Thinking about my own program, considering it to be rural or urban, I think it is both. The place where the school is located is around many shops and fast food restaurants, but the whole back of the school is located on the Kapolei Park. I feel that Sarah's values resonate with me, because as a child, I too was an outside child. I was always outside playing with my friends whether it was sunny, raining, or snowing. Times have changed and it's not for the better. Children are not outside for many reasons. The reasons being that children and families are playing games (Xbox, Wii, play station), watching television, it's not safe where the child lives, the child can not go outside because there is no park nearby. It is so sad to see children not have the opportunity to play outside as I did growing up. The program I work at is actually amazing at promoting our children and families to be active in nature and feel part of it. We go on nature walks in the park every week and take field trips to many places that enhance their learning on the outdoors. The kids like to learn about nature and get their hands dirty. I feel that Sarah's ideas all were made into reality with the help of the families of the program and the staff. My program just recently won an award from Michelle Obama, because of our healthy and active lifestyle. The food we give the children were also part of the reward, because it is all cooked fresh daily by our cook and his staff and we have one vegetarian meal a week. I feel that getting families involved has helped our program thrive just as it did with Sarah's program. The children and families benefit from working together and form lasting memories.
Roberto inspires me to stronger leadership and self-empowerment by his whole momentum of thinking. He visions the center to be a place of learning and where children, families, and staff can work together. He came into the program when it was a mess and he needed to clean it up. He started doing that and in the process changed the staff's view on things for the better. Reading about his role and what he has and is hoping to accomplish made me feel that I can do anything I set my mind to. I can imagine adapting his innovating practices, such as, working in teams for accreditation focus areas, expanding my thinking about assessment, and untiming the curriculum. My next step would be to learn about the assessments my program does, so when I get my degree and become a teacher there, I will know how the assessments work.
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteSo how might a director, no matter the context, inspire teachers, children, and families to develop deep relationships with the natural world? How can the work in your current site help to inform other contexts, rural and urban? What large questions could help guide a rethinking of teachers toward building relationships with the environment? How can the actions of Roberto, in particular, his ability to empower the teachers be a way to rethink practice to connect children to the natural environment?
Jeanne
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ReplyDeleteHello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I too used to play outside as a child in any weather and at any time of day; and it is true times have changed. As I grew older I moved and was unable to play outside because there were no safe parks to play at or there were no parks or play areas period. Today is worse; there are a lot of unsafe activities that happen at our neighborhood parks, for instance the park in Kapolei right across from the police station. There may be a lot of activities there, but it was still possible for a woman to get raped in the park bathroom. Another example is in Ewa Beach, there are many parks, but there are drugs that are sold at every park. North Road park is right across the street from Campbell High School, (the front office is facing the park), yet there are always students hanging out there, drinking, smoking, selling and buying drugs; not a save environment for our children. I think that schools should build play areas as a part of their school instead of using public parks. For instance schools should fence in fields so that children will be able to be in a safe enclosed environment but still have the opportunity to experience nature and outdoor activities.
Congratulations! That is amazing…I know Michelle Obama is really into developing programs for children to reduce the number of childhood obesity, but I had no idea one of our schools on the island received an award : ) I too agree that children and families do benefit from working together and it does create lasting positive memories.
As for Roberto, I think it is great that he motivated and inspired you to believing you can do anything you set your mind to. I also think that it is great that you are volunteering and working at the school that you want to teach at. This gives you hands-on experience as to what the environment is like and you will be prepared when you begin teaching there because you will already be familiar with what teaching/learning methods work for students, what types of behaviors are common, what areas need improvements, what their daily schedules and routines are, etc. Thank you for sharing it was interesting to read about your personal experience and thank you for allowing me to comment on your blog…
Response to Assignment #11
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley,
What effect does positive outdoor experiences have on children, directors, teachers and parents? How can teachers combine nature themes with developmentally appropriate skills? How do teachers teach the importance of nature by introducing real knowledge through art, science, literature, exploration, games, and play? What real nature concepts can teachers teach children using hands-on activities, games and exploration? How do teachers boost children’s curiosity about the natural world and how do they become catalysts for the children’s work and play?
Assignment #12
What kinds of commitment and organization does it take for a leader to make progress for their program? What does it take to be a good leader? How can people in different roles/positions consider leadership to be a privilege? How do directors learn to lead when resources such as power, authority, and influence are scarce? How do we learn to lead when the context is complex and constrained?
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteHow, in the past few years, has technology taken away from natural experiences that children are having? I can remember growing up and being forced to play with the objects we found around us because things like gaming systems and tablets were not the norm. Are our children today better off or worse off in their connections to the natural world because of technology? How does the U.S.'s mentality of consumption and instant gratification create a disconnect between the natural world? How has the health or our children, and our nation, suffered because of technology? Despite this "green" movement we've been seeing for the past few years, how have our actions over the past decades led to a disconnect with nature? Can this disconnect ever be restored?