Throughout the Spring of 2023, the Climate Science Climate Justice team took 6 different groups of middle schoolers to HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, an old-growth forest about an hour east of Eugene Oregon. During these field trips, I developed so many skills to become a better educator. The three main takeaways I learned throughout this experience included adaptation, communication, and the importance of place-based learning or connection to place. I learned how to adapt lessons when it was pouring rain or tailor my questions to better engage with different groups of students. Next, I learned about the importance of communication when working with a team. My team was constantly communicating with each other about how we could better our lesson plans for the students, and how we could become better facilitators. Finally, I learned the importance of connecting students to the land they live on. Being able to teach in an old-growth forest allowed students to experience place-based learning as opposed to learning in a normal classroom setting, which allows for students who may struggle in a typical classroom to thrive. Overall, this experience allowed me to become a much stronger educator, and I am extremely grateful to have gained these skills and experiences.

After our first few field trips, we received very helpful feedback from our project manager. The climate justice lesson was changed throughout the trips to make it more actionable and easier for students to engage. After the first few field trips, we added a lot more information about fire, and how the students had been impacted by wildfires in the area. Another area that I reworked throughout the trips was when I was teaching the tree identification lesson. I became so much more confident within my teaching of this lesson and teaching the students how to use a compass. 

Our community partners gave us so much helpful feedback throughout our field trips. Mark, the forest director gave us so much input on our microclimate lesson. He also gave us a ton of information for us to use when formulating our lesson plans. Our partnering teacher Whitney also gave us so much helpful feedback when it came to working with the kids. She gave us so many helpful tips to better communicate with the students and understand where the students are coming from.