Geocaching

The most frustrating part of geocaching at Conway Robinson was that one of  the caches would not show up on the iPhone app. We looked around for a long time. There were many rocks and logs that looked like what the cache hint looked like too. It put a wrench in the pace at which we were getting the caches done. Our team worked together very well. We all have the same temperment and we all have experience outdoors. We all communicated well and didn't get frustrated when things got annoying with the one cache. I enjoyed just getting oudoors and getting a good hike in. It has been a while since I walked out in nature to accomplish something like geocaching. it was a nice crisp day with sun. I provided leadership by working the map and the app for finding the spots. I provided input on what path to take and ended up taking the lead in our "marching order". I also kept a level head when things could have gotten very irritating.Overall I had a great time!

Journal Entry 3

The most interesting thing I learned about the outdoors today was that there are many more places to enjoy the outdoors than I originally thought were around here. Also seeing what erosion and trail use do to the ground over only 200 years of use. Seeing the ground worn down to huge rocks under the original soil was interesting. Two strategies used by the naturalist were using props. He picked things up and let us touch them which helps in the learning process. He also used visuals like showing us the river and trees. He also would just lecture like a teacher would normally, but the fact that we were there in the setting he was speaking in, it was a little more intellectually stimulating. I learned that I could enjoy being outdoors more. I think I need to take more time just walking in nature. It calms me down and lets me think about something other than the daily grind. I think adding an activity like a scavenger hunt would have gotten us more in touch with the things we were looking at. Making us look instead of suggesting could go a long way to getting us more involved.

EDGE

I found out that my colleagues are very approachable and work well in a group. They all seem willing to help and work hard to get a job done. They are also good athletes. I found out that I am still a pretty good climber, like I was when I was a kid. I found that I work well with the people in my class and I get along with them all. I thought the facilitators did a great job explaining and providing feedback for our activities. They also provided very good visualizations of the tasks. The ending part with the pictures was a creative and funny way to review the days activities.  I feel as if the facilitators gave too much time to complete tasks. I think some pressure would really test the teamwork aspect of the activities. If there were time restraints we would have gotten to do more activities. I think the facilitators did an excellent job though.

Journal Entry 1

The most interesting thing about this class I am taking is that we will get to do team building and learn to conduct a outdoor lesson while doing so at parks. The course is not what I expected, because I figured it would be talking about activities and lesson plans and such in regards to outdoor activities, but in the classroom. I hope to learn a great deal of cool, fun activities for outdoors recreation and how to conduct them safely and effectively. Being a coach and a future PE teacher, I think this class will help me with plans and ideas on outdoor activities when I begin teaching.