On the first of this month, our sixth graders took a field trip to the Shai Hills Resource Reserve. It was an opportunity to extend student learning beyond the school walls, a chance to connect to our host country of Ghana and a great way to help build a stronger community of sixth graders.
It was also my first time seeing Baobab trees in the wild. I was fascinated and took lots of pictures. Almost without realizing it, I took this one.
Afterward, reflecting on it, I realized that this is an interesting perspective from which to shoot the famous "upside down tree." Usually, we admire them from below and look up at the tall, branchless trunks and admire the canopy as it branches out wildly.
I also realized that the altered perspective of this photo was a metaphor for the day. Luckily, before the trip, I had read Jennifer Gonzalez's great article on the Cult of Pedagogy website entitled 8 Things I Know for Sure About (Most) Middle School Kids. The article looks at the wonderfully idiosyncratic things that make us MS teachers love our kids and our jobs.
As we hiked to the top the hill, many of our kids were wiped out. They lagged behind, ran out of water (and energy) and started to doubt themselves. There was a small climb to a narrow cave and a squeeze to get out of it. Many of the students were able to overcome their fears and push themselves out of their comfort zone. That said, it wasn't without what most of us would callwhining complaining. Normally, I would have been rolling my eyes and telling them to get moving.
However, armed with Gonzalez's number 3 - "They Trend Toward Hyperbole," I was able to appreciate that their protestations, of "I can't do it!" and "We're going to die!" may have been "due to limited life experience, hormones wreaking havoc on emotions, or the trying on of identities" as Gonzalez so aptly states in her article. Instead of choosing frustration, a simple change of perspective helped me choose a different tack. Instead of telling them that they were being ridiculous, or to "get tough" or some other nonsensical advice, I followed her suggestion to "validate the real feelings behind these exaggerations while trying to re-frame their experiences in more realistic terms."
It made a much more pleasurable experience for me and didn't sully the experience for the students. In the end, nobody died and we all made it through the cave and back down the hill. It took a lot longer than it should have, but it was a day that none of us will forget.
It was also my first time seeing Baobab trees in the wild. I was fascinated and took lots of pictures. Almost without realizing it, I took this one.
Afterward, reflecting on it, I realized that this is an interesting perspective from which to shoot the famous "upside down tree." Usually, we admire them from below and look up at the tall, branchless trunks and admire the canopy as it branches out wildly.
I also realized that the altered perspective of this photo was a metaphor for the day. Luckily, before the trip, I had read Jennifer Gonzalez's great article on the Cult of Pedagogy website entitled 8 Things I Know for Sure About (Most) Middle School Kids. The article looks at the wonderfully idiosyncratic things that make us MS teachers love our kids and our jobs.
As we hiked to the top the hill, many of our kids were wiped out. They lagged behind, ran out of water (and energy) and started to doubt themselves. There was a small climb to a narrow cave and a squeeze to get out of it. Many of the students were able to overcome their fears and push themselves out of their comfort zone. That said, it wasn't without what most of us would call
However, armed with Gonzalez's number 3 - "They Trend Toward Hyperbole," I was able to appreciate that their protestations, of "I can't do it!" and "We're going to die!" may have been "due to limited life experience, hormones wreaking havoc on emotions, or the trying on of identities" as Gonzalez so aptly states in her article. Instead of choosing frustration, a simple change of perspective helped me choose a different tack. Instead of telling them that they were being ridiculous, or to "get tough" or some other nonsensical advice, I followed her suggestion to "validate the real feelings behind these exaggerations while trying to re-frame their experiences in more realistic terms."
It made a much more pleasurable experience for me and didn't sully the experience for the students. In the end, nobody died and we all made it through the cave and back down the hill. It took a lot longer than it should have, but it was a day that none of us will forget.
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