Reflections

Inclusivity - Adaptability - Engagement 

Participating in the Environmental Leadership Program not only developed my leadership skills, but highlighted my strengths in a way that contributed to my team’s growth and my students’ learning. As I continue to adapt and grow in this program, I notice some recurring themes in my teaching style. Following Bell Hooks’ Engaged Pedagogy as I expressed in my teaching philosophy, I value establishing a sense of trust with my students to create an inclusive and welcoming educational space. After the Environmental Education team returned to the participating middle schools for a post field-trip assessment, the effectiveness of establishing a safe space for my students was really affirmed when a student opened up to me regarding some personal issues, and asked me to sit with her during her lunch break. This value of inclusivity is reflected throughout my teaching experiences with the Environmental Leadership Program as I ensure that I am putting my students’ needs and interests first, and allowing these needs and interests to set the tone and guidelines for the rest of my time with the students. Listening to the needs and interests of my students and consequently incorporating these into my lessons really allowed me to learn how to become more adaptable as a facilitator and as a person. Adaptability was a necessary skill as our team faced varied adversaries like logistical or weather issues. For example, during one of our first field trips - it poured. Unfortunately, our lessons were not fully adapted to the likely scenario of a rainy day. Coincidentally enough, the rainiest day was the only day our team did not have write-in-the-rain paper! Thankfully, rather than becoming an issue, this became a learning opportunity for my facilitating partner and I to adjust the lesson and become more adaptable. One of the biggest recurring themes throughout my teaching experience was maintaining high levels of engagement. Even until the final field trip, I was still learning new solutions to maintain and increase the engagement of our students.

Reflecting on the feedback I received from the students participating in the program, to my surprise the students would often remember small simple moments and the general messages from the lessons. A middle school is a tricky group of students because they may take longer to get comfortable around new facilitators or may be hesitant to participate in expressive or goofy activities, but at the end of the day, through establishing rapport, these expressive and goofy activities are the moments that resonate the most. To engage our students through child’s passions, it is vital that our team of environmental educators remains adaptable. The skill of adaptability took some refinement on my end initially; however, by having the ability to be flexible, I can structure my lessons to meet the needs of my students. Considering the varied levels of engagement from my students, sometimes I was humbled by the level and ease of understanding the lesson material the students were able to have. Sometimes I felt like I was learning from my students, which is a beautiful thing. As a facilitator, this worked as a constant reminder to never underestimate the skills and knowledge of my students, and provide the space for them to show off their abilities in the academic setting as well!

Reflecting upon all the feedback I received from my peers, and mentors alike, one key element that I am better able to incorporate is the depth of my lessons. As Katie would say - sometimes my lessons would not push my students to expand their edge. Through incorporating feedback from Katie and my teammates, we adjusted the Climate Justice lesson to include a discussion regarding fire. Once our team adjusted this lesson, I noticed our discussions resonated with the students more - as we are all affected by fire in one way or another in our lives. There is other advice I integrated that received from my professor, Katie, regarding establishing equitable classroom dynamics that I would typically overlook. When facilitating discussions it is better to have the students standing in a circle as this establishes an equal dynamic of power, but prior to receiving this advice, I would teach my lessons by having the students sit while I stood and taught. Standing over my students while teaching creates a subconsciously disproportionate dynamic - this simple adjustment, changes the lesson to be more of a comfortable discussion rather than facilitators talking at the students.