Fall Teaching Practicum Outreach Team - Week One: Saratoga

For our Fall Teaching Practicum, we get to choose to join one of the two field education teams (that teach on site at the Kelly Campu)s or join the outreach team (that travels to several parts of Wyoming and teach at other schools and natural/environmental locations).

This fall, I chose and was accepted on the Outreach Team.  Super excited!  When I was with the Delaware Nature Society, I taught a dozen or so outreach opportunities at various schools, so I had a little experience; but to do this for a whole semester, is a great opportunity!  I chose to join outreach first because I have done field education for some time now and wanted to try something I had only small amounts of experience in.  Also, it is really interesting that we get to create all of our lessons and decide on how we would like to teach our programs.  Very different from my last job where most of the lessons were already prepared and all we had to do was observe and then teach them.  So being able to be in full control was really exciting and intimidating at the same time.

This past week, the seven graduate students on the outreach team traveled about 344 miles and 6 hours southeast towards Saratoga, Wyoming.  Saratoga...Wyoming, NOT New York (I wish!)  During this week, all seven of us taught two different programs for two different grade levels.  For me, Monday and Tuesday I worked with 11-Kindergarteners and on Wednesday and Thursday I worked with 17-3rd Graders.  It was a great week of firsts, challenges, a-ha's, and smiles.  I definitely learned several things that I excelled at and things I need to work on as an educator and instructor.

Saratoga Hot Springs Resort - Huge Pool and Mini Hot Tub 

Of all my fellow graduate students, I was the only one teaching solo the first two days.  I was not at all worried about going solo on my first teaching experience with TSS.  I think the main reason was because I was able to work with my favorite age group...Kindergarten.  I love the little ones, they are so engaging and curious.  Not to mention, they usually have plenty to say whether it's answering questions or talking about a story.  They are my absolute favorite.

For my first class, I was able to observe a 3-year Place Based Teacher that is part of the Teton Science School's Teacher Learning Center Program.  These teachers have worked with TSS in past years, know a lot about the Graduate Program and Outreach Program, not to mention they are very well experienced teachers and are a great role model to gain insight and experience from.

My teacher was phenomenal with the little ones: so energetic but still stern and strict with them when they needed guidance and management.  She was very inspiring to observe before I taught.  For the first hour of each new teaching program, we observe the teacher with his or her students.  This is a great opportunity to watch the students, gain ideas on how to manage the class, and how to act while teaching them.  The children were even inspiring to watch: answering questions, waiting to be called on, raising of hands, very polite, and not to mention, extremely intelligent.  It really made me impatient to start teaching.

Exploring and Drawing Our Senses in the Field with the Little Kindergarters

For their program topic, this kindergarten class chose Exploring Senses and Weather.  This was a really fun topic to create a lesson plan on, since there are so many little activities and game you can do with this particular age group.

For day one, where we were mostly at their school, I took my class outside and played games and activities with them.  After playing some name games and getting to know my students, we played a Senses Scavenger Hunt to explore how we use our senses, danced while we learned our seasons, played dress up to learn about how animals adapt and prepare for the winter season, drew what we observed outside using our senses, and played Simon Says to pretend we were animals preparing for winter.  It was super fun and not only did the class have fun, but I had a blast working with them!

Kindergarten Event Map for Day Two

On Day Two, the Kindergarten classes drove to Mirror Lake, about 5,100+ ft in elevation.  This was a great place to observe weather and use our senses in a different place!  Not to mention, the classes had been learning about Pika and well, the talus fields around there were a great place to observe them in their natural habitat!

 Not even 30 minutes into the day, we were already seeing Pika!

So before we did anything at Mirror Lake, we took the two K classes to a part of the talus field to try and observe pika in their natural habitat.  After getting them seated and prepped to be quiet, field naturalists, we started to hear the pika calling within the boulders, and then all of a sudden, we saw one start scurrying around!  The children were so excited to see one!  They knew exactly what they looked like, what they ate, and where they lived!  Such little naturalists!

You can barely see him, since they are so camouflaged!

After senses observing in the mountains, playing Seasonal Bingo, Cloud Gazing in the grass, and many rounds of Camouflage, we went back to school to recap and say goodbye.  Such a sad day, but the students I was able to work with were so amazing and inspiring!  Not to mention, they will be a tough class to top as far as determining who was the best class to work with during this outreach experience.  Way to set the bar high, Saratoga Elementary Kindergarten Class!  Well Done!

This was both mine and Dani & Joe's Kindergarten classes pretending to be pika!  Adorable!

On the way home, Joe challenged them to being a part of the Black Bear Club.  This was so funny.  You could only be initiated into the Black Bear Club if you were able to hibernate the entire way back to school.  Some of the students were so quiet, that they actually fell asleep!  So cute!

Pretending to Hibernate and Trying to Be Part of the Black Bear Club.

For Wednesday and Thursday, I was able to work with an older class, 17-3rd Graders.  This class was very different from my Kindergarteners.  Not only were they older, but they were a little more challenging.  Although, I did appreciate how excited they were to be able to be given the opportunity to be taken outside, they definitely needed some work about controlling their excitement and their respect levels for their peers and teachers.

For this third-grade class, I taught Water, Ecosystems, and Macro Invertebrates.  This was a very familiar territory since I taught Stream Ecology back in Delaware.  The cool thing was that I was able to use part of my old lesson from Delaware and tweak it for the third graders.  One challenge I am learning to face is making sure curriculum is age-appropriate.  With help from my faculty coach, I am starting to figure out where curriculum is appropriate, challenging, and advanced for my students.  This second part of the week definitely helped me get on a great track with setting curriculum to my lesson plans.

Group discussions on waterways: How it Got There and Where Does it Go?

Not only does TSS represent great science curriculum in their programs, but this organization also represents a focus on leadership and community building.  This third grade class definitely needed and benefited these great team building activities: Pass the Pulse, The Tossing Thank You Name Game, and Creating a Team Banner!

My Third Grade Teamwork Flag!

On Day Two, the third graders were taken to Encampment Campground where we talked about Erosional Factors on a Stream and were able to study and observe macro invertebrates up close and personal!

Getting a Closer Look at some Macros!

These students were not only challenging on how they controlled their excitement and team skills, but they definitely kept me on my toes and helped me learn some great lessons about teaching.  Thanks, 3rd Grade!

Frank Found a Mule Deer Antler During Camouflage!

So in our free time in between checking out our field locations, we decided to go see a very interesting sight: the Two-Story Outhouse! ... I know!

This was interesting!

This was on Doug, one of our faculty coaches, interests during the week to go see!  This was a very interesting sight to see!  Imagine using this outhouse!  The main purpose of the two-story outhouse was for the winter seasons, when snow accumulated very high and when you had to go, you had a non-snow blocked place to go do your business!

But only imagine if you were on the bottom and someone tried to go above you....GROSS!

Look and Behold...a Double Outhouse!

It even had some reading material!  The other stall had deer hide seat warmers....I know, right!

Saratoga was a great first week to start teaching.  The students were awesome to work with, the teachers were great to observe and gain advice, tips, and experience from, and the weather was great!

We Had to Go!!!