acorn, just like the one you showed me 10 seconds ago, and the ones Timmy, Sally, Jeffy, Anny, and Tommy are showing me right now." You've gotta love little kids.

[note, all of the names, besides mine, in the account, have been changed, to protect reputations of the 3-7 year olds. heh]