During one of my courses this year we went on a trip to Eskers Park. At the park we use an app to document local plants and study the world around us. As a class we found this to be an interesting activity blending technology and the natural world around us. As we walked around the park we started talking and enjoying nature and though we were doing a lot of exhausting walking everyone seemed to be in a good mood. I even had a blister form on my foot as I walked and painful as it was I greatly enjoyed the hike. Talking with my peers and being able to explore the nature around us was really enjoyable. I realized after this trip that being outside can bring people out of their routines and allow them to relax. This is something I want to bring to my class in the future. I previously stated that I broke my classroom up as much as possible by shifting seating plans. I think it’s important to get my students away from the classroom so that they can escape the anxiety of the classroom and the mentality that they are in school only to complete assignments. The assignments are not the point of school the point of school is the learning. I want students to be relaxed and ready to explore ideas not simply focused on the next task to complete. I think that taking students out of the classrooms will help them get out of the headspace that all they are supposed to do is work and instead they will be able to explore their ideas and talk about the topics we have studied in class. It is my hope that students will develop their understanding through these discussions though I know students are not always on topic but it is still important to break up the classroom and make schools into spaces where students can be themselves. I want to unsettle learning so that students feel free to access topics and learn in authentic ways driven by curiosity. It is one of the most difficult things I encounter to hear students ask how many sentences they should write and then explain to them that I’m not counting sentences but trying to see what they understand out a topic. I think breaking the classroom is critical to this goal.
Photo Credit: Talia Bleiler
