Thoughts from the Back of a Motorcycle

Week 4: Mapping

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On a whim, Mike took me on 100 mile long motorcycle ride up to Wausau and back.  After we got back, Mike helped me map out the long route we took and embed the map on my blog (as I am not the most technologically-literate person in the world).   I've made a short list of some of the natural areas and other interesting places that we passed on our ride:

Wisconsin River/Wisconsin River Flowage
DuBay Park/Lake DuBay
Wisconsin River
Mosinee Dam
Nine Mile Recreation Area
Wausau School Forest
Doepke Recreation Area
Rookery Park
Marathon County Fairgrounds
Pike Lake
Wadley Lake

I know that some people wouldn't think that a motorcycle ride belongs on a nature journal.  However, I would beg to differ.  Even though you see the same sights while riding in a car or a truck, I always feel so much closer to nature while on a motorcycle.  There's just something about being able to feel the wind move past you, that feeling of almost-flight, that makes you feel connected to your surroundings.  Also, I know that personally when I am riding in any other vehicle, I will sit and play games on my phone and not pay too much attention to my surroundings.  Motorcycles take those distractions away and force you to pay more attention to what's going on outside. I absolutely loved the route we went on and hopefully will get to go on another ride soon before winter starts to set in.

I believe that it is important for students to observe what is going on around them.  Having students make maps is a good way for students to practice this skill. When I plan my lessons, I will include tasks such as making maps in order for students to demonstrate their observance, as well as spatial skills and success in other academic areas. Mapping is truly an activity that crosses subjects and would be highly beneficial to my students. 

New Friends, New Foes



Week 3: Storytelling of an Experience in Nature

One fine August afternoon I was training for the 5K race that I would run in nearly a month. I had been sticking to mostly indoor running at the Allen Center, but it was such a lovely day that I decided to take my training outside. Since I knew that the loop around Lake Joanis in Schmeeckle Reserve was about a mile, that was the route I chose to take. I barely got a quarter of a mile around the lake before I nearly ran into a young buck.  I know that the deer in Schmeeckle are very tame, but it still felt peaceful to be so close to a wild animal and have neither of us terrified.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get to know each other very well because he had to go make new friends himself. 

I had almost finished my lap around the lake when I came upon a stretch of geese. Even though I was approaching on the trail at a moderate jogging pace, they didn't seem to want to let me pass. Suddenly, one of them started violently hissing at me, and the rest of the flock soon followed suit.  That was all of the motivation I needed to high-tail it out of the nature reserve as fast as humanly possible  Because of the nature of our meeting, I wasn't able to take a picture of them...which I feel is pretty understandable.

I thought that it was quite ironic that in my short run through Schmeeckle I was able to have both a very peaceful and very scary experience with nature.  My good experiences, such as my one with the deer, far outweigh my negative experiences with evil, territorial geese.  Therefore, I doubt I will stay away from Schmeeckle Reserve for long. I want my students to have many experiences in nature, so that their judgement of nature won't be just from one possible bad experience they might have had.  For this reason, I will try to incorporate outdoor experiences often into my lessons.

Yourself Inside Yourself

Week 2: Literary Response

"Listen

Make a way for yourself inside yourself

Stop looking in that other way of looking"
-Rumi, Sufi Poet and Philosopher

This journal entry will reflect on the quote above, which I found on the homework sheet we received when we were first assigned the nature journals.  I was first drawn to it because I recognized the word "Sufi."  I went to look it up and realized that I had come across the word when reading about the Islamic culture.  Sufism isn't so much a sect of Islam so much as it is a very "mystical" approach to Islam.  I researched Sufism a little bit more and read that Sufis believe that nature and God are simply two aspects of the same reality.  I tried to keep this in mind while I analyzed the text of the poem.

The quote itself I find to be very inspiring.  Whenever I analyze text, I like to break it down into parts, and afterwards appreciate it as a whole and apply it to my life.  I'll start with the first line, which happens to be only one word: listen.  I enjoyed how the first line is just one word with an implied pause afterward.  I imagine Rumi speaking to a crowd, and after the word "listen," silencing the audience with a wave of his hand before continuing to impart his wisdom.

I had to think the deepest about the second line of this quote. To be perfectly honest, I haven't come up with an exact way to interpret this line.  In my mind's eye I imagine creating a literal path or trail through a wooded area.  Maybe this line draws a parallel to the old adage, "Take the road less traveled."  Perhaps as people observing nature we need to take a deeper look at what we are seeing rather than the quickest, easiest way of looking at nature.  Despite not having come to an exact conclusion yet, this is a very fun line to think about.  I enjoyed thinking about it so much that I named this nature journal "Yourself Inside Yourself."

My favorite line of the poem is the third line.  I interpreted the line as talking about how people get into a rut in terms of the way that they see the world, almost like being in a constant state of tunnel vision.  This final line of the poem is a call to action to keep an open mind and try to view and appreciate the world from a new perspective.

I thought that this quote was a great way to introduce me to the concept of nature journaling and open my mind to the idea of writing about my surroundings.  I was definitely skeptical of creating a nature journal when it was first assigned in class, but I believe that I can personalize it in a way that will make it a treat for me to work on throughout the semester.  Not only will the idea of nature journaling help me, but it could definitely benefit my future students.  Having students journal about nature could be a great way to assess student's literacy skills and help them to develop their creativity.  I am very much looking forward to seeing what there is to see out in the Stevens Point area for me to observe and comment on, for both myself and my students.

First Entry: Self-Assessment

My first nature-journal entry will center around the environmental education self-assessment quiz we took in class.  The purpose of the assessment was to determine my abilities, confidence, and content knowledge in environmental education.  The survey was multiple-choice in nature.  I was given opportunities to not just show off what I know in content knowledge, but also evaluate my opinions and priorities in terms of the environment.

There was one question in particular that I found interesting.  As I do not have the question packet, I cannot say for certain the exact wording of the question.  I can however paraphrase it to, "Are you concerned with the world's deserts increasing in size?"  I thought that this question was interesting because it implied that I had already known about the increasing sizes of the world's deserts, when in fact I did not.

I thought that I did particularly well in questions that concerned biology.  I have already taken my biology course that I needed for my major.  This class definitely helped me to answer questions about topics such as ecosystems and food chains. However, there were plenty of other content knowledge questions that I had no idea about.  I am confident that I will learn plenty of environmental content knowledge during the course of this class.

In terms of my priorities concerning the environment, I noticed that I could honestly put that I did several of the habits "sometimes."  I recycle regularly, and when I see a can or bottle on the sidewalk, I will pick it up and throw it in a proper recycling bin if it is convenient.  Many of the questions about advocacy for nature I marked that I had never done.  I've never been part of a wildlife, ecology, or preservation group.  I am interested to see if what I learn in this class will change any of my opinions and priorities concerning the environment.