Today the whole third grade went on a field trip. I left my blog prompt open on purpose, trusting myself to have tons to say after the day was over. I have two main topics on my mind after today.
The first thing I thought about struck me a little ways into the trip. We were outside walking around making observations, looking for signs of animals. Everything went well for the first part, although many students were very excited and were a little difficult to keep quiet and on task. They did well, yet as our morning progressed, a few students started to get tired. This continued until lunch time, at which point at least three of my group of nine were ready to sit down on the path, and at any chance they could get. They were complaining the entire time, and were having no fun because they did not want to keep moving.
I was understanding at first, but as I think about this more, it saddens me a bit. It was evident that these students don't get physical activity very often at all. We were walking around outside for between an hour and an hour and a half, and they were exhausted and complainy. One student (we'll call him Z) often has a negative attitude. He went on and on about how he wanted to go home, how he wanted the bus to drop him off there so he could play video games. He would not stop talking about how bored he was and how he wanted to watch tv. The inactivity of some students is extremely evident in cases like this, and brings me to my next point.
After being outside for about ten minutes, one girl freaked out because she thought she had something in her shoe. She swore that something had crawled inside her sock and was biting her foot. We stopped and stood on a concrete stopping point, took off her shoe and sock, and investigated. There was nothing in her shoe, so we put it back on and continued. For the rest of the day, she was paranoid of bugs on her ankles and in her shoes and around her neck (she ended up pulling up her hood, zipping up her jacket the whole way, and tying the drawstrings at her neck). There were a few other students who had this attitude, but to a lesser degree. They also stayed exactly on the path, becoming very uncomfortable if the group entered any clearing with some slightly higher sprouting plants and shrubbery (less than ankle high). They didn't want to touch anything outside, and often said "gross" when the tour guide showed us something. Meanwhile, other students were excited to be there, investigating and picking up leaves, stones, and anything they could find. Some took the active route, wanting to run off the path or up ahead to see more more more! I asked a few of the students if they play outside a lot, and most of their answers coincided with what I would expect based on their behavior.
As someone who was constantly outside as a kid, this is still a strange concept to me. I don't blame kids who don't like being out of doors because they are unexposed. I feel bad for them, especially on days like this when their whole day is ruined because of their lack of experiences. Some of this has to do with their attitude and whether they are naturally adventurous or hesitant. Part of me feels like the exposure children have to the out of doors relates at least a little bit to their level of curiosity. This is of course a long shot hypothesis and may be completely off base. Even so, the amount of complaining about simple things of nature like ducking under a branch or swatting at a bug made me think about how disconnected some students are with anything past their doors. Last semester Amy had a book on her reading list about this subject. After today, it's at the top of my summer reading list.
Despite these concerns, I had an excellent day. I loved outdoor learning, and even if some students didn't, the exposure is something they need. It was a wonderful day and I look forward to having similar experiences in the future.
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