Amazing Instruction in Instructional Strategies!

Half of the graduate class started our academic rotation in “Instructional Strategies” with John Haskin and Kevin Haspela last week. The previous two weeks I was teaching for my Outreach practicum in
Pinedale, WY and Lander, WY. During those two weeks my team (composed of Anne, Megan, Heather T., Heather J, myself, our fearless leader Robin, who busted her knee, and Rob, who unexpectedly took Robin’s place) went into various public schools and gave classroom teachers ideas on incorporating Place Based Education into their curriculum. It was amazing to work with such a diverse teaching team and learn from all those classroom teachers that are out there working with our youth everyday. It is such an honorable job to influence and shape the way our future beings are going to think about and view the world. I’m not sure I could be a full time classroom teacher, but I have the utmost respect for the work they do and learned so much from all of my cooperating teachers!

Another great aspect of Outreach was having the opportunity to travel and experience other parts of
Wyoming. It is easy to overlook the rest of
Wyoming outside of the surrounding
Jackson, WY area where we build quite a tight knit community during this year. We taught on an Indian Reservation, in ranching communities, in communities affected by oil and gas development, and communities with a strong emphasis on outdoor recreation opportunities. What a rich assortment of classroom teachers, students, and school districts for our team to interact with!

However, after two weeks of teaching it is nice to transition to academic classes. We truly have the luxury of learning from some really knowledgeable and talented faculty. These past two weeks we got to see John Haskin in his element. He has such a gift for working with students. The passion he possesses for education is evident in the way he interacts with us, encourages us, teaches us, and challenges us to think.

In class this week, we have been interviewing 5^th graders and High School students who attended residential education programs at our campus. We split into groups and asked the students about their memories from their 5^th grade fall trip. Tomorrow we present our findings to the class. I can’t wait to hear the various results; what the students remembered, how my classmates interpreted their data, how we can use the insights gained from our research to make our teaching even better. I have a feeling it’s going to be a day full of thought provoking conversations. I can’t wait! I’ll let you know how it goes.