"Summer Programs Interns team with experienced field instructors to create, plan and provide a variety of educational programs for youth. Our programs are primarily day camps, with a couple specialty programs more focused on academics throughout the summer. All programs are united by a core framework that includes: embracing adventure, exploring concepts of stewardship, living and learning in community, and engaging with place...this program provides valuable skills in teaching, behavior management, reflection, and community building. Begin the summer by getting to know our forest on Bainbridge Island, then gradually work up to creating your own week-long day camp experience with the assistance of a mentor."
reflection
Throughout this experience, I have practiced current skills and learned new ones. Many are related to hands-on teaching, but others fit into the framework of leadership competencies used in the Husky Leadership Certificate Program. Identifying these skills throughout the summer was part of my reflection process and was helpful for understanding and appreciating what I was gaining from and giving to this experience, particularly when my expectations differed from reality.
hands-on teaching skills
Design a daily flow that is responsive to student energy and needs, leveraging different outdoor spaces
Proactively identify possible hiccups in an activity or flow and prepare a contingency
Handle first aid needs
Introduce kids to new spaces and lay ground rules to set them up for success
Lead an activity, lesson, game, etc with confidence and flexibility
ID common plant species in the PNW & introduce kids to edible plants/foraging
interpersonal skills
Collaborate with co-instructor and other instructors to exchange ideas and plan experiences
Use multiple reflection and debrief strategies
Manage large groups of students using strategies for keeping attention and setting them up for success without policing behavior
communication
Increased ability to work with students one-on-one to to talk through and resolve conflicts, behavioral difficulties, and emotional needs
Discuss issues using perspective sharing, I statements, & voicing and validating feelings
Respect and verbally acknowledge student agency and voice
Explain the purpose of a rule/guideline without guilt-tripping
Redirect energy when needed
group dynamics
Initiate a group reflection space
Participate in creating and maintaining a community agreement
Reflecting on my experience as a whole, I also took away new understandings of how to adjust my expectations and perspective in order to contribute and learn as much as possible, and also how to work more sustainably as an employee, particularly in this field of work.
expectations v. reality
Based on the job description and expectations set up for instructors and interns during orientation week, I expected the instructors to have consistent levels of experience and similar goals for the summer. In reality each instructor's experience level and goals varied significantly. The instructors were also seasonal employees at different stages in their lives. Some instructors had just finished IslandWood's graduate program and been teaching there a year, others had 5+ years of outdoor education experience; some had one year of experience teaching in residence, and others had just finished undergrad online. The instructor I worked with was one of the latter. Her expectations for the role differed from the reality too - instead of having detailed lesson plans to follow, with room for experimentation, the materials provided to her were mostly lesson ideas. She and I both had no prior experience with this type of outdoor ed, so the summer turned out to be us learning together and having to adjust our expectations significantly. While other teaching pairs were able to draw on their past experiences teaching in similar spaces to carry out "lessons" (activities that incorporated science or other learning in a structured way), which requires lots of practice, we were not and I was frustrated by this. With what my co-instructor and I were given, we would have had to put in a lot of unpaid overtime to try and prepare to this level every week. Instead of seeing our lack of multiple "lessons" each day at this educational summer camp as a failure, I had to shift my perspective.
When I taught preschool, the lens through which I looked for learning was broad - the students who are constantly in each other's space and upset about it aren't behaving maliciously, they are learning to express their emotions in healthy ways and about boundaries and consent; the student climbing the tree and trying and failing to use the rope swing isn't just playing, they are learning how to be in their body and how to problem solve to achieve a goal. After the first frustrating week of summer programs, I realized I had closed off this lens just because many of the students were older and the environment & structure looked different. Adjusting my expectations meant looking broadly for the learning that was happening, and not undervaluing that learning because it's not what I expected to see. The 3rd and 4th graders who spent 3 hours building and collaborating on forts, bartering and trading are learning social dynamics - how to exist in a group of their peers, how to listen to other ideas, how to negotiate and how to invite others in. The 1st and 2nd graders exploring the forest are learning how to be active and comfortable in their own bodies and in nature. The kids who are eating wild edibles in the forest or tasting plants in the garden, who are crossing the suspension bridge or climbing the canopy tower, who are doing a lot of walking outside for the first time, are learning how to challenge themselves by choice and set personal boundaries. I also learned to look for and value the moments of academic learning that happened without the structure of a formal lesson - like when an owl flew past us and a student shares their knowledge about it with others, or when Lucy or I point out a plant on the trail and talk about it's biological and cultural significance, or when leading a small group in perspective storytelling turns into a conversation about the beings/relations around us and they/them pronouns. This is not to say we never tried to implement a lesson, but we prioritized engagement, fun and play first, understanding that valuable learning comes out of it and that these kids experience plenty of formal lessons throughout the school year. My goal at the beginning of the summer was to observe my co-instructor/mentor and slowly move into her role, leading 1-3 days of summer programs on my own by the end of the 6 weeks. If the experience had turned out to be this way - me observing and then practicing how to introduce, teach and debrief a "lesson" that met some science standard with a group of students, that would have been valuable. But the mentor-mentee relationship that ended up being more of a co-learning, co-teaching experience was more consistently hands-on with more responsibility. Knowing that I was equally involved in the planning and preparation, responsible for the highs, lows and outcomes of each day, and being able to learn from them, was just as valuable as being able to say "I planned and led x days of summer programs on my own."
community support
This experience also taught me that supportive co-workers, self care, and boundaries are essential to be sustainable in this line of work. Any time spent with kids requires you to be constantly on, emotionally available, endlessly empathetic, patient, and generally give a lot of yourself. It's exhausting, and being part of a team that offered logistical support on the job and emotional support off the job was essential for each of our well-being. I learned that drawing boundaries with work - like asking permission before talking about it in communal living spaces off the job, or communicating that coming in to a day of unpaid work after I had completely lost my voice was not a sustainable or healthy choice for me, is just as important as drawing boundaries with students for making sure you are taking care of yourself so you can continue working in this field long term.
reflection
Finally this experience emphasized the importance of group and individual reflection. When I felt frustrated the first week, I asked the other interns if they'd be willing to sit down and talk about our experiences as a group. We all truly benefited from that first reflection session; it helped us contend with expectations vs reality, shift perspectives, plan next steps, and better support each other. Throughout the summer I was able to appreciate how much insight and wisdom each person had to share, and they each left an impact on me.