A Rainy Wednesday Ramble

[Allegra Pihlaja]

According to Erikson, the students in my 2/3 class fall into the industry versus inferiority stage. At this time, students may be dealing with issues of inferiority, failure, and incompetence. At Prairie Creek, the activities that I have witnessed have not been set up for failure. Since I am only there for Wild Wednesdays, I cannot say what goes on in the classroom on normal school days, but the outdoor activities are structured so that the students can learn from each other and their surroundings. Yesterday, their morning activity was to go on a “ramble.” This consisted of lining up with Nancy at the front and me at the back of the line of students as we walked down the road, through the woods, and across the prairie, covering most of Prairie Creek’s land. The students’ task was to yell “STOP” whenever they saw something interesting outside. They were encouraged to notice the phenology as the season changes in fall, particularly on that day as it was a bit cooler and rainier than it has been for most of the fall.

On this ramble, I was surprised at how easily the kids got excited and fascinated by natural phenomena. Nancy pointed out the differences in color and leaf changes between similar trees, and the kids were in awe at how different the two trees looked (some were yellow at the top, some more green, and some really orange and red). As we continued on the ramble, students were fascinated by the holes that they came across (who dug them up? An animal?), the water droplets on the leaves, the corn remains in the fields, the colored leaves, the big sticks in the new outdoor classroom (they carried them across the bridge to build more forts later!), and the rocks that they found. Andrew, one of the students who I was walking behind, collected every red leaf that he could find. Another student, Savvy, kept on exclaiming about how cool the water droplets looked on the leaves. Dayton picked up three small rocks that he kept in his pocket for the rest of the morning. The structure of this lesson allowed the kids to explore their school’s surroundings, the phenology as the seasons change, and while doing so, discover what interests them as they work on developing their identity. The way that Nancy structures her lessons make it so that these students are not getting graded on worksheets or setting themselves up for failure; instead, they get to explore and question what they are seeing outside, which fosters a lot of healthy identity development. Going for a walk is a very active way of learning, since the students get to interact with their environment instead of learning passively.

At the end of the ramble, we sat down at the outdoor classroom as the students discussed one thing that they could write down in their science journal from the walk. The students then shared their partner’s favorite part of the walk, and everyone had different answers. Some enjoyed discovering the holes in the ground while others enjoyed collecting rocks or leaves. Since this activity encouraged taking initiative, it allowed students to avoid a potential crisis (no opportunities for failure!) as it led to more opportunities for identity development, pursuing curiosities, and active growth.

In response to Marcia’s stages, I would classify myself in moratorium. I have a general idea of who I am, but there is a lot of uncertainty in my life. For instance, everyone keeps asking me what I’m going to do next year after I graduate. My response is always: “I don’t know.” The thing is, I am not stressed about that right now. I know that I will apply for a variety of jobs and fellowships and hopefully something will work out. I know that I am generally interested in education or social work, hopefully working in direct service in a community, but I have no idea how that will take shape. I do not have a dream career or a larger goal in life at the moment. I feel like everything is very fluid and dynamic, and I haven’t had enough time to explore and figure out what I want to do.

Another example is my religion. During our activity in class on Tuesday, I almost didn’t even have an answer for what my religious beliefs are. I was raised in a non-religious household, and I have given almost no thought to religion in my life, but I claim that I am agnostic. I feel no connection to religion in any form, and oftentimes, I even forget that it is a thing. The fact that I feel lost as to how to identify myself religiously can be confusing for me, since it can be a large part of other people’s lives. When will I become sure of my religious beliefs? I’m not sure, but it’s not right now, that’s for sure. It was even more confusing in class when Anastasia said that she identifies as agnostic as well, and because of that, she thinks about it a lot as she is constantly searching for some other way to find meaning in her life. Should I also be searching for an alternative to religion so that I can find meaning? These examples make me firmly believe that I am in moratorium.

Something that I have enjoyed watching in my class at Prairie Creek is their “social skills” time, which is one of their specialist activities. This is what they are doing as I arrive every week. This week, they were learning how to be good listeners. The specialist teacher talked to them about body language as she stressed the importance of looking at someone in order to show attentiveness as they speak. Then, the students practiced their listening skills by chatting with a partner. After they chatted, Nancy asked them how well the conversation went. Did they feel heard? How did it go? How did they feel? These skills are so crucial for kids to learn, especially after the isolation of the pandemic, as Nancy has really been emphasizing in her conversations with me: these kids need to learn how to socialize with each other. I was glad to see the applications of this social skills lesson later in the day, when Nancy noticed that some students couldn’t remember their partners’ favorite part of the walk, indicating that they hadn’t been listening well. She told the students that they need to apply their lessons from social skills into all of their interactions.

Something else that was really interesting to hear from Nancy was her attitude towards her lessons. The morning ramble took longer than anticipated, so we didn’t have time to go back inside and journal about it afterwards. She kept telling me that she needs to let the kids do things on their own time; you can’t rush them or they won’t benefit from the activity. This got me thinking about education. Is it too rushed in some schools? How flexible are the schedules in elementary schools? It is so fascinating to hear these teachers’ philosophies!

[Trina Eichel]

Hi Allegra,

The ramble that you went on with your class sounds like such a fulfilling and engaging activity. It is definitely on trend with the other activities I have observed and been a part of in my time at Prairie Creek. I have noticed that all the teachers at prairie creek really value student independence and initiative. They all take the time to make sure that every student is benefitting from the activities that they are giving which is so important for making sure students feel successful in school. I also loved being able to observe the students during “social skills” with Michelle. One of the teachers in my classroom explained that Michelle is one of the special education teachers and works with all the special needs students on their social skills but that she felt it was also important for the development of all students in the 2/3 classes. I think that this program is great for encouraging students to get to know each other and also themselves. It definitely helps in their identity development as they are learning more about how to navigate the world through their social relationships.

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