From January 2017 through June 2017 I was a member of the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of Oregon. The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is a service-learning program that connects students to organizations that work in local communities to address a variety of environmental and educational issues.
My particular ELP project was the Canopy Connections team. Our 8-member team worked with HJ Andrews Experimental Forest and the Pacific Tree Climbing Institute to lead Eugene area middle schools on an all day, place based field trip following a curriculum that my team developed. Our overarching goal for the trips and curriculum was for the students to develop a sense of place in a local old growth forest. As a team, we felt that if the students had experiences connecting them to local nature than they'd be more likely to care and fight for Oregon environmental protection efforts throughout their lives.
The winter portion of the Canopy Connections project focused on developing baseline knowledge of best teaching practices as well as dedicating time to developing our own personal teaching philosophies. My teaching philosophy was in line with our project goal of creating opportunities for students to try new experiences. I have felt that in my own educational path that I have had many passionate and knowledgeable teachers who allowed me to experience unique and different opportunities, and that is something that I would like to emulate during the trips that I lead. In addition to learning teaching strategies, the winter was also devoted to developing the curriculum and lesson plans that the team would be using on our field trips.
My role in lesson plan developing was to work with a partner to create a 75-minute station that would take place somewhere in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. Mirroring the types of research that is done at HJA, my partner and I developed an activity using jars full of soil. Each jar had a different section of soil within it and if ordered correctly, it would match with a soil profile that had been previously documented at the HJ Andrews site. The students would give the instructor detailed information about each section by using all their senses and observational skills. Once all the jars had been properly described through using the student's observational skills, the students would attempt to order the jars into a correct soil profile. In addition to the jar activity, students also participated in a journaling activity based on the first step of the scientific method, observation. We scheduled time in the lesson plan to have each student sit alone along the trail and journal about any observations they made, whether it be observations from sights, sounds, or smells. After a few minutes, we would call all the students back into a group and share the "story of the day", which is basically a quick recap from each student about what they observed.
The spring portion of Canopy Connections was all about rolling up the sleeves and getting to work teaching students and leading trips. We began by going into middle school science classrooms and conducting a one hour pre trip lesson where we created some excitement and taught the very basics about what to wear, what to bring, and what they might see. Once all classes received a pre trip lesson, they began to start traveling to us at HJ Andrews for an all day field trip. We would run them through four stations on each trip; each station was developed by members of our 8-man team. There was a station about watersheds and topography, a station about biodiversity, my station "Sacred Soils", and a very fun tree climbing station made possible by Pacific Tree Climbing Institute. The tree climbing station was a truly once in a lifetime experience where all the students were allowed to climb over 100 feet above the ground and into the canopy of a 400 year old Douglas fir tree. I believe our trips were very successful in creating lasting and unique educational memories for the students.
In addition to the field trips, the spring was also used to show off our fantastic project. During the University of Oregon Undergraduate Symposium, working in a team of four, I helped create a 15-minute presentation that we showcased to an environmental education panel. In addition to the symposium, I also helped to showcase a project poster at the University of Oregon Joint Campus Conference on Environmental Science.
Canopy Connections was an amazing project and a wonderful way to end my collegiate career. Working in teams and working with different organizations and government agencies taught me a lot about communication and accountability in my work. I feel very excited and prepared for my next project because of the work and responsibilities that I fulfilled as part of this wonderful team.
If you'd like to learn a little bit more about my work for Canopy Connections I've attached a copy of my teaching philosophy, lesson plan, as well as a document with little reflections about each of my teaching experiences below. If you have any more questions about my Canopy Connections experiences feel free to contact me or visit the 2017 Canopy Connections Website to learn more!
Green Cities was a class that I was a part of my junior year course load. It was a class where we would study and highlight different sustainable and practical growth strategies for different types of cities. The course culminated in a trip to Independence, Oregon where we had an all day meeting and workday with the mayor, city council, and city manager about ways that the city could improve. They shared their vision for the city's future and offered some requests and advise to all the students. Then all the students would go on a tour of the city and we were suppose to create 10 recommendations that we viewed would improve their city for years to come. My idea of improving the city were based in slowing traffic down and incorporating more signage in their downtown and main street areas. I viewed that slowing down traffic and adding more signage and art pieces could help Independence become a safer and more popular town for the many people who drive through without stopping.
I turned my recommendations into a YouTube video that I've attached below. This was my first experience creating a video and I thought the product turned out pretty well. I think there are some issues with photo quality and some other small details, but overall I feel like this was a successful first attempt and I feel very confident that I can create many more YouTube videos with great quality moving forward. This was also a great project that introduced me to many aspects of professional development like working in teams and working for a client.