A few months ago, had someone told me I would be teaching fifth grade children, in the middle of the woods, overnight, I would have silently chuckled and asked "why" as I prepared my ears for the words of what I would have considered insane. Innately, I am not fond of children. It's like handing the most delicate object imaginable to an old farmer with time worn swollen hands, his heart pure and caring, but far from able to offer the soft touch and moreover to feel through his own callouses. That's me.....with kids. But I do know a few things about nature and can offer what words I think she would speak to a child about caring for her. That's why I teach. Little did I know that I would be "taught". You see, kids often experience life with a lot less judgement and pre-formed ideas. My joy arises in the special ability to form questions that can only bring about genuine ideas, NOT questioning them in a way where they pick up on what i'm expecting of them in their answers. I was never taught how to do this....it is just something authentic that arises from my teaching.
I teach environmental education, within a school forest. I am not a permanent staff member, I am paid less than what it's worth in my time, travel and even...sometimes my sanity. Teachers (I find) do not generally assume such a position without first establishing the value and meaning it has for their own life. I fell in love with nature long ago, kneeling in the dirt, looking at the sky. I remember that moment clearly. There was no one there to guide it, it was simply the only place I felt my true self, that same nature that has somehow still survived in me today. Perhaps that is the underlying reason I teach.....in the woods. If I could give a gift to anyone, it would be that very same feeling I had when that essence of nature became known to me. So the question becomes, how do I teach or lead one into that essence but yet not being a direct part of it? So, I give their minds enough to question and I leave them with it. Nature is an experience, not a text book.
The night before I took my recent one month road trip to the Everglades, I had a special moment with a handicapped student who was unable to walk, unable to speak. While I had ample student assistants to tend to the main group of students just long enough so I could take this boy out into the bitter cold, tilt him back to look at the stars which are so much more clear on a crisp cloudless night.I also called to the Great Horned Owls in the woods beckoning their echoed responses. Had this boy ever had this experience? It is uncertain, but this much is true, the eyes don't lie and they glow with joy when joy is experienced. Will those memories offer him something that becomes the basis for how he experiences life as mine had for me? How about the other children?
As hours pass each night that I teach according to my curriculum agenda, I can assure you, I specialize in leaving one to ponder and I do so especially at the end of the night just before slumber when they can reflect on the actions of the day. When all educational elements are checked off my list, I tread the waters of what is now classified as "controversy" and I graphically describe what is happening in our environment when we "consume" goods, and I do so in a way that has meaning in the day of a 5th grade child. This always turns into my own daily lesson. I share with them things I see in the world as I travel, things I think could change. I use the image of the god awful valentines day candy box. I ask them why we need a box so big for so few pieces of candy, then I explain where all the plastic comes from, the cardboard and all the chemicals used to make paper, which required many trees to be cut for pulp. Not to mention the sugar in the candy likely grown in areas near the Everglades where agricultural run off just literally killed over 80 whales one day before I left my short term teaching position in the state parks of the Florida Keys. Maybe its wrong to teach knowing I can connect to the "heart" of their minds, but offering an alternative to the heart shaped box is priceless. So what do we give our valentines if this heart shaped box is as good as a box of abused resources? We can offer those we love the experience of appreciating the small details within our connections to nature.
What detail can we focus on in nature while present together? I've had many rare moments where the perfect call of an owl, coyote, or other wildlife happened in such a split second that if I was not perfectly attentive, it would have been missed. That is the ultimate sharing in my mind. What if one other person was there? That is my idea of a heart shaped box. My point to them becomes this, appreciate all of life and share in that experience with others, and to do and use as little as you can in the process. So much of what we think does not have what we qualify as a real "life" in its apparent simplicity, has the greatest potential to draw our focus into its detail to ponder and appreciate life outside of our own. Helping children to see this detail is an inspiring gift.
I always ask what they are doing to help save the earth, and i'm always in awe at how many hands go up and actions are offered without little request. "My mom and dad make sure we recycle, turn the lights off, use reusable bags and bottles....we stopped using plastic forks, cups and paper plates", Then I ask the question..."What do YOU see that the adults or you could do differently to save the planet" and then comes the creativity. cutting bottles and using one side as a funnel and the other as a scoop or cup. Reuse this, or that, use glass instead of.....and I tell them each to be creative and to voice their ideas to any adult the feel comfortable sharing those ideas with. I showed my students a map of the range of the Saw Whet Owl, and instead of seeing the map they saw within the map a dinosaur, and that is the out of the box thinking we adults need from children. They perceive our world very differently than we do and they can open our eyes if we allow them, but we have to be willing to give them the heart shaped box.
As a side note I feel it is important to mention, my experience of being a teacher has been enlightening to the fact that many children are on medication for reasons I will not question, while yet I have gone through some of the challenges of those substances with them. I had a situation where a student was apparently content one moment, and depressed or in tears the next later to have her tell me that she could predict the times of day she would break down. She was so clear on the situation I wondered if the medication was cycling out of her system at these times of day. Is the medication helpful? These things break my heart.
I end each night by reading the girls a well written story embedded with the lessons about life and the earth, so many of them enjoy the story but there are a few that begin to cry -- usually the onset of homesickness after a long day of learning and submersion in new environment. A protocol for dealing with this sort of thing is followed and when its not working, the counselors call upon me for intervention. After having my own challenges in life, I relate well to the anxiety some students face and offer some calming mental distractions and visualizing to help themselves relax and fall asleep. The things they reveal about their lives during these times are very delicate matters, however when I ask them to describe to me what a "happy place" looks like, it is almost always inclusive of a natural setting with their loved ones. Again, the heart shaped box of living.
So what is the purpose in all of this? Essentially it's for you to decide. Remember how I said I leave my students the space to contemplate questions and answers for themselves? Do you see the connection between yourself, nature and the heart shaped box? What does that mean for you? What is here for you in this life experience? What, in it, can you share without exploiting the environment or another? Does nature offer you something special or have you not even made one moment in your schedule to observe it? There are only so many moments in life.....design your heart shaped box carefully.
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